Wild Henny Kicks Down Door In Gr. 2 Davey Jones

Wild Henny has been knocking on the graded stakes door for a long time now, according to her owner, Rob, of Desperado Stables.

And she finally kicked it down this weekend.

The five year old scratch-bred daughter of Henny Hughes got her first graded stakes win, when she stalked the leaders early and came on with a strong late push in the stretch to beat Beth Phoenix by 1 ½ lengths in the Grade 2 Davey Jones Handicap in Florida on Saturday.

“It was a big win,” said Rob. “Because, while she has knocked on the door before, this is the first time she broke through.”

She did indeed break through this weekend, and Wild Henny did it impressively.

She broke out of the gates and settled in fifth place much of the way, just a few lengths behind the early leader, Pickin’ Winners, who had a 3 ¼ length lead at the top of the stretch. That’s just about the time Wild Henny finally kicked it into gear and cruised past horses in the stretch to score her first graded win.

“Wild Henny means a lot to me because she was the last of my strong (breeding) tries to Henny Hughes,” said Rob. “I have backed off due to his failure as a real life stud. The Henny x Wild Again nick worked for Henny’s first sim Grade 1 winner Henny Again, so I tried this one.”

It’s a good thing Rob did, too, because now he says he’s got a contender for the Breeders’ Bowl in November, he thinks.  At least that’s the plan, said Rob.  

“I will target the Breeders Bowl Filly and Mare Sprint as the end of the season goal,” said Rob, after Wild Henny beat a pretty strong field here Saturday in the Grade 2 Davey Jones.

She pulled the second 110 speed figure of her career in scoring the win. The only other time Wild Henny had a speed figure that high was when she popped a 110 in an allowance win last October in Michigan. Since then, Wild Henny has won three of her five starts, including a second place finish in the Grade 2 Blueberry in Ontario last season.

“The speed figure was not too shocking,” said Rob, who had two entries in Saturday’s Grade 2 Davey Jones. “But she beat a strong field, and I look forward to the rest of the year.”

Pickin’ Winners, the 7/1 second choice in Saturday’s race looked pretty hot early on in Saturday’s race, wheeling and dealing on the front end early and playing catch-me-if-you-can with the field of 12 others.

“She (Pickin’ Winners) ran a good race,” said her owner, Pete, of Denovo Stables. “But it’s back to the drawing board now.”

Wild Henny ran the seven furlongs in a time of 1:21 2/5. That was 2/5 of a second off the stakes record of 1:21 flat, a record held by 2009 winner Skidburg and 2011 winner Smoked Ya.  It was the fourth running of the Davey Jones, an early season indicator of who just might be live for the Breeders’ Bowl Filly And Mare Dirt Sprint come November. 

After second place finisher Beth Phoenix, it took a while for the guys in the photo booth to sort out the third, fourth and fifth place finishers in the Davey Jones.  All three hit the wire together, and it was tough to pick them apart, but when the dust finally settled, the post-time favorite, Quit Whining Tom was third, with Il Pericolo fourth, and Pickin’ Winners fifth.

The 4-2 exacta with Wild Henny and Beth Phoenix, of Shamrock Stables, paid a pretty nice $176.10. The 4-2-9 trifecta with Quit Whining Tom third paid nearly a thousand bucks, $963.10.

Wild Henny, who was sent off at a 9/1 by the crowd in Florida, paid $20.00, $10.50 and $6.80 across the board.