Opening Buzz Repels Late Challenge For WEBN Frog Stakes Win At Turfway

Tommy Town Thoroughbreds' classy homebred sprinter Opening Buzz gamely held off a fast charging Baby No Worries to win the $97,550 WEBN Frog Stakes by a neck Friday night at Turfway Park.

Trained by Jonathan Wong and ridden by Luan Machado, Opening Buzz tabbed her fifth lifetime win in eight career starts in the six-furlong race for older female sprinters, completing the distance in 1:09.62 on the all-weather surface.

Opening Buzz raced in fifth in the early stages, 4½ lengths off the early pace as Paulo Lobo-trained stablemates Quaria Comet and Thunder Love dueled through a swift opening quarter-mile in :21.80 while Altered Shot and Awesome Treat raced just off their heels in third and fourth, respectively.

Around the far turn, following a half-mile time of :45.27, Machado began asking Opening Buzz for her best run and tipped her three wide into the homestretch. At the eighth pole, Opening Buzz took charge from a tiring Quaria Comet and was able to hold off 15-1 longshot Baby No Worries in the closing strides to notch the victory.

The win marked the second in a stakes for Opening Buzz, who annexed the 6 1/2-furlong Wishing Well at Turfway Jan. 29 in her season debut. She came into Friday's event off a sixth-place finish in the one-mile Wintergreen Feb. 25 at the Northern Kentucky track but shortened back up for the WEBN Frog Stakes and scored as the 8-5 favorite, returning $5.54.

Baby No Worries, with Manny Esquivel in the saddle,  finished 2 1/4 lengths in front of third-place finisher Quaria Comet, ridden by Gerardo Corrales.

California-bred Opening Buzz is a 4-year-old daughter of Tommy Town Thoroughbreds' resident sire Stanford and is a member of his first crop. She out of the Unbridled's Song mare Open Mic.

With the $48,608 winner's share of the WEBN Frog Stakes, Opening Buzz lifetime bankroll grew to $201,993.