Jumping the Gun kept her perfect record intact Thursday at Delaware Park, powering home to win the $75,000 Blue Hen Stakes for 2-year-old fillies in just her second career start.

The Blue Hen was one of two two-year-old stakes on the card, joined by the Dover.

The bay daughter of Gun Runner, out of the stakes-placed Quality Road mare Breaking Bread, broke sharply under Julio Hernandez but was content to settle off the pace in the five path early.

“When she went past the five-eighths… I’m kind of a little concerned,” said winning trainer Andy Simoff. “But when I saw Julio kind of, like, stand up, that means he’s got a lot of horse. I said, okay, we’re in good shape.”

Jumping the Gun advanced smoothly through the turn to duel briefly with the Mike Maker-trained Lilies N Paradise before seizing command in the final furlong and drawing clear by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:12.00 for six furlongs over a good track.

Simoff doesn’t typically get horses by high-end sires – “I’m not a household name,” he said – so he’s appreciative of the chance with this miss. He said he knew from the beginning that Jumping the Gun was special.

“She never did anything wrong. Come off the truck from the farm, and you can just see, you know, she had it all together,” Simoff recalled. “Like when I was walking out of the paddock… I said, looks like a man among boys.”

Bred in Kentucky by owner John Guarnere’s Imaginary Stables, the Delaware certified Jumping the Gun is now 2-for-2, and the winner’s share pushed her earnings to more than $88,000. Simoff credited Guarnere’s commitment to building quality stock.

“He’s upgrading [his stock], and he’s putting a lot of money into the game,” the trainer said. “He’s a great guy… He keeps coming back. He loves the business. So he’s the kind of guy you need.”

Sassy Fox rallied for second, with Lilies N Paradise fading to third. Jumping the Gun paid $3.60 to win as the post time favorite. The exacta with a longshot in second returned $16.60 for a one-dollar wager.

For Simoff, the win was both validation and a hint of bigger goals ahead.

“At some point, you got a Gun Runner, you gotta go somewhere,” he said.