By Bloodhorse.com
CYPRESS, Calif. (Sept. 14, 2014) — Unbeaten Wake Up Nick rallied to win the $103,900 Barretts Juvenile by 2 3/4 lengths Sept. 14 at Los Alamitos Racecourse, improving to 5-for-5 in his young career.
Ridden by Elvis Trujillo, California-bred Wake Up Nick ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:17.60 and paid $4.20, $2.80 and $2.20 as the 11-10 favorite.
The victory gave trainer Doug O’Neill a sweep of the weekend stakes. He won the $93,850 Barretts Debutante for 2-year-old fillies a day earlier with Sharla Rae, who was ridden by Trujillo.
Owned by Reddam Racing, Wake Up Nick has four stakes victories among his five wins.
Breaking from the inside, Wake Up Nick was shuffled back and was ahead of just two other horses after the opening half mile. But Trujillo found a seam with an eighth of a mile to go and pulled clear late.
“He’s such a cool horse,” O’Neill said. “Elvis did a brilliant job. Watching it unfold I thought we might be in serious trouble because he didn’t get a comfortable go of it the first quarter of a mile, but Elvis knew what he had and this horse just knows where the wire is.”
Northern California Yearling Sale graduate Rowdy Dylan returned $2.60 and $2.20, while Top Drawer was another half-length back in third and paid $3.40 to show.
Wake Up Nick is by Cindago, out of the Lion Hearted mare Storm Hearted, was bred by Lee and Susan Searing and is owned by Reddam Racing and trained by Doug O’Neill. He has earnings of $308,784.
Apprentice jockey Drayden Van Dyke rode three winners on the card and leads the jockeys’ standings with four days left in the fall meet.