Just Katherine up in time in $135K Interborough

R.T Racing Stable’s Grade 2-placed Just Katherine arrived in the final strides to pick up her first career stakes win in Friday’s $135,000 Interborough, a seven-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Piloted by Sahin Civaci, the 6-year-old Justify bay cut back one furlong from a distant third off a long layoff here last out in the one-mile Listed Go for Wand to secure winning black type for the first time in her 10th attempt.

“Just amazing,” said Al Jimenez, assistant and son of winning trainer Jose Jimenez. “This filly was out for over a year. We had to take our time with her. We had to take the time and have the patience, and just trust her. She is an amazing filly. This is really unbelievable."

The complexion of the race changed at the start when 1-9 mutuel favorite Lucille Ball, the expected pacesetter, broke inward under Manny Franco from post 2-of-4 and was squeezed back behind rivals with Just Katherine exiting the inside post and Stonewall Star to her outside in post 3.

“She broke bad and the horses on my side squeezed me. After that, she wasn’t the same,” said Franco.

Ourdaydreaminggirl broke alertly from the outermost post but was soon overtaken by Stonewall Star, who marked the opening quarter-mile in 23.29 seconds over the fast main track.

Stonewall Star continued to show the way into the turn while pressured by Ourdaydreaminggirl with Lucille Ball traveling three-wide in third and Just Katherine saving ground in last through a half-mile in 46.02. 

Civaci gave Just Katherine her cue through the turn and the bay responded with a smart rail-skimming move to overtake Lucille Ball and Ourdaydreaminggirl, before tipping out in upper stretch to take dead aim at Stonewall Star. Just Katherine, under right-handed encouragement, continued to find more late in the lane and with one last lunge put her nose in front to secure the win in a final time of 1:24.28.

Civaci picked up his second local stakes win, adding to a score in last year’s Busanda with Running Away. He said Just Katherine was game to the wire.

“It was just about [timing] to get in front first. It took a while to get there, but she dug in,” Civaci said. “She gave a lot more and the four [Stonewall Star] kind of fell back a bit and that’s when I kind of got the bob.”

Jimenez credited Civaci for engineering a winning trip.

"That finish was tight. We were a little worried because we saw Sahin try to put her outside, but he managed her incredibly. He was able to put her where she had her best race, honestly,” Jimenez said.

It was four lengths back to Ourdaydreaminggirl in third with the previously undefeated Lucille Ball, who earned a field-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure last out, rounding out the order of finish. Sultry Lass and Her Laugh were scratched.

Jaime Rodriguez said the Horacio De Paz-trained Stonewall Star responded well under pressure.

“She broke good, and I thought the three horse [Lucille Ball] was going to go to the lead, but she broke a little bit bad and I said, ‘you know what, I’m taking this chance to go to the lead,’” Rodriguez said. “She’s comfortable and everything, and once we got from the three-eighths to the quarter pole, I got the six [Ourdaydreaminggirl] to the outside and I said, ‘we’ve got some company to run with her.’ Once the six stopped, she [Stonewall Star] kind of lost interest at the top of the lane. When the one [Just Katherine] came, she went to make another kick and then she just flattened. She ran huge.”

Just Katherine enjoyed a productive 4-year-old campaign at the Big A, finishing a neck second in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses before closing out her 2024 campaign with an optional-claiming win that September. She did not return to action until her third-place effort in the Go for Wand on December 13 here while racing from an over one-year layoff.

Just Katherine, out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Reve Enchante, is a half-sister to Dream It Is, who won the 2017 Grade 3 Schuylerville at Saratoga Race Course.

Bred in Kentucky by Boyd Brooks, Louis Brooks Racing Limited Partnership and Hugh Owen, et al, Just Katherine banked $74,250 in victory while improving her record to 17-5-3-4. She returned $16.76 for a $2 win bet.

The Interborough was originally scheduled for January 24 here.

Live racing is canceled on Saturday and Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack due to arctic temperatures and extremely low wind chill values forecast to impact the New York metropolitan area throughout the weekend. Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcast operations on Saturday and Sunday. 

Live racing resumes Wednesday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.  

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