1st-Aqueduct, $96,500, Msw, 4-19, 2yo, 4 1/2f, :52.82, ft.
MAVEN (c, 2, American Pharoah–Richies Party Girl {MSW, $357,085}, by Any Given Saturday) became the first winner for the 2015 Triple Crown winner in the U.S. and second overall in the Friday opener at Aqueduct. The 2-5 favorite broke sharply and was gunned to the front by Dylan Davis. A bit hard to handle in the early stages, he was challenged by 21-1 longshot Lebda (Raison d'Etat), a $1,000 EASOCT graduate, at the top of the stretch. Maven kept finding down the lane and went on to graduate by a half-length. The chestnut is the first foal out of Richies Party Girl (Any Given Saturday), a three-time stakes winner on grass. American Pharoah was represented by 'TDN Rising Star' Monarch of Egypt at Naas in Ireland last weekend. “I'm getting texts from everyone watching the race,” winning breeder/trainer Ward said. “It's fantastic for racing, for Coolmore, for owner Richard Ravin and most importantly, for me. What I see is that he's going to be a good sire. The dam [Richies Party Girl] was a turf sprinter and I think this one is going to be a turf sprinter as well. He's had outstanding works over the Polytrack at Turfway which translates to turf. We'll run him in the Norfolk at Royal Ascot and hopefully we can put American Pharoah on the big scale as a sire.” Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $50,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Richard Ravin; B/T-Wesley Ward (KY).
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