Unhurried at the start of the mile long stakes race, Imply moved into contention around the far turn while running three wide and took over the lead at the sixteenth pole to win her second stakes and raise her earnings to $285,928.
Imply - Photo by Coady PhotographyImply, owned by Barlar, LLC, trained by Bernie Houghton and ridden by Julio Hernandez, won the $119,250 Northern Fling Stakes for Pa-bred fillies and mares 3 years old and up by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:37 04 on July 9 at Presque Isle race track.
Her time was slightly faster than that of Tom's Ready, who won the colt's equivalent of her race, the Leemat Stakes for Pa-bred 3 years old and up, in 1:37 16 at Presque Isle on the same day.
"She becomes a nicer filly the older she gets," said Houghton of the 4-year-old by E Dubai out of Allude, by Orientate.
"She's owned by Larry Karp of Plano, Tex.,"said Houghton. I met him about five years ago. The first horse I trained for him was Bound, and we had some nice wins with her."
"Larry now keeps all his broodmares with us," said Houghton, referring to his family's farm, Sylmar in Christiana, Pa., owned by his parents Ronnie and Betsy Houghton. "We have four of his broodmares now."
"Larry owns E Dubai and also owns a part of Jump Start," said Houghton.
"Imply is a very nice mare," said Houghton, "She won her first start for me (on July 11, 2015), a maiden race at Parx, and then in her next race won a stakes at Presque Isle."
Imply's first stakes win was in the Mrs. Henry D. Paxson Memorial Stakes on Sept. 20, 2015.
"She had a lot of speed as a youngster," said Houghton. "She's not a very massive mare. She's a little lean. She's won on grass, on dirt and on synthetic, all sprints."
Houghton said that he decided to try running her longer.
"I ran her long, and she was beaten a head by a horse of Todd Pletcher's," said Houghton. "Then she came back with the win at Presque isle."
Imply's first longer race was in the Lyphard Stakes at Penn National on June 3, where she finished second.
"She's a very nice mare," said Houghton. "She loves to walk out on the track and stop to watch the other horses go by," said Houghton. "She'd just stand there watching as long as you'd let her."
"We're aiming for the long race on the turf on Pa-bred day at Penn National. I think it's the Mrs. Penny," said Houghton. "We'll try to find an allowance for her before then. I want to keep her long on the grass. Then at the end of the meet at Presques Isle, there's a $100,000 race. We're definitely going to take her up there. She likes it there. She's won two stakes there."
Imply beat Steve Long's Great Soul, trained by Thomas Proctor and ridden by Florent Geroux, by 1 3/4 lengths with Tuozzo Racing LLC's Lucabunny, trained by Kevin Rice and ridden by Willie Martinez, another 5 lengths back in third.
In the colt's section of the two Pa-bred stakes, the Leemat Stakes, G M B Racing's Tom's Ready, trained by Dallas Stewart and ridden by Brian Hernandez, Jr., beat The Elkstone Group LLC's Edge of Reality, trained by Thomas Morley and ridden by Jeremy Rose, by a head with The Elkstone Group LLC's Duff, trained by Ron Potts and ridden by Ronald Allen, Jr., 3 1/2 lengths back in third.
