Mico Margarita wins the $60,000 Oak Hall Stakes in a track record performance at Evangeline Downs

Mico Margarita wins the $60,000 Oak Hall Stakes in a track record performance at Evangeline Downs

Opelousas, Louisiana -Mico Margarita, a Graded Stakes winner making his first start in Louisiana, proved too much for his opponents as well as the teletimer in the $60,000 Oak Hall Stakes at Evangeline Downs Racetrack Casino and Hotel on Saturday evening. Taking advantage of an early speed duel between Unitas and M Dication, the Kentucky bred 4-year-old son of Run Away and Hide rallied to front in the upper stretch when given his cue by jockey Diego Saenz and then quickly pulled away from his overmatched rivals under a hand ride while stopping the clock in a time of 1:08.37 for the six furlongs, which bettered the previous mark of 1:08.63 set by Lattin Devil in April, 2013.

The official margin of victory was 8 ¾’s lengths.

Unitas held on for the runner-up spot, a neck in front of Knockitdownhard. M Dication, who set the early pace of 21.56 & 44.23 for the opening ¼ & ½ mile, tired in the stretch and finished 4th, with Awesome Intime completing the official order of finish.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, who leads the nation in wins and is second behind only Todd Pletcher in earnings for 2014, Mico Margarita earned $36,000 for the win, and has now earned more than $310,000 in total for his El Paso, TX based owner J. Kirk Robison.

Additional stakes action on the opening weekend of the 2014 Spring/Summer racing season saw Dale Ladner’s Sittin At the Bar run her record to a perfect 4-for-4 at Evangeline Downs with her gritty front-running score over Afternoon Tango and Guadalupe High in the $60,000 Hallowed Dreams. Ridden by Colby Hernandez, the daughter of Into Mischief scored by a half-length and with her $36,000 winner’s share of the purse pushed her lifetime earnings past the $700,000 mark. Purchased for $30,000 as a yearling back in 2011, the Louisiana bred filly now sports an overall race record of 11 wins from 18 starts. Trained by Brett Brinkman, she covered the six furlongs on a track labeled fast in 1:10.34 and returned $3.00 as the odds/on favorite in the wagering.

The 2014 Spring/Summer Thoroughbred racing season features a four-evening-a-week schedule, Wednesday’s thru Saturday’s with a first post of 5:40 P.M. Central Time.