Stewart-trained Tiny Temper runs huge in G2 Azeri
Edited Oaklawn Park stakes recap; Kurtis Coady/Coady Media photo of Tiny Temper winning the Azeri under James Graham.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (Saturday, March 10, 2024) – Mark and Nancy Stanley’s Tiny Temper wore down Misty Veil in the final 50 yards to post an upset victory in Oaklawn’s G2-$400,000 Azeri Stakes Saturday.
Tiny Temper’s connections are all Kentuckians. Stanleys are from Lexington, while trainer Dallas Stewart and jockey James Graham live in Greater Louisville. Tiny Temper started her career at Churchill Downs, winning in her second start, and finishing fourth in an allowance race before going on to win a Fair Grounds allowance race before the Azeri. She paid $25.60 as the fifth choice in the field of eight fillies and mares.
Making her stakes debut, Tiny Temper overcame a sluggish start to finish a neck ahead of Misty Veil in the 1 1/16-miles race for older fillies and mares. It was another 1 ½ lengths farther back to Bellamore in third. Shotgun Hottie, who finished fourth, was followed, in order, by 6-5 favorite Hot and Sultry, Soul of an Angel, Comparative and Saddle Up Jessie.
“She didn’t get away real good,” Graham said. “And (Stewart) emphasized that, the last time I rode her. Not that she doesn’t stand good in there (starting gate), it’s like she falls asleep when she gets in there. Today, I tried not to let her fall asleep, but I made it worse. When she broke that badly, I didn’t ask her. I just took the reins and let her point her way into the race. I don’t know what the internal fractions were. Didn’t feel like they were going very fast. But they were going quick enough to where I was: ‘Well, this is OK.’ They’re not running away from me; I’m not having to chase into it (pace).
“At the half-mile pole, I kind of tightened up on her and she leaned into the bridle. I said, ‘Man, this good.’ We’re still going forward. The horse that ran second (Misty Veil) jumped back across me (toward the rail in upper stretch). She was going to go around and cut back to the inside. I went around her and got an open lane and she (Tiny Temper) ran to the wire.”
Last after a half-mile in a modest :48.21, Tiny Temper began advancing toward the leaders along the rail on the second turn. Tiny Temper split Bellamore and Misty Veil passing the eighth pole and collared the latter on the outside in the shadow of the wire.
A 4-year-old daughter of deceased champion Arrogate, Tiny Temper, covered 1 1/16 miles over a good-rated surface in 1:45.58.
“Don’t be afraid to get in there,” Stewart said. “She showed up big today. We believed in her all along. It’s just taken a while. Hopefully, we’ll get back to the Apple Blossom. After she won (Jan. 25 entry-level allowance at Fair Grounds), I was like: ‘We need to be serious about what we’re doing with her quick.’ Just get in some good races. This was on the (radar), for sure.”
The Azeri was the third victory in five lifetime starts for Tiny Temper, boosting her earnings to $354,240. The Azeri is the final major local prep for the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at 1 1/16 miles April 13.
