Athena rallied from well off the pace to win the six-furlong Roxelana Stakes at Churchill Downs June 25.
Racing in fourth through the early stages of the race, the four-year-old daughter of Street Sense made her move on the far turn, sweeping three-wide as she began to close on the leaders. With less than a furlong to go, Athena reeled in the frontrunners and took command, pulling away to win by one-and-a-half lengths.
Bred in Kentucky by Gary Chervenell, Athena is out of the unraced Rock of Gibraltar mare Race Rocks, and hails from the female family of Peeping Tom, winner of the G1 Carter Handicap, and Traitor, winner of the G1 Futurity Stakes.
Street Sense is the sire of 45 Stakes winners including such top performers as Callback, winner of the G1 Las Virgenes; Wedding Toast, winner of the G1 Ogden Phipps and G1 Beldame; and Street Fancy, winner of the G1 Starlet Stakes. In 2016 Street Sense has sired Street Strategy, winner of the Fifth Season Stakes, Street of Gold, winner of the Marie G. Krantz Memorial Stakes, and Thatcher Street, winner of the Opening Verse Stakes.
