SIGHTSEEK DOMINATES HUMANA DISTAFF
Sightseek, a daughter of Distant View out of the Nureyev mare
Viviana, triumphed in the Gr.1 Humana Distaff Handicap on the
Kentucky Derby undercard. Sightseek covered the seven furlongs in
1:22.12 and returned $3.60 as the 8-5 favorite. As expected, Flaxen
Flyer rocketed to the early lead and set fractions of 22.56 seconds
and 46.54. Bailey and Sightseek were in the second flight with Miss
Lodi, Gold Mover, and Slews Final Answer. In the stretch, jockey
Jerry Bailey found a seam between horses and sent Sightseek on
through and she galloped away from the field to win by 4 ½ lengths.
Bailey said he studied the form for a long time prior to the race
trying to figure out which horse would try to keep Sightseek pinned
in along the inside. In the end, it didn’t matter as once Bailey
extracted her from traffic, Sightseek made a powerful move. Bailey
said. “On the turn, I had a lot of filly and I knew I just had to
wait for something to happen; for a seam to open. I had to guess
whether the four [Miss Lodi] or the five [Flaxen Flyer] would drift
and when I saw the hole happen, I had plenty of filly to go through
there. It gives me confidence to know she will sit in there as long
as it takes and she will explode when I ask her.” Bred In Kentucky,
Sightseek has never finished worse than second with five wins from
nine starts, and she improved her earnings to
$539,886.
Date:
02 June 2003