CONTESTED WINS THE ACORN STAKES!

Contested grabbed the early lead and never looked back in the $300,000 Acorn Stakes (gr. I) this afternoon at Belmont Park, winning by an easy five lengths over a talented field of sophomore fillies.

Ridden to victory by Javier Castellano, Contested bounded out of the gate and quickly opened up a three-length advantage while setting quick fractions of :22.64 and :45.19. Aubby K was racing in second, followed by Zo Impressive and On Fire Baby. Sacristy and Hard Mystery were content to trail the field.

Rounding the turn, Aubby K and Zo Impressive both made runs at Contested, drawing to within two lengths of the lead, but the Bob Baffert-trained front-runner easily turned them back and drew off powerfully to win the race by five lengths, stopping the clock for one-mile in 1:34.61.

Zo Impressive finished second, followed by Aubby K, On Fire Baby, Hard Mystery, and Sacristy. The winner is owned by Natalie J. Baffert and trained by Bob Baffert.

-Keelerman

Acorn Stakes Entries and Post Positions

Here are the entries and post positions for the $300,000 Acorn Stakes (gr. I), to be run on Monday at Belmont Park. The one-mile race for three-year-old fillies is among the most prestigious races of the division, and has thus drawn a highly talented field of six, including Eight Belles Stakes (gr. III) winner Contested, three-time graded stakes winner On Fire Baby, and the highly promising allowance winner Aubby K.

1 Contested
2 Hard Mystery
3 On Fire Baby
4 Zo Impressive
5 Sacristy
6 Aubby K

-Keelerman