Counting Stars Wheels Back to Take Oaklawn's Year's End

A return on 13 days' rest and a stretch out from a sprint to a route proved insignificant obstacles for Counting Stars, who improved to 3-for-4 in romping in the $150,000 Year's End Stakes Dec. 27 at Oaklawn Park. The victory in the Year's End marked her second stakes win of the meet following a 4-length scamper in the 6-furlong Astral Spa Overnight Stakes Dec. 14, and was even more dominant. A wide fourth after an opening quarter-mile in :23.58 set by longshot Fizzy Lass, Counting Stars advanced down the backstretch to sit a close third behind Fizzy Lass and Paving after a half-mile in a moderate :47.95. Then it was all Counting Stars. The Mark Casse trainee seized command with 6 furlongs in 1:13.03 and cruised under the wire 6 lengths in front. "She finished strong," jockey Francisco Arrieta said. Counting Stars raced a mile on a fast track in 1:38.68, paying $4.40 to win as the favorite. Newtown Pike ran second at 18-1 odds ahead of third-place Scot's Law. Paving weakened to fourth. The winner, a bay 2-year-old daughter of second-crop sire Honor A. P. out of the Paynter mare Paynterbynumbers, was bred by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud in Kentucky and purchased by owner West Point Thoroughbreds for $150,000 from the Wildheart Thoroughbreds consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training earlier this year.