No Talking Back, the longest shot on the board, rallied from far back and drew away for five-length victory Saturday in the $18,500 feature race for older fillies and mares on Kentucky Derby Day at Emerald Downs.
Ridden by Anne Sanguinetti, No Talking Back ran six furlongs in 1:09.44 and paid $60.40, the biggest $2 win price of the four-day-old meeting. Chris Stenslie, saddling her second winner Saturday, is the trainer for owners One Horse Will Do Corporation, Steve Shimizu and Carol Hubbird.
A maiden racing against winners, Stenslie said No Talking Back was only in the race because a maiden special weight race failed to fill, and she decided to take a shot against winners.
A 4-year-old Washington-bred by Flatter, No Talking Back is out of 2011 Gottstein Futurity champion Talk to My Lawyer. Her record is 1-4-1 in 10 starts with $37,567 in earnings, including $10, 175 for Saturday’s win.
In sixth place early as Retreat Yourself set contested fractions of :21.75 and :44.49, No Talking Back rallied wide into the lane, collared Racy Rascal and Retreat Yourself past mid-stretch and won going away.
Grace Bay, the 2-1 co-favorite, rallied inside for second place and paid $4 and $3, while Retreat Yourself held third and paid $3.80 to show. Jerre to Carrie, the other 2-1 favorite, rallied belatedly to finish fourth while Pepper Chrome, Sassy Debs Firefly, Racy Rascal and Getting Joellenned completed the order of finish.
Notes: In the $18,500 co-feature for 3-year-old fillies, George Todaro’s Diamonds R rolled to a gate-to-wire victory over Brilliant Bird in 1:03.07 for 5 ½ furlongs. A Kentucky-bred by Alternation, Diamonds R showed promise as a 2-year-old with an 11½-length maiden victory and a fourth in the Gottstein Futurity. Trained by Tom Wenzel and ridden by Leonel Camacho-Flores, the winner set splits of :21.85, :44.83 and :56.79 en route to a 2 ¼-length victory. … Frank Lucarelli book-ended the card with Das Bear ($6) and Cool Hard Luck ($8.20) for his second straight training double. … Stenslie and Jeff Metz also had a pair of wins on the nine-race card. … Javier Matias swept the early double aboard Das Bear and Oh Yes I Did ($27.40), and is now No. 10 all-time with 460 wins at Emerald Downs. … Newcomer Gary Wales also rode two winners Saturday while apprentice Lucas Gutierrez notched his first Emerald Downs’ victory in race three on Weaveittobeaver ($7). … Sanguinetti’s win on No Talking Back was her first at EmD since 2014. She mainly has ridden in California the last four years. … Live racing continues Sunday with first post 2 p.m. and features carryovers in the $0.50 Pick 5-$8,077 and $0.20 Jackpot Pick 7-$5,173.
