Fist Full of Green rallied to the lead past mid-stretch and scored a 1 ¾-length victory Monday in the $18,900 Sound Transit Purse for 3-year-olds and up at Emerald Downs.
Ridden by Eliska Kubinova, Fist Full of Green ran one mile in 1:36.44 on a fast track and paid $5, $3 and $2.10. Roy Lumm is the trainer and co-owner with Mort Robbins and James and Linda Kirschman.
A steady 5-year-old California-bred by Bertrando, Fist Full of Green is 2-0-1 in four starts at the meet and 5-2-4 in 16 lifetime starts. Monday’s win was worth $10,395, pushing the gelding’s career bankroll to $64,361.
Perfect Night, ridden by Jennifer Whitaker, finished second and paid $2.60 and $2.10, and Prayer for Da Bric, the early leader ridden by Isaias Enriquez, held third and paid $2.10. Somewhere With You and Joel N Jill completed the order of finish.
Before Monday, Fist Full of Green had never raced longer than 6 ½ furlongs, but the gelding took to routing like an old pro, saving ground inside as Prayer for Da Bric led Perfect Night through fractions of :24.04 and :47.36. Angled outside into the stretch, Fist Full of Green responded to urging and collared the leaders a furlong out and won going away.
NOTES: Lady Aragorn rallied from last to score a 35-to-1 upset in race six under Eliska Kubinova for trainer Sam Dronen. The $73.20 win payoff was a meet-high, as was the $373.60 exacta payoff coupling Lady Aragorn and runner-up Bella Angelina. . .Dronen had two wins as Miss Madavor ($5) came off the bench to score her 19th career win in the Memorial Day nightcap. The 7-year-old mare won five of her last six starts this winter at Portland Meadows. . .Lucky Some Beach ($6) set a track record for 400 yards in Sunday’s second race for older Quarter Horses. A 4-year-old Idaho-bred trained by Alan Bozell and ridden by Javier Matias, Lucky Some Beach has won four straight after beginning his career with nine straight losses. . .Bozell also had two wins Monday while Kubinova and Matias rode two winners apiece on the 10-race card. . .Leading rider Rocco Bowen scored a gate-to-wire victory aboard Mister Breeze ($14.80) in the seventh race and finished week seven with 28-24 lead over Leslie Mawing. . .In the trainers’ race, Jeff Metz leads Frank Lucarelli 25-13, with Tim McCanna third with nine wins. . .Summer Hit ($3.20) improved to 11-for-20 lifetime with a victory in the $100,000 All American Handicap (G3) at Golden Gate Fields. Ridden by Russell Baze for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Summer Hit ran one mile in 1:38.01 to defeat 24-to-1 stable mate Longview Drive by a head, with the Blaine Wright-trained Hudson Landing finishing third. . .Earlier Monday at Golden Gate, 2013 Eclipse champion 2-year-old Shared Belief ($2.40) made a triumphant season debut and remained undefeated with an easy 4 ¼-length allowance victory under Baze in 1:09.78 for six furlongs. Owned by Hollendorfer, Jim Rome and George Todaro, Shared Belief had been off since a 5 ¾-length victory in the Grade 1 Cash Call Futurity on December 14. . .Live racing resumes Friday with first post 6:45 p.m. . .Also Friday, Santa Anita has a Pick Six carryover of $407,077. First post in Arcadia is 3 p.m.
