Power Squeeze now has a four-race winning streak following her one-length victory in the $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) March 30 at the south Florida track.
The Eaton Sales graduate now is likely headed to Churchill Downs for the May 3rd Kentucky Oaks (G1) after earning 100 points in the Road to the Oaks challenge series.
Power Squeeze, who broke from the inside post in the field of nine, was shuffled back a bit going into the first turn and subsequently took back off the pace. She continued along the rail down the backstretch about four lengths off the lead. She began a sustained drive going into the final turn, when she went four wide to have clear run at the leaders. With Daniel Centeno urging her own, Power Squeeze hit her best stride with a furlong to go, running down Ways and Means to win by a length in 1:44.19 for the 1 1/16-miles on a fast track.
“On the backside, I tried to go inside but I couldn’t do it,” Centeno said. “I decided to move outside. I saw Irad (Ortiz, Jr.) just sitting on Ways and Means and I thought, ‘I don’t think I can catch him.’ But my filly saw the clear and she actually responded well.”
Power Squeeze has now won four straight starts, all around two turns, including the Cash Run S. and Suncoast S., prior to her latest win. She is now 4-1-0 in six starts and has earned $337,450 for Lea Farms LLC.
The winner, by Union Rags out of Callmethesqueeze, was bred by Forging Oaks Farm LLC and sold by Eaton for $50,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling sale.