No Average ‘Joe’ Wins $100,000 James W. Murphy
The Elkstone Group’s Maryland homebred Joe , a multiple stakes winner on dirt, made the successful transition to the turf with a hard-fought neck victory over favored Ready to Purrform in the $100,000 James W. Murphy Stakes, a one-mile grass test.
“This is so exciting. It really is because this is the second-stakes race in a row where he was headed in the stretch and he just keeps fighting back. It’s just awesome when he does that. He just doesn’t know how to give up,” owner Stuart Grant of The Elkstone Group said. “The switch over to turf, Mike (Trombetta) had been pushing for it and I said, ‘Mike, this horse will either make you a genius or a dummy.’ Mike said he is a turf horse, and he was right. He ran his first race on turf, but that was too short, and it was the only time he was off the board.”
Regular rider Victor Carrasco rated Joe in sixth along the rail inside Crabs N Beer as Uncaptured Spirit and 30-1 long shot Epic Luck dueled upfront through splits of :22.85 and :45.85, with Local Motive and Ready to Purrform—both previous stakes winners in Maryland—leading the second flight.
Advancing strongly and still with plenty of horse, Carrasco maintained his inside position until midway around the far turn when he tipped out to split Uncaptured Spirit and Ready to Purrform and straightened for home with a short lead. Ready to Purrform ranged up on their outside and the two horses raced stride-for-stride through the stretch with Joe getting clear late.
Crabs N Beer was third, 2 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up, followed by Uncaptured Spirit, Determined Kingdom , Shake Em Loose , Local Motive, and Epic Luck. The winning time was 1:35.26 over a firm course.
Joe—named for Grant’s friend U.S. President Joe Biden—was named Maryland’s champion 2-year-old male for 2021 after breaking his maiden and winning the Maryland Juvenile in mid-December at Laurel Park. This year, he won his two-turn debut in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance Jan. 23 and was second to Shake Em Loose in the Private Terms Stakes prior to a Federico Tesio Stakes victory.
