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My Happy Face headed to CCA Oaks off Lotka win Michael Dubb's My Happy Face lived up to her 1-2 favoritism on Thursday when taking Belmont Park's $88,200 Lotka overnight stakes by 2 1/2 lengths under jockey Joel Rosario. In the process, the gray daughter of Tiz Wonderful earned her shot at the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 20 at Saratoga. "We were looking at the (CCA Oaks) all along with this horse," said Chad Brown, who took over training duties on My Happy Face from Rudy Rodriguez and was saddling her for the first time. "That's why we ran her now; the timing was right to get a race into her. Like I said, it was probably worth a handful of works today, so it should work out pretty well." Rosario allowed My Happy Face to track the early pace set by Girl Code through splits of :23, :46 and 1:10 1/5 over the muddy main track. The pair cut into the leaders margin while four wide in upper stretch and took command inside the eighth-pole to stop the clock in 1:35 4/5 for the mile contest. "I was second behind (Girl Code), and (My Happy Face) took a little bit of time to pass that horse. After she passed (Girl Code) she was OK. She looked good," Rosario noted. My Happy Face ran her line to 6-3-3-0 having now banked $328,000 with Thursday's score. The Kentucky-bred miss appeared a Kentucky Oaks candidate last year as a juvenile, just missing by a head in the Frizette before posting a neck score in the Tempted to wrap up her 2012 campaign. She made just one start for Rodriguez this season, finishing second in the Forward Gal in late January, and should now be primed for the CCA Oaks, according to Brown. "She came to me in outstanding shape from Rudy, so I felt confident off his training just to breeze her three times and run her," Brown remarked. "She ran, to me, like a horse who might have needed the race -- that's what Joel just said. We got the race we needed, she won, and she should move forward off of this." Once race after the Lotka, Munnings Sister drew in from the main-track only list when the $83,300 Smart and Fancy was moved from the turf to an upgraded good dirt track at Belmont. With Cornelio Velasquez aboard, the Barclay Tagg trainee took full advantage of the surface switch and pulled out a 1 1/2-length score for owner/breeder Charles E. Fipke. Munnings Sister ran six furlongs in 1:09 4/5 as the 3-2 choice in the scratched depleted field to add a second straight stakes win to her resume. The four-year-old daughter of Speightstown, who is a full sister to multiple Grade 2 victor Munnings, captured the Gold Princess at Belmont on April 28. That was her first win since taking the Dream Supreme at Big Sandy last October, and the chestnut filly's career line now reads 12-6-0-1, $226,250. Amerman Racing's homebred Barbie Wire wrapped up Belmont's Thursday stakes action with a 2 1/2-length victory over 4-5 favorite and Grade 3 winner Silsita in the $80,750 Astronomia.The Tapit sophomore hit the gate at the start of the seven-furlong affair, which was moved to the main track after originally being scheduled for the turf, and ran wide down the backstretch with Javier Castellano in the irons. Barbie Wire came three wide around the turn, battled for command of the race and eventually drew clear to finish up in 1:24 1/5 on the good dirt. Barbie Wire was making her stakes debut in the Astronomia and doubled her career earnings to $107,900 with the score. The Chad Brown-trained bay miss boasts a 4-2-1-1 mark after breaking her maiden on Belmont's turf in mid-May. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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