Wilmington, Del., June 18, 2011 — H. Graham Motion, who won the Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom earlier this year, won his fifth John W. Rooney Memorial Stakes when Nancy Mazzoni’s She Be Classy notched a 3 1/2-length victory at Delaware Park today. The eighth running of the $75,700 John W. Rooney Memorial was originally scheduled for the turf course was transferred to the main track.

With Joseph Rocco Jr. aboard, the 4-year-old daughter of Toccet covered the mile and a sixteenth in 1:45.31 over a fast main track and returned $8.80 as the third choice in the field of seven. Thundering Emilia, with Julian Pimentel, finished second. It was another 1 ¼-lengths further back to Millenia, with Victor Santiago, in third.

She Be Classy raised her career record to five wins from 20 starts with earnings of $134,258. The Rooney was the first career stakes victory for the Kentucky-bred.

Four of the seven runners in the Rooney were conditioned by Kentucky Derby winning trainers. They were H. Graham Motion (She Be Classy, 1st) who won the Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom in 2011; Michael Matz (Thundering Emilia, 2nd) who won the Kentucky Derby with Barbaro in 2006; Barclay Tagg (Millennia, 3rd) who won the Kentucky Derby with Funny Cide in 2003; and Nicholas Zito (Shirley She Can, 5th) who won the Kentucky Derby with Go For Gin in 1994 and Strike the Gold in 1991.