Ionosfera Newest Stakes Winner for On-Fire Practical Joke
It was another big stakes performance for Practical Joke runners in Chile on Friday when Ionosfera won the Group II Classico Criadores Hembras.
Looking for her first stakes success, the filly traded the third-place position back and forth with another horse for the first half of the one mile turf race before moving closer around the turn. Angled inside as the field turned into the stretch, the winner took full advantage of the front horses leaving a large gap along the rail to take over the lead with about a furlong left to go.
Ionosfera spent her last strides building a lead to win by 3 ½ lengths with another Practical Joke runner in third and Mo Town runners filling out the fourth and fifth place spots.
A full sister to Practical Joke’s winning Pharaon, Ionosfera is one of two winners from two to race out of the Galileo mare Photosphere.
That mare is a half-sister to the stakes winning Quenched, who is the dam of Grade III winner Excess Knowledge. The family also includes dual Grade I winner Nebraska Tornado and Group I Irish Derby winner Westover among others.
Ionosfera is the 17th worldwide juvenile stakes winner for Practical Joke and the 11th 2-year-old graded stakes winner for the stallion in that category.