Etrusca(ENG) wins thriller in Don’t Miss Out Handicap

Etrusca(ENG) survived pressure early and late to grab the victory in a thriller in this week’s Don’t Miss Out Handicap. She took the field gate to wire to keep the favorite’s jinx alive, and record her third career stakes victory in her twelve starts. The win takes her career earnings to the $156,300 mark, a quite nice $13025 per race. It also catapulted her into the top 50 three year old female turf sprinters, moving her up to a number 48 divisional ranking. It wasn’t a great week at the betting windows, but it could have been worse. The winner paid $6.60 $3.30 $2.70 across the board. Exotic payouts were slim, with the exacta weighing in at $14.30 and we saw a $32.60 payout in the trifecta.

This race was tight from beginning to end. Etrusca(ENG) nosed out front early, pressured hard by both Gossiper(KY) and Lost Project(KY). They were still tightly packed at first call, with only a head separating Etrusca(ENG) and Gossiper(KY), and Lost Project(KY) within a half length. Etrusca(ENG) was able to get a little breathing space by the half, but only a quarter length, and Lost Project(KY) had settled a length off the leaders. The tableau was the same at third call, but as they drove into the stretch, Etrusca(ENG) turned up the heat, opening up her biggest lead of the race at one length, and it appeared she was poised to run away with this one late. They weren’t going to make it easy on her, though, with the gap starting to narrow once more as they approached the wire. When the dust cleared, it was Etrusca(ENG) by a half length over the driving Lost Project(KY), as she nosed past Gossiper(KY) who hung on to third, three quarters off as they crossed the finish line.