Smile Sprint

Woke Up Dreamin won his second consecutive Grade 2 race Sunday (Jim Lisa Photos)

Michael Pegram’s WOKE UP DREAMIN (Holy Bull) fulfilled bettors’ expectations
Sunday when the 8-5 favorite pulled off a three-length victory in the $500,000
Smile Sprint S. (G2) at Calder Race Course. The five-year-old was settled into fourth in the early going
under jockey Mike Smith as Don Six (Wild Escapade) came from the far outside post
to battle Toscani (Chilito) for the early lead, with the latter passing the
two-furlong mark in :21. Don Six soon grabbed the lead and continued to contest
the pace to the outside of Toscani before succumbing his position to the
eventual winner.

The Bob Baffert trainee angled outside of Don Six leaving the backstretch and
rallied three wide to take the lead leaving the turn. Despite pressure from Toscani on the rail at the eighth pole, Woke Up Dreamin proved to be much the
best when pulling away and completing the six-furlong affair in 1:09 4/5 over a
track listed as fast.

“I think he’s just getting better as he gets older,” assistant trainer Tonya Terranova said. “Bob (Baffert) talked to Mike (Smith) the other day on the phone
and told him that he is kind, and if he doesn’t have the lead, he can sit off of
it a little bit like he did today. I don’t know what’s next other than he’s
coming back to New York. With the Breeders’ Cup at Belmont this year, maybe
he’ll stay up there and run in something at Saratoga.”

The favorite returned $5.20, $3.80 and $2.60 for his efforts while Toscani
hit the wire three lengths back to give $9.60 and $6 at 13-1, ending the $48
exacta. Nightmare Affair (Out of Place) was another 3 1/4 lengths back and paid
$3.40 for the show at 5-1, completing the $188.60 trifecta. Next to cross the
line was Mister Fotis (Diligence), who finished off the 4-1-7-5 superfecta that paid $1,239.80. Don Six, Paradise Dancer (Langfuhr), Abbondanza
(Alphabet Soup), Hitthegroundrunnin (Hazaam) and Gregson (Cherokee Run) rounded
out the order of finish, and Silver Wagon (Wagon Limit) was withdrawn.