Officer Alex Denies Res Judicata in PA Nursery

 

By: Keith Jones

Officer Alex rallied in the middle of the racetrack, caught the favored Res Judicata inside the final sixteenth of a mile and went on to win the $75,000 Pennsylvania Nursery by a solid length Saturday at Parx Racing.  Owned by Choctaw Racing Stable & Winning Horse Stable, Officer Alex won for the second time in his young career, capturing his first stake and raised his lifetime earnings to $72,000.

 

Coming into the race, local hopes had been that Res Judicata, a good looking son of Smarty Jones, could become the first of Smarty’s offspring to win the Nursery since Smarty wowed the nation in this race in 2003.  Coming out of the two hole, Officer Alex came out to alert beginning, second after the opening of seven furlongs while Res Judicata broke from post seven and was in the clear, fourth on the outside.  Southern Honor would make the pace, hitting the quarter in 23.10 and the half in 45.91.  As the field moved past the half-mile pole, while jockey Stewart Elliott sat patiently with Officer Alex on the inside, Jeremy Rose moved first with Res Judicata.  Quickly advancing to second heading to the far turn, Res Judicata set his sights on the leader while Officer Alex found himself shuffled and suddenly was fifth still saving ground.  After being shuffled back, Officer Alex was a good three lengths behind.

 

Res Judicata overpowered Southern Honor with a quarter mile to go and turned for home with a clear lead.  Officer Alex then came to the middle of the track but still had three lengths to make up and time was beginning to run out.  As they came to the final furlong, Res Judicata started to struggle on the heavy track while Officer Alex looked fresh and was now finding his best stride.  He rolled past a helpless Res Judicata with just less than a sixteenth of a mile to go and went on to win by a clear cut length.

 

Trained by Lynn Whiting, Officer Alex, despite having broken his maiden impressively over the local track back in September, was overlooked in the wagering and slipped off at a square price of 8-1.  He returned $19.80, 5.80, and 4.20.  Ironically, it would be Stewart Elliott, the jockey who was aboard Smarty Jones throughout his career, who would deny Res Judicata the spoils this day.  Res Judicata went post ward as the heavy 3-5, but simply couldn’t hold on late and paid 2.40 and 2.10.  Siete de Oros (9-1) never threatened the top two and out finished the others for third, paying 4.00 to show.  The final time over a track labeled muddy was 1:23.94.