Dick Memorial: Palmilla scores at 20-1
Delaware Park, 6th Race - July 12, 2008
| $284,800 Robert G. Dick Memorial H. (G3) | ||||
| Pgm | Horse | Win | Place | Show |
| 4 | Palmilla | 42.20 | 11.20 | 4.40 |
| 3 | Herboriste (GB) | 4.20 | 2.40 | |
| 1 | Rosinka (IRE) | 2.10 | ||
| $2 Exacta (4-3) Paid $156.00, $2 Trifecta (4-3-1) Paid $251.00
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STANTON, Del. - After watching his 5-year-old mare Palmilla finish behind Rosinka four times since March, trainer Jonathan Sheppard wasn't confident the outcome would be much different in the $300,300 Robert G. Dick Memorial.
"I wasn't really expecting to win," Sheppard said. "I was hoping to get a little piece of it with a decent effort."
The betting public agreed with Sheppard, sending off Palmilla at 20-1 as the longest shot in a field of six older fillies and mares in the Grade 3, 1 3/8-mile turf stakes, while pounding defending champ Rosinka to 2-5.
Two weeks after she was unable to do better than finish third in a stakes restricted to Pennsylvania-breds at Philadelphia Park, Palmilla ($42.20) roared past a struggling Rosinka to score by 3 1/2 lengths. Rosinka, who held a two-length lead with a furlong remaining, was nosed out for second by 5-1 second choice Herboriste. The winning time was 2:04.09.
Jockey Rosemary Homeister Jr. said Palmilla relished a turf course that was softened by watering done by Delaware's track maintenance crew.
"At the quarter pole I thought we had a chance," said Homeister, whose only previous ride on Palmilla produced a fourth-place finish behind Rosinka in last month's John Rooney Memorial. "I hit her once and she really accelerated."
Sheppard said Palmilla, who has now won 4 of 13 lifetime starts, might be considered for one of the long-distance turf stakes at Saratoga.
* Five Steps ($6.60), sent to the lead by J.D. Acosta after coming from off the pace in his last five starts, cruised to a 5 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 R.R.M. Carpenter Jr. Memorial Stakes. A 7-year-old trained by Chris Grove for owner William Harris, Five Steps has now won 5 of 6 starts, including three stakes, since he returned from a break of 21 months in July 2007. He ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.44.
