Tommy Town Thoroughbreds’ classy 4-year-old sprinter Opening Buzz gamely held off a fast charging Baby No Worries to win the 27th running of the $97,550 WEBN Frog Stakes on St. Patrick’s Day at Turfway Park.
Trained by Jonathan Wong and ridden by Luan Machado, Opening Buzz tabbed her fifth lifetime win in just eight starts in the WEBN Frog Stakes. The talented sprinter completed six furlongs in 1:09.62.
Opening Buzz wins Frog Stakes at Turfway. (Coady Photography photo)
Opening Buzz sat fifth in the early stages of the WEBN Frog Stakes. While she was biding her time 4 ½ lengths off the early proceedings, fleet-footed stablemates Quaria Comet and Thunder Love set a swift quarter-mile fraction of :21.80. As the two stablemates dueled on the lead, Altered Shot and Awesome Treat raced just off their heels in third and fourth, respectively. Around the far turn, following a half-mile time of :45.27, Machado began asking Opening Buzz for her best run and tipped her three wide into the home stretch. At the eighth-pole, Opening Buzz inherited the lead from a tiring Quaria Comet and was able to hold off 15-1 longshot Baby No Worries by a neck in the final strides of the six-furlong contest.
Opening Buzz was the 8-5 post time favorite of the WEBN Frog Stakes and returned $5.54, $3.50 and $2.70. Baby No Worries, with Manny Esquivel in the saddle, paid $9.40 and $4.08. Quaria Comet, ridden by Gerardo Corrales, paid $2.90.
Opening Buzz is a daughter of Stanford out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Open Mic. She was bred in California by her owners.
With her victory in the WEBN Frog Stakes, Opening Buzz pot o’ gold grew to $201,993 and her lifetime record improved to a stout 8-5-0-0.
Racing is set to resume Saturday from Turfway Park Racing & Gaming with a first post of 5:55 p.m. ET.
For more information about racing from Turfway Park, visit www.turfway.com.
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