Still There Gets There First in Saturday’s $75,000 Twixt Stakes
Still There Gets There First in Saturday’s $75,000 Twixt Stakes
4-Year-Old Filly Outruns Field of Stakes Winners in Fourth Career Start
LAUREL, MD – PTK LLC’s Still There, facing stakes company for the first time in just her fourth career start, took command at the top of the stretch and steadily pulled clear through the lane to post a 3 ½-length upset of Saturday’s $75,000 Twixt Stakes at Laurel Park.
The 36th running of the seven-furlong Twixt Stakes for fillies and mares 3 and up highlighted an 11-race program as Laurel joined racetracks around the country on PDJF Day Across America to help raise money and awareness for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.
Ridden by Jevian Toledo for trainer Dane Kobiskie, Still There ($14.60) completed the distance in 1:21.72 over a fast main track for her third win from four lifetime starts, all this year. She bested a field that included two-time graded-stakes winner Tequilita; multiple stakes winner Lake Ponchatrain, with 13 career victories; and stakes winner Bishop’s Pond, the lukewarm 2-1 favorite.
Toledo was content to let Still There settle in third as Magical, also making her stakes debut, broke running and went the opening quarter-mile in 22.82 seconds with Bishop’s Pond in close pursuit. Kept in the clear three wide, Still There moved into a contending position around the far turn as the half went in 45.50, swept to the lead on the outside and powered away from her rivals once straightened for home.
“She’s a nice filly,” said Toledo, Maryland’s leading rider in 2015 and 2017. “[The trainer] told me he got her ready today, and he was right. I just put her in a great spot and when I asked her she gave me everything she had. I had plenty of horse. In the last part, I just put my stick away.”
Lake Ponchatrain used a late surge to edge Bishop’s Pond by a neck for third, and it was another three-quarters of a length back to a hard-ridden Tequilita in fourth. They were followed past the wire by Magical, Power of Snunner and Not Taken, who was fractious in the gate.
Kansas-born Kobiskie, 39, won Laurel Park meet titles in 2011 and 2012 and was Maryland’s leading overall trainer in 2011. The former jockey won 290 career races and more than $5.4 million in a brief riding career, 153 of those wins coming at Laurel and legendary Pimlico Race Course.
A 4-year-old daughter of 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags, also the sire of Tequilita, Still There didn’t debut until taking a Keeneland maiden special weight in April. She won an entry-level allowance sprint that was taken off the grass May 27 at Belmont Park, where she ran last over the turf in a one-mile optional claimer June 29.
“It’s good to be back when you win like this. We’ve just been gone for a few years,” Kobiskie said. “I brought a few horses to run this weekend and she was the main reason for coming. She’s a New York-bred and I had run her on the grass up there because they didn’t have any long dirt races for her. She didn’t like the grass at all and this was our [next] option. The race came up a little bit tougher than I thought it would, but we decided to go ahead and run anyway.”
The Twixt is named for the Maryland-bred mare that won 26 of 70 starts and $619,141 in purses from 1972-75. Seven of her 18 stakes wins came in graded company including the 1975 Top Flight (G1) and back-to-back editions of the Barbara Fritchie (G2) in 1974 and 1975. She was a Maryland-bred champion in each of her racing seasons and Maryland’s Horse of the Year in 1973 and 1974.
