Lookin good in the Great White Way

Chester and Mary Broman's homebred LOOKIN AT HER (Hook and Ladder) was a

good-looking, upset winner of the $100,000

Great White Way division of the New York Stallion S., one of six divisions

in the series contested at Aqueduct on Sunday.

Rebounding from a retreating sixth in the New York Breeders' Futurity, the

10-1 Lookin at Her dictated the pace beneath Cornelio Velasquez and never looked

back. The Ramon "Mike" Hernandez juvenile enjoyed a 1 1/2-length advantage after

a half and widened his margin thereafter, pulling 5 1/4 lengths clear while

completing six furlongs in 1:11 on a good track. Tall Poppi (Intidab), the 3-5

favorite, gave game chase but had to settle for runner-up honors.

"He broke two or three lengths in front and took the lead easy," Velasquez

said. "When I asked at the quarter-pole I had a lot of horse."

"Well, we could not be any happier," said Hernandez, 85, the oldest active

trainer on the NYRA circuit. "I thought the horse was doing very, very well and

has shown that he can move. He broke super, he was really relaxing well and I

thought we had a heck of a chance. We don't know where we're heading yet. I hope

we stay in the New York-bred program and hope we go the mile. After today, we'll

see."

The gray Lookin at Her, who was third in the Aspirant S. in his stakes debut

two back, now sports a 5-2-0-2 record with $115,906 in earnings.

Later on the card, Hernandez and Velasquez again proved to be a winning

combination when CLASSIC PACK (Regal Classic) rolled to a 2 1/2-length tally in

the $75,000

Cormorant division. After biding his time early, the 2-1 chance blew past

Pennington (Western Expression) and 3-2 favorite Logic Way (Freud) in midstretch

en route to finishing 1 1/16 miles on yielding turf in 1:45 2/5.

"Well, you know this horse, he's always been very honest," Hernandez

noted. "When we put him on the grass, he always runs well."

A homebred campaigned by John T. Becker, Classic Pack advanced his mark to

24-6-3-5, $574,544. The five-year-old claims four previous stakes coups,

including the 2005 Great White Way, and his seven stakes placings include a

third in the 2006 Cormorant.

In the $100,000

Fifth

Avenue division for two-year-old fillies, 6-5 favorite Mother Russia (Mayakovsky)

tried to go wire-to-wire, but she surrendered late to SARAH ACCOMPLISHED

(Performing Magic). The apparently lesser half of the Richard Dutrow entry that

was dispatched at 2-1, Sarah Accomplished tracked Mother Russia in second for

much of the six-furlong test, and Jose Lezcano just managed to galvanize her in

time for a three-quarters of a length score in 1:11 2/5. Her better fancied

entrymate, Anjorie (A. P. Jet), wound up an even sixth.

"She ran really nice, she's quite a filly, what can I say," Lezcano said.

"She could have given me a little more; she broke a little over, but after that

she started picking up good."

Sarah Accomplished, a Sugar Maple Farm homebred, boosted her bankroll to

$93,486 from her 4-2-0-1 line. The dark bay was coming off a non-threatening

seventh in the Maid of the Mist S., her first stakes attempt.

Lezcano visited the winner's circle two races later aboard George

Santangelo's FOLLOW MY DREAM (Freud), who drove to a half-length success in the

$75,000

Perfect Arc division. Forwardly placed through a dawdling early tempo on the

yielding turf, the 7-2 third choice darted through along the inside to take

command and held off a late bid by Sax in the City (Western Expression). Bella

Attrice (Tomorrows Cat), the 8-5 favorite, was never in the hunt and checked in

sixth, while Nehantic Kat (Tomorrows Cat), the 9-5 choice on the morning line,

was withdrawn. Follow My Dream stopped the teletimer in 1:49 1/5 for 1 1/16

miles to record her first career stakes victory, and snap a losing streak dating

back to September 2007.

"The filly has been very unlucky this year," trainer Colum O'Brien said. "She

should have won four or five races but everything just went wrong because she's

a come-from-behind horse. He rode her perfect. He could not have ridden her any

better. I'm very pleased with the ride; that's what can win a race. Now she's

going to get turned out for the winter and we'll bring her back next year."

The five-year-old mare, who was fourth in last year's Perfect Arc, improved

her scorecard to 26-4-3-3 with $232,536 in her account.

Lezcano bagged his third stakes score of the day in the $75,000

Thunder Rumble division, encouraging the deep-closing MOR CHANCES (American

Chance) to get up by three-quarters of a length at the line. The Dutrow charge

overhauled the battling pair of Good Card (Good and Tough) and Gold and Roses

(Gold Token) while reeling off seven furlongs in 1:22 3/5 on a track that had

been upgraded to fast. With Almighty Silver (Catienus) getting up for fourth,

the top four finishers were all sent off at odds of 7-1. Even-money favorite

Spanky Fischbein (Hook and Ladder) was in the thick of it turning for home but

weakened in the stretch to finish fifth.

"The jock gave him a really good ride, the horse ran a really big race and it

all adds up," Dutrow summed up.

With this initial stakes victory on his resume, Mor Chances boasts $247,662

in earnings to go along with his 23-5-3-3 record. The four-year-old is owned by

Vincent Scuderi and Sullivan Lane Stable.

While Sunday's stakes action largely witnessed upsets of varying degrees, one

favorite managed to buck the trend, but only barely. Mike Pegram, Karl Watson

and Weitman Performances' UNDER SERVICED (Hook and Ladder) scraped home by a

nose as the prohibitive 1-2 choice in the $75,000

Staten Island division. After controlling the pace throughout beneath John

Velazquez, the Bob Baffert filly opened up by two lengths in midstretch, but

Point Me to It (Precise End) emerged as a threat inside the final furlong. Under

Serviced found her margin dwindling, and she was in an all-out struggle to hold

on in the photo. The sophomore's final time for the fast-track seven furlongs

was 1:23 2/5.

"We knew she was going to be close to the lead or holding the lead,"

Velazquez said. "She was going pretty easy and I thought she was going to get

away from the group, but she got up a little bit and then started waiting for

the other horses, but she held on."

Under Serviced captured her stakes debut in the Schenectady H. two starts ago

and was most recently third in the Iroquois H. The bay, who has registered a

7-5-1-1 mark, brandishes a bankroll worth $226,880.