Favored to make it two in a row here after a 2 1/4-length graduation in her career bow here Sept. 22, Bonita Bianca broke alertly from her outside post in this nine-horse affair and was on the outside of a three-horse race for second. The chestnut edged past those two rivals to sit on pacesetting Tainted Angel's outside hip as they hit the half in :47.96 and it was a two-horse race from there. Bonita Bianca shook free of her stablemate in mid-stretch and rolled clear to a decisive victory. It was 11 3/4-lengths back to third-place finisher Bree's Got Heart. “She's been showing us that she could be a nice horse,” winning trainer Rudy Rodriguez said. “We were worried a little bit about the slop. She's got shins and it can be a little hard on them but her father won the Breeders' Cup in the slop, and I thought the distance fit. She's a nice, long filly. Everything has looked like she'll be a quality horse and so far, so good. I think she's going to get better, she looks like she's still learning and she's much more comfortable on a fast track.” Rodriguez was also pleased with the runner-up Tainted Angel, saying, “She ran very good. We've got to give a lot of credit to the owners for giving us the opportunity to claim those kinds of horses and try to do the best we can. We're very, very proud of both of them.” The winner's dam Friendly Michelle captured the 2004 GI Prioress S. and summoned $1.15 million from Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables while carrying a foal by A.P. Indy at the 2006 Keeneland November sale. She was put through the Keeneland November ring again in 2013 with Bonita Bianca in utero, but this time brought just $42,000 from Steve Rowan. The 15-year-old mare has a yearling filly named Friendly Simmard (Simmard) and was bred back to Paynter this spring. Click for the Equibase.comchart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
MAID OF THE MIST S., $250,000, BEL, 10-22, (S), 2yo, f, 1m, 1:40.19, sy.
1–#BONITA BIANCA, 120, f, 2, by Curlin">Curlin
1st Dam: Friendly Michelle (GISW, $404,544), by Artax
2nd Dam: Valiant Jewel, by Buckley Boy
3rd Dam: Every Effort, by Full Out
($97,000 2yo '16 OBSMAR). O-Michael Dubb, Bethlehem
Stables LLC & Michael Imperio; B-Dormellito Stud (NY); T-Rudy
R. Rodriguez; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $150,000. Lifetime Record:
2-2-0-0, $186,000.[bullet ad=”kim-valerio-purchased”][bullet ad=”mulholland-springs”]2–Tainted Angel, 120, f, 2, Yes It's True–Super Slash, by Smoke
Glacken. O-Lianna Stables, Inc.; B-Marshall Gramm & Joseph
Klausa (NY); T-Rudy R. Rodriguez. $50,000.
3–Bree's Got Heart, 120, f, 2, Colonel John–Secretsoftheheart,
by Put It Back. ($3,500 Ylg '15 KEEJAN; $27,000 Ylg '15
EASOCT). O-Glenn Bennett; B-Doug & Felicia Branham (NY);
T-Robert E. Reid, Jr. $25,000.
Margins: 5 1/4, 11 3/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 1.20, 7.80, 6.00.
Also Ran: Iron Mizz, Passporttovictory, Bliss to You, Grand Banks, Bonita Springs, Mo Promise.
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