Sean Avery, the horse, makes grand return by winning $80K Affiliate Stakes

Sean Avery, the hockey player, may have hung up his skates for good and left the NHL behind him, but a race horse named in his honor continues to win on the track.

During Saturday's Affiliate Stakes at Belmont Park, 6-year old Sean Avery, the horse, took home another victory in a long-awaited return to the track.

From the race footnotes:

"SEAN AVERY away well, settled just off the pace placed in the three path around the turn, came under encouragement cornering 4 wide for home, seized command at the sixteenth marker, edged away under a drive to prevail."

Favored 9-5, the horse paid $5.40 to win, but the first prize purse was $48,000. The race was Sean Avery's first since Aug. 2011. A bowed tendon sidelined him since then, and his trainer tried getting him into races last month, but couldn't catch a break.

From the Daily Racing Form:

[Trainer Allan] Iwinski entered Sean Avery in an Aug. 20 allowance at Saratoga that didn't fill. He entered Sean Avery in the Icecapade Stakes on dirt at Monmouth scheduled for last Monday and the $350,000 Turf Monster at Parx, also on Monday. The Icecapade didn't fill and the Turf Monster was run on soft ground, which prompted Iwinski to scratch.

The win on Saturday was Sean Avery's sixth first place finish in his last nine races. He's won seven times in 11 career starts. According to Bloodhorse.com, he's finished out of the money just once in his career.

If you want to watch the race replay, check out the Thoroughbred Times.

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Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy