Sharp Starr Newest Stakes Winner for Munnings in G3 Go For Wand
The stakes placed Sharp Starr (3f Munnings x Mindy Gold, by A.P. Indy) became Munnings’ 43rd career stakes winner on Saturday with a victory in the G3 Go For Wand Handicap at Aqueduct.
Racing over a mile, the filly broke well and raced just off the hip of the leader in the tightly packed field. With Jose Ortiz keeping a tight hold, Sharp Starr kept the pressure on throughout the run and was asked for her best around the far turn.
It was a memorable battle down the stretch as Sharp Starr gained on the leader with every stride to get up for the victory just before the wire.
Winning by a neck, it was the third career victory for Sharp Starr, who has finished on the board in seven of her nine starts for her owner-breeder Barry Schwartz and trainer Horacio DePaz.
A half-sister to stakes-placed Papa Shot, Sharp Starr is out of an A.P. Indy half-sister to Grade I-placed Noble Causeway who is also a granddaughter of multiple Grade I winner Classy Cathy. This is also the family of Grade I winner Audible.
A top sire year after year, Munnings has 11 stakes winners and 20 stakes performers in 2020 alone, led by 3-year-old Grade II winning fillies Venetian Harbor, Finite, and Bonny South.