LAUREL, MD. 01-25-14---Martin Scafidi’s Winning Image showed initiative and showed the way in the $100,000 What A Summer Stakes, the last of four stakes races Saturday afternoon at Laurel Park.

Away alertly under Tony Black for trainer Michael Aro, Winning Image battled post time favorite She’s Ordained into defeat and completed the six-furlong distance in 1:10.37 to win by 1-3/4 lengths.

“She had some early pressure but she’s used to it,” said Black, who ranks 23^rd on the all-time North America win list with 5,205 career victories. “She broke a little awkward. She broke in on the six (Vicki’s Dancer) and the eight (Crespano) stumbled out of the gate. I was able to get her back into position. She has natural speed. She’s as quick as some of the better horses I have ridden like Dave’s Friend and My Juliet.”

The win was the eighth stakes victory for the 7-year-old daughter of Southern Image, which included a run of four straight stakes from December 2012 to July 2013.

“We were locked down for two months because of the quarantine at Parx which kept us from running anywhere,” Aro said. All we did was train, train, train. This mare is very fast and that’s always been her style, just go to the front. Jose Caraballo had to ride in Florida so he couldn’t get up here and he recommended giving Tony a shot. He thought with his expert technique on speed horses and being the journeyman that he is he would get along with her perfectly. Glad I took his advice.”

Winning Image paid $9.40.

About Laurel Park

Laurel Park is a Stronach Group company, North America’s leading Thoroughbred racetrack owner/operator. The Stronach Group racetracks include Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park & Casino, Golden Gate Fields, Portland Meadows, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, home of the world-famous Preakness. The company owns and operates the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida and is one of North America's top race horse breeders through its award-winning Adena Springs operation. The Stronach Group is one of the world's largest suppliers of pari-mutuel wagering systems, technologies and services. Its companies include AmTote, a global leader in wagering technology; Xpressbet, an Internet and telephone account wagering service; and Monarch Content Management, which acts as a simulcast purchase and sales agent of horseracing content for numerous North American racetracks and wagering outlets. The Stronach Group is also a major producer of televised horse racing programming through its HRTV cable and satellite network and is North America's premier supplier of virtual online horse racing games, as well as a leading producer of social media content for the horseracing industry.