7/16/09 - Just Rushing just brilliant in Ontario Jockey Club Stakes

 

TORONTO, July 18 – Tucci Stables’ millionaire Just Rushing eked out a close win in Saturday's $100,000 Ontario Jockey Club Stakes.

The seven-furlong event was the first stakes score since last October’s Labeeb Stakes and the 16th victory overall for the classy eight-year-old son of Wild Rush, who was claimed by conditioner Sid Attard for $40,000 on November 20, 2005.

Multiple stakes winner Sterwins, who won the Grade 3 Connaught Cup Stakes in May, rallied to finish second, neck behind. Sand Cove, also a multiple stakes winner, fought gamely and took third, another neck back.

Just Rushing, who topped the seven-figure mark in earnings with a turf win at the Toronto oval on June 28, traveled seven furlongs over “firm” going in 1:20.66. The Ontario-bred finished third in last year’s Ontario Jockey Club.

The gelding settled in fourth behind front-runners Luvyoutothemoon and Sand Cove through opening splits of :23.42 and 46-flat. Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson angled her mount to the outside around the turn and asked him for his best effort.

"I just wanted to see where the pace was going to set up,” said Wilson. “He usually positions himself close. I just wanted to see who was going to be out front and whether I was going to stalk or if I was going to be on the lead. It was up in the air. A couple of horses took the lead and I put him to the outside. I knew when we hit the top of the lane and I said, 'Go,' that he was going to give me everything he had."

In 35 lifetime starts, Just Rushing has 26 top-three finishes, including four wins, three seconds and two thirds on the turf.

"This horse is fun to have - in the shedrow and out here,” said Attard. “I know he's going to give 100 per cent."

Just Rushing has won races on Woodbine’s old dirt track, the temporary inner dirt course that was built in order to allow construction of the Polytrack, on Polytrack and on turf. From June 28, 2006 to November 2, 2006, he won seven consecutive starts.