WinStar Stablemates Racing LLC’s Crystal Ball earned her first stakes victory on Saturday at Thistledown with a 1 1/4-length victory in the $250,000 Lady Jacqueline S.
Making her first start for trainer Rodolphe Brisset on Saturday, Crystal Ball came out of the gate running and was battling for the lead into the first turn. Longshot Racinrosemary took command after a quarter-mile and set the pace until Crystal Ball rolled by her with a quarter-mile to go. Miss Bigly presented a challenge in upper stretch, but Crystal Ball shook clear to finish the 1 1/8-miles in 1:51.80 on a fast track.
“She’s been with us a little over five weeks,” said Brisset. “We breezed her every week and she’s been training very well. (Thankfully) we got it done today.”
The 4-year-old filly was just a head back of her fellow Stablemates runner Paris Lights in last year’s Coaching Club American Oaks (G1). She is undefeated in three starts this year and is 4-1-1 in seven lifetime outings, with earnings of $373,608.