NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CMC) — Shaun Bridgmohan collected his second stakes victory for the year and shared three wins with his younger brother Jermaine on Saturday's 10-race card at the Fair Grounds Race Course.
The elder Bridgmohan drove the 2-1 favourite Cherokee Queen to a one-and-half-length victory over Juanita, under Miguel Mena, to capture the US$75,000 penultimate race on the card, the Marie G Krantz Memorial Handicap.
Cherokee Queen, the six-year-old, dark bay mare, completed the 1,700-metre trip on the turf in one minute, 45.59 seconds.
It was one of two wins on the card for the elder Bridgmohan. He now has 25 wins for the winter season at the track and is tied for sixth with Shane Sellers in the jockeys' standing, currently headed by Rosie Napravnik with 53.
"She's an old, classy mare," said Bridgmohan. "All you have to do is find her some room to run late, and she usually kicks in," he added.
Bridgmohan kept Cherokee Queen reserved at the back of the field, advancing his mount five-wide on the far turn, and coming six-wide into the stretch.
The elder Bridgmohan put Cherokee Queen to a drive while well out in the course, rallying on the outside, and closed strongly to win going away to give the animal her 11th career victory.
Bridgmohan had earlier collected a three-and-a-half-length victory aboard Sweet Margi in the US$16,000 second race, going 1,200m on the dirt.
The younger Bridgmohan had to settle
for a two-length victory astride the 12-1 outsider Mister H in the US$18,000 fifth race over 1,000m.
It was the younger Bridgmohan's eighth win of the season. which placed him in 10th place.
