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Friendly Island wins Palos Verdes
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Friendly Island is probable for Dubai off
his Palos Verdes win
(Alex Evers/Horsephotos.com) |
Anstu Stables' FRIENDLY ISLAND (Crafty Friend)
scored a stylish 2 1/2-length win in the six-furlong,
$147,000 Palos
Verdes H. (G2) on Saturday.Friendly Island stalked pacesetter Limited Creole (Cactus Creole) through
fractions of :22 2/5 and :45 1/5 before taking the lead at the top of the
stretch, setting the five-furlong split in :56 3/5. Quickly drawing clear under jockey Garrett Gomez, the
Michael McCarthy pupil stopped the teletimer in 1:08 4/5 on the fast dirt to
return $3 and $2.10 as the prohibitive 1-2 favorite and improved his line to 18-8-2-2,
$969,714. In the process, the six-year-old gave McCarthy, who is heading Todd Pletcher's California division, his first career stakes win.
The victor was followed by 2-1 Harvard Avenue (You and I), who gave back $2.20
and finished the $2.40 exacta ($1) (4-2). Show wagering was canceled. Narrowly missing second by a head,
Limited Creole settled for third-place honors with To Sender (GB) (King's Best)
rounding out the four-horse field.
After taking two back-to-back editions of the Hudson H., Friendly Island
won his first graded race when taking last year's Maryland Breeders' Cup Sprint
H. (G3). He also placed in the Forego S. (G1), Count Fleet Sprint H. (G3) and
Mr. Prospector H. (G3) before capping off his 2006 season with a second in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).
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Bred in New York by Kildare Stud and Adrian Regan, Friendly Island sold for
$85,000 at the OBS March Sale in 2003. The chestnut is the
first foal out of the winning Island Queen (Ogygian) and counts the unraced
sophomore Giant's Forza (High Yield) and a yearling by Lion Heart as half-brothers.
McCarthy said Friendly Island will likely be pointed toward the Dubai Golden
Shaheen (UAE-G1) on March 31.
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