Street Story regains the plot in Winning Colors

"I was pretty much sure I could win this stakes. I had to keep her on the

clear as much as possible and it went great. I had a good enough post to do so

and I took advantage of it. I had the 8-5 favorite next to me when I squeezed

mine just before the quarter-pole. I pretty much knew I had it."

Heykittykitty (Tactical Cat), a ground-saving fourth early, closed down the

stretch to finish a clear second. Spring Included crossed the wire a further 1

3/4 lengths adrift in third, and Milam (Street Sense) worked her way into

fourth. Southern Honey beat just one home, in a photo.

"It's a long time off," said Southern Honey's trainer, Rusty Arnold, who

alluded to her vacation since her sixth in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint

(G1).

"The race didn't go exactly like I thought it would. I don't know about the

surface, I'm not using it as an excuse I just don't know. She's out of a Carson

City mare so she should like it, but doesn't mean they'll like it. It was

probably a little fast but you know how this track gets, they'll do that. I

think they did that in an earlier race that might not have been a top race.

"I'm disappointed right now, but if she comes back good and my objectives are

a little bit further a long, so it's not the end of the world."

Street Story was returning to Churchill for the first time since her maiden

victory as a juvenile. She raced only once more in 2013, finishing a distant

second in the Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds. Street Story went on to take a

pair of stakes at Oaklawn in 2014, the Dixie Belle and Instant Racing, before

plundering Belmont Park in the Victory Ride.

Sidelined following a 10th in the Test S. (G1), Street Story wintered with

Steve Flint at Fair Grounds. She checked in a troubled third when resurfacing in

the Mardi Gras and didn't enjoy the surface switch when fifth in a grassy

optional claimer on March 15. Street Story was reunited with Asmussen at Oaklawn,

where she played second fiddle to Spring Included in the April 8 Carousel. She

gained revenge in the Winning Colors and thereby advanced her line to 13-5-2-1,

$339,430.

"She's been training very well here at Churchill; she had some good works,"

assistant trainer Darren Fleming said. "She was annihilated (by a troubled start

in the Carousel), she had no shot. The start cost her that race.

"When you bring her over here she tries hard every time. I didn't think (the

off track) hurt her; she had run on it before. She won on it at Oaklawn once

before."

Bred by John C. Oxley in Kentucky, Street Story was sold for $155,000 as a

yearling at Keeneland September. The four-year-old is a half-sister to Grade

1-placed Paige (Sky Mesa) and to multiple Grade 2-placed Medjool (Monarchos).

They were produced by Perfect Story (Tale of the Cat), a winning half-sister to

Hall of Famer Point Given (Thunder Gulch).

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