Sunna Shines Bright in $100,000 The Very One Victory

Becomes Stakes Winner in First Race Away from South Florida

LAUREL, MD – Leverett S. Miller’s Sunna, racing outside of South Florida for the first time in her seventh start, broke running and never looked back to register a one-length triumph over late-running Saturday Flirt in Saturday’s $100,000 The Very One presented by Guinness Open Gate Brewery at Laurel Park.

The 27th running of the five-furlong The Very One for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting on the turf was the fourth of six stakes, three graded, worth $1.05 million in purses on a spectacular 14-race Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Day program headlined by the 102nd edition of the 1 1/8-mile fixture for 3-year-old fillies.

Breaking from outside all but one of her seven rivals, Sunna ($4.80) was in full stride one jump out of the gate and raced uncontested through an opening quarter of a mile in 22.59 seconds with Lost and Found on the inside and Les Reys dueling for second in behind.

Jockey Luis Saez sat confidently on Sunna turning for home and had plenty left to hold off a wall of five challengers that closed in past the eighth pole led by Saturday Flirt down the middle of the stretch. After failing to find room inside, Lost and Found moved off the rail and dug in between horses to get third.

Somnium, Les Reys, Strusherstuff, Sporting Lady and Malibu Hooch completed the order of finish. Julee’s Legacy was scratched.

The winning time was 1:01.84 over a firm Dahlia turf course.

Sunna, a 4-year-old daughter of Dominus, had raced exclusively at Gulfstream Park with three wins and a third, exiting a front-running 3 ½-length triumph April 18 sprinting five furlongs on the grass. She had made one prior stakes start, finishing seventh in the five-furlong Captiva Island March 14 that was rained off the turf and transferred to the all-weather Tapeta course.

Purchased out of a 1977 Maryland 2-year-old sale in Timonium for $22,000 by Maryland horsewoman Helen Polinger, The Very One went on to become one of the best race mares in training from 1977-81. A former claimer turned Grade 1 winner, she won 22 races and more than $1.1 million in purses from 71 starts, with eight graded-stakes wins including the 1979 Dixie (G2) at Pimlico and 1981 Santa Barbara Handicap (G1).

$100,000 The Very One Quotes

Winning trainer J. Kent Sweezey (Sunna): “She showed all the right things early. She was fast; she won first time; she is pretty; and she is easy-peasy. A buddy of mine one day said, ‘This filly is bred for grass, you should try her on the grass.’ We put her in for $35,000 [Feb. 19 at Gulfstream] one day and no one took her, and now I guess the rest is history. It is real cool to train for your friends.

“When the Charlestown horse [Julee’s Legacy], who was going to be the real speed, was scratched I told Luis [Saez] that if you break good, which she always breaks good, just go. She was game as hell. I thought she was beat at the eighth pole, I really did. If she gets a little softer pace, she might go six. We have a lot of fun in front of us.”

Winning jockey Luis Saez (Sunna): “She broke from the outside very well, which is what we were expecting. It was my first time riding her. I didn’t want to come all the way over to the rail because I didn’t want pressure from the outside. She controlled the race. When she came to the top of the stretch, I had a ton of horse.”.