Jaywalk first Grade 1 winner for Cross Traffic
October 7, 2018
Jaywalk used her quick turn of foot to her advantage perfectly in Sunday’s $400,000 Frizette S. (G1) at Belmont Park, rolling up the score to a nearly half-dozen length win in the local traditional prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), to be run next month at Churchill Downs.
With Jaywalk’s win, Cross Traffic became the first Freshman Sire of 2018 to have a Grade 1 winner. He also leads the list by stakes horses with five, and ranks second by progeny earnings and winners.
Breaking from post two in the one-mile event, Jaywalk asserted herself in the first furlong and was up a length after a quarter-mile in :22.63. She maintained that advantage through six furlongs in 1:09.71, then put away odds-on favorite Covfefe at the top of the stretch and hit the wire in 1:34.57 to win officially by 5 3/4-lengths.
“She wanted to go to the front,” said jockey Joel Rosario. “I thought there was a lot of speed on paper, and then John (trainer John Servis) told me just let her break and let her run however she wanted. I just let her go ahead and be happy, and she really handled it.”
Jaywalk, who was Cross Traffic’s first black type winner when she won the White Clay Creek S. at Delaware Park on Aug. 22, improved her record to three wins and a second in four starts, with $284,200 in earnings for co-owners Cash is King LL and Leonard Green.
As far as the Breeders’ Cup, Servis is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“I want to see what kind of numbers she ran and how she comes out of this, and it’s obviously a huge effort for her,” Servis said. “I don’t want to see a huge improvement and wheel her right back in four weeks. … We’ll see how it shapes up.”
Bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds, Jaywalk is the fifth foal out of Lady Pewitt. Jaywalk is a half-sister to stakes winner Danzatrice. She was purchased by Servis for $190,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.