Quickest out of the gate, Fort Hughes, by Henny Hughes, also proved quickest at the end of Aqueduct’s six-furlong Jimmy Winkfield Stakes missing the track record by just two fifths of a second. The jockey never lifted his whip as the three-year-old won going away by four and three-quarters of a length.
Out of champion and multiple G1 winner Forty Greeta, the juvenile is a Darley homebred and is his dam’s second foal. Forty Greeta also has a 2009 yearling by Darley stallion Hard Spun and a 2010 weanling by champion and sensational freshman sire Bernardini.
Just 20 minutes earlier, it was another Henny Hughes with an impressive win as Hugh and Me drew away to win by nine lengths at Gulfstream Park.
Bred by Nina Gardner in Pennsylvania, Hugh and Me is a graduate of Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale in 2009 and races for George and Lori Hall. He is a half-brother to G1-placed Roman Invasion and is out of the Listed winner and G1-placed Princess V., she a half-sister to four stakes winners and two stakes-placed horses.
Henny Hughes is the only 3-year-old ever to win the G1 King’s Bishop and Vosburgh and was ranked as the the World Champion Sprinter his sophomore year.
