BY BROCK SHERIDAN
The world renowned horsemanship of Ocala/Marion County was in full display at Kentucky Downs Wednesday in the $487,500 Pepsi Juvenile Sprint as the top three finishers are all graduates of early training programs located in the Horse Capital of the World®.
Joseph P. Morey Jr.’s Vote No made a big run from mid-pack to win the six-and-a-half furlong Pepsi Juvenile Sprint on turf with jockey Gerardo Corrales aboard, catching runner-up Hedwig to win by three-quarters of a length. Third-place finisher Please Advise was another length-and-a-half back in third. Vote No is trained by William Morey.
Vote No was trained in his youth by Tristan and Valery de Meric and consigned at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales June Sale this year by Nick and Jaqui de Meric’s de Meric Sales located in Ocala, Fla. Joseph Morey purchased Vote No there for $50,000. Vote No also passed through the OBS auction ring last year during the October Yearling Sale where Silvestre Avila purchased him from $11,000 out of the KP Sales consignment of husband and wife team of Jay Goodwin and Meredith Krupp.
Hedwig is a graduate of David Scanlon’s Scanlon Training and Sales based in Ocala while Please Advise started his training at Steven Venosa’s SGV Thoroughbreds located in Reddick, Fla.