Constellation, installed as a prohibitive favorite in this short field of four, ran to the money to earn a first stakes success and cap a 'TDN Rising Star' exacta. A 4 1/2-length debut graduate at Saratoga Aug. 9, the chestnut was third behind fellow 'Rising Stars' Rachel's Valentina (Bernardini) and Tap to It (Tapit) in that venue's GI Spinaway S. Sept. 5. Her connections opted to keep her sprinting, and she was most recently seen finishing second–one spot ahead of Tonasah–in Belmont's six-panel GII Matron S. Oct. 18. Content to allow the hard-ridden Tonasah to show the way early, Constellation ranged up powerfully along the bend with Irad Ortiz, Jr. peeking back for competition at the quarter pole. He didn't find any, and his mount scampered home the easiest of winners. “Drawing the outside post helped us out a little bit being able to see how things would play out but she's a really nice filly,” offered assitant trainer Toby Sheets. “I don't think it would've mattered today where we drew. Irad said she settled nicely today, she was a little keen her last race back at Belmont, but she did everything great and professionally.” The winner, who hails from the extended female family of Grade I winners Spun Sugar (Awesome Again) and Daaher (Awesome Again), has a yearling half-brother by Harlan's Holiday and a weanling half-sister by Paynter. Her stakes-winning dam was bred back to Into Mischief.
FURLOUGH S., $142,500, AQU, 11-26, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.39, ft.
1–#CONSTELLATION, 120, f, 2, by Bellamy Road
1st Dam: For Royalty (SW), by Not For Love
2nd Dam: Taft Lil Queen, by Irish Open
3rd Dam: Eston, by Ancestral (Ire)
($155,000 Ylg '14 KEESEP; $800,000 2yo '15 OBSMAR). O-LNJ
Foxwoods; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen;
J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-1, $214,800.
2–Tonasah, 120, f, 2, Malibu Moon–Quanah County, by Valid
Expectations. ($170,000 Wlg '13 KEENOV; $250,000 Ylg '14
KEESEP). O-StarLadies Racing; B-Smart Angle, LLP (PA); T-Todd
A. Pletcher. $30,000.
3–Wave of Glory, 120, f, 2, Midshipman–Il Vino Bianco, by
Honour and Glory. O/B-Patricia Generazio (FL); T-James T.
Ryerson. $15,000.
Margins: 8 1/4, 5 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 0.50, 2.50, 8.30.
Also Ran: Summer Reading. Scratched: Shayna Lady.
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