LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (AP) — Wake Up Nick rallied to win the $103,900 Barretts Juvenile by 2 3/4 lengths, improving to 5-0 at Los Alamitos on Sunday.
Ridden by Elvis Trujillo, 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 on Saturday with Sharla Rae, who was ridden by Trujillo.
Four of Wake Up Nick’s five wins have come in stakes races.
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.”
Rowdy Dan returned $2.60 and $2.20, while Top Drawer was another half-length back in third and paid $3.40 to show. Top Drawer unseated jockey Edwin Maldonado and ran loose before the start, and then raced erratically through the stretch.
The victory, worth $57,684, increased Wake Up Nick’s career earnings to $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.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.