With the sky going black during the post parade and a driving rain beginning to fall as the gates opened, the finish of Saratoga's GII Lake Placid S. was impossible to call for announcer Larry Collmus and proved equally difficult for the stewards, who took over five minutes to study the photo. In the end, the race was deemed a dead-heat between 8-5 favorite Varenka and 'TDN Rising Star' Regal Glory, who was the 2-1 second-choice.
Varenka broke alertly from the fence, but was rated back to race in second last of the six-horse field. Regal Glory raced in the two-path just ahead of her in fourth as her stablemate Blowout set early fractions of :26.36 and :51.10. With positions remained unchanged turning for home, Regal Glory was the first to take aim at the pacesetter and longshot Amandrea (Paynter) in the lane, but Varenka was picking up steam and came charging up on her outside. Blowout gave it all she had with the wire looming, but Regal Glory and Varenka continued to close strongly on her outside. It looked like Regal Glory might have a nose on her market rival, but Varenka gave one final lunge and the pair hit the wire in unison with Blowout in third.
“I'm speechless, to be honest,” said Varenka's trainer Graham Motion. “I had another one of these up here in the [GII] Amsterdam [with Secret Firm in 1998, who dead-heated with Mint] when I first started training. I just can't believe she got there because they went so slow. That was a crazy performance. I thought we had [it won] right before the wire and right after the wire, but I wasn't sure on the line. All credit to Javier [Castellano]. He said he was going to be patient with her, and he was patient.”
“What a finish,” said Castellano. “No matter the pace, she was always finishing. You have to be lucky. Those 'bobs' can go either way. In the moment, I thought I had won the race but after watching the replay, I thought it could go either way.”
“Both horses finished great to run into a slow pace like that,” said Regal Glory's conditioner Chad Brown. “I thought Luis [Saez] did a great job. I really have to take a look at that photo. I hope they show it in full.”
“I thought we had it, but she got the [dead] heat, so that's fine with me,” said Saez. “She's pretty nice. She just likes to break, and when you get into the stretch with her, she'll just run off.”
Runner-up in this venue's P.G. Johnson S. last term and Belmont's GII Miss Grillo S., Varenka closed strongly to be fifth behind Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last November while still a maiden. Earning her diploma in her seasonal bow at Belmont May 11, she checked in third in Churchill's GIII Regret S. June 15 and captured a course-and-distance optional claimer last time July 14.
Regal Glory opened her account with a pair of wins, including the Stewart Manor S. at Aqueduct in November. Runner-up in both Gulfstream's GIII Sweetest Chant S. Feb. 3 and Keeneland's GII Appalachian S. Apr. 7, the homebred captured the Penn Oaks over a yielding course June 1 and followed suit with a half-length defeat of Blowout in this venue's GIII Lake George S. July 19, which was scratched down to just three runners, all hailing from the Brown barn.
Pedigree Notes:
Varenka is the 38th graded stakes winner and 72nd black-type winner for her sire Ghostzapper. The winner is a third generation George Strawbridge homebred and her stakes-winning dam Dynamic Cat's fourth black-type victor and sixth black-type runner. She is also responsible for MSW & GSP Lift Up, a full-sister to Varenka; GSW Dynamic Holiday; SW & GSP Appealing Cat; SW Cat's Holiday; GSP Cat Park and SP Cat Humor (Distroted Humor). The 18-year-old mare's youngest offspring is the unraced juvenile filly Cat Rags (Union Rags) and she was most recently bred to Oscar Performance.
Regal Glory was one of three winners for her young sire Animal Kingdom at Saratoga Saturday. The Darley stallion was also represented by Nakamura, who shares the same trainer as Regal Glory and their sire, in race 5 and Oleksandra (Aus) in the Smart N Fancy S. The latter marked 12 black-type winners for the GI Kentucky Derby and G1 Dubai World Cup hero and Regal Glory is one of his four graded winners. Trainer John Forbes picked out her dam Mary's Follies on behalf of his clients for $40,000 as a KEESEP yearling and campaigned her to a a trio of victories including the GIII Boiling Springs S., after which she was purchased by Paul Pompa and transferred to Rick Dutrow. She added the GII Mrs. Revere S. to her resume and when she retired to the breeding shed, she produced a MGSW right off the bat in Night Prowler. Narvick International purchased her 2-year-old American Pharoah colt for $475,000 at OBS March after a :21 1/5 breeze and he is still unraced. Mary's Follies produced an Uncle Mo colt in 2018 and a Candy Ride (Arg) colt this year. She was bred back to Pompa's GI Cigar Mile hero Connect.
Saturday, Saratoga
LAKE PLACID S.-GII, $200,000, Saratoga, 8-17, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.68, gd.
(DH) 1–VARENKA, 118, f, 3, by Ghostzapper&hid=10633">Ghostzapper
1st Dam: Dynamic Cat (SW), by Dynaformer
2nd Dam: Silent Cat, by Rahy
3rd Dam: Creaking Board (GB), by Night Shift
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Augustin Stable (George Strawbridge)(KY); T-H. Graham
Motion; J-Javier Castellano. $75,000. Lifetime Record: MGSP,
8-3-2-2, $278,100. *Full to Lift Up, MSW/GSP, $285,421. **1/2
to Dynamic Holiday (Harlan's Holiday), GSW, $267,126,
Appealing Cat (Successful Appeal), SW/MGSP, $266,453,
Cat Park (Tale of the Cat), GSP, $184,913. Werk Nick Rating:
A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
(DH) 1–REGAL GLORY, 122, f, 3, by Animal Kingdom
1st Dam: Mary's Follies (MGSW, $338,889), by More Than Ready
2nd Dam: Catch the Queen, by Miswaki
3rd Dam: Wave to the Queen, by Wavering Monarch
'TDN Rising Star.' O/B-Paul P Pompa (KY); T-Chad C. Brown;
J-Luis Saez. $75,000. Lifetime Record: 7-5-2-0, $431,750. *1/2
to Night Prowler (Giant's Causeway), MGSW, $475,682. Werk
Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
3–Blowout (GB), 120, f, 3, Dansili (GB)–Beauty Parlour (GB), by
Deep Impact (Jpn). (€450,000 Wlg '16 GOFNOV). O-Peter M.
Brant; B-Dayton Investments Ltd. (GB); T-Chad C. Brown.
$24,000.
Margins: NK, NK, HF. Odds: 1.75, 2.30, 3.25.
Also Ran: Amandrea, Vow to Recover, Feel Glorious (GB). Scratched: Wildlife, Team Win.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree (Varenka), free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree (Regal Glory),
VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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