Shackleford got his latest graded stakes winner on Sunday when Danuska’s My Girl turned in a very impressive performance in the Las Flores S. (G3) at Santa Anita Park, drawing off in the stretch after setting all the fractions, to win by 3 1/4-lengths.
The 5-year-old was making her first stakes start, but has now won three races in a row since teaming up with jockey Geovanni Franco.
“No question, Geovanni’s made a big difference with this mare,” Jerry Hollendorfer assistant trainer Dan Ward said. “We like the way he rides.”
After contesting the early pace, Franco and his mount sprinted away from the field in the stretch to cover the six furlongs on the fast track in 1:10.23.
“I knew it the second time I rode her, she showed me she had lots of heart,” Franco added. “I knew she would fight them off whenever they got close to her, and she sure did. She could feel (runner-up) Emboldened coming, and she just kept on going.”
Danuska’s My Girl upped her mark to 4-2-4 in 13 starts and earnings to $198,810 for Bad Boy Racing LLC. Bred by Fernandez-Robles Family Trust and Flying H Stables, the winner is a half-sister to three-time stakes winner Vieja Luna.
Shackleford, a leading Third-Crop sire of 2018, is the sire of the winners of more than $11.5 million and 15 black type horses to date, including five stakes horses this year. A multiple Grade 1 winner of more than $3 million, Shackleford stands this year at Darby Dan Farm for $20,000, stands and nurses.
