 Coady
Photography / Oaklawn Park
Gleaming Scores Second Straight in Spring Fever
HOT SPRINGS, AR - Feb. 19, 2012 – Whenever Sanders and Hirsch’s
Gleaming runs at Oaklawn this year, there seems to be travel
complications for her regular jockey Cliff Berry. She needed a
replacement rider when she won the American Beauty Stakes last
month, but Berry had less trouble making it to Hot Springs Sunday,
and the two travelled beautifully together in taking the $60,000
Spring Fever.
Trained by Bret Calhoun, Gleaming stalked the pace of the 5
˝-furlong contest before unleashing another powerful stretch kick to
cruise past front-running entry mates Bent Missile and Awesome
Symmetry and score by a length in 1:04.96 over a fast track and
paying $3.60 as the 4-5 favorite.
The coupled entry mates in the place and show spots paid $5.40 and
$5.20. Hearts on Fire finished fourth.
Gleaming, a 5-year-old Dehere mare, fell farther behind in the
American Beauty on Jan. 22 under jockey Lindey Wade. He had picked
up the mount when Berry had been fog-bound in Houston after riding
there the night before and Wade guided her to a huge performance.
Berry was in Texas again Saturday night, but a flight back to
Arkansas returned him in time for the second race today.
“Lindey did a great job with her last time,” said Calhoun. “But
she’s gotten a little older and a little crafty and she can try and
take advantage of someone who might not have much experience with
her, and she did that a little bit in the last race by falling so
far behind. It worked out alright then, but with only going 5 ˝ this
time, I wanted to get Cliff back because he knows her a little bit
more.”
It was the eighth career win in 15 starts for Gleaming and upped her
career bankroll to $278,566. Calhoun indicated the confirmed fan of
Oaklawn would be pointed to the $75,000 Carousel Stakes here in
April.
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