Dunbar Road has been promising from the start and earned her much-deserved first graded stakes win with ease Saturday in Belmont's GII Mother Goose S. Hammered down to 1-5 favoritism, the bay kept tabs on the leaders from a ground-saving third as longshot Classic Fit clocked an opening quarter in :24.34. Shuffled back a bit and moving off the rail as the half went up in :49.13, the $350,000 KEESEP buy was in between horses near the back on the backstretch run, but rider Jose Ortiz never panicked. Remaining patient in the saddle, Ortiz got the opening he was waiting for while moving out two wide at the top of the stretch and Dunbar Road simply exploded, powering past her competition to win for fun.
“With her being a young horse, she needs to get something out of it, and today was a perfect day because it was an easy race for her. I knew with the amount of horse that I had, I was going to find something to work with,” Ortiz said. “She was traveling comfortably and I felt like she was always there for me. When she got out of there, I was close to them and I just liked that she showed a good turn of foot. This will set her up for later.”
“I think she'll go to Saratoga following this and we'll see what happens up there,” said owner Peter Brant. “Chad [Brown] likes to see how they come out of the race first and she's going really well and training really well. I hope she'll be in the thick of things. She looks like a two-turn horse. We'll run where she needs to run. I personally feel rewarded for having a little patience having missed out on not getting into the field for the Kentucky Oaks. I know Chad really wanted to go in that race and wherever he wanted to go is fine with me, but when she didn't get in I wanted to come back to New York.”
Dunbar Road earned her diploma by an impressive 8 3/4 lengths on debut at Gulfstream Mar. 3, but came up a half-length short next out when second as the favorite in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, which put her on the also-eligible list for the GI Kentucky Oaks May 3. Failing to draw into that field, she ran in a track-and-trip allowance May 30, where she crushed an overmatched field by 5 1/2 lengths.
Pedigree Notes:
Dunbar Road is the 23rd graded stakes winner and 38th black-type winner for her top sire Quality Road. She is bred on the same Quality Road/A.P. Indy cross that produced MGISW filly Bellafina. Her dam Gift List is a daughter of SW Private Gift (Unbridled), who is a half-sister to GI Mother Goose S. and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Secret Status (A.P. Indy); and MGSW Alumni Hall (A.P. Indy). A half-sister to MSW & GSP Secret Someone (A.P. Indy), Gift List produced two winners from two foals of racing age. The 11-year-old mare has had just one foal since Dunbar Road, the juvenile filly On the Good List (Speightstown), who was purchased by DJ Stable for $175,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October Sale and displays a trio of breezes at Belmont for trainer Linda Rice, most recently covering three panels in :37.95 (16/27) over the training track June 24. Gift List was bred to Uncle Mo this spring.
Saturday, Belmont Park
MOTHER GOOSE S.-GII, $250,000, Belmont, 6-29, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:43.54, ft.
1–DUNBAR ROAD, 121, f, 3, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Gift List, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Private Gift, by Unbridled
3rd Dam: Private Status, by Alydar
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($350,000
Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Jeffery J. Drown (KY);
T-Chad C. Brown; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $137,500. Lifetime Record:
4-3-1-0, $257,900. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Classic Fit, 121, f, 3, Bernardini–True Style, by Forestry.
O/B-Godolphin LLC (KY); T-Michael Stidham. $50,000.
3–Jeltrin, 121, f, 3, Tapizar–Song to the Moon, by Successful
Appeal. ($7,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP; $27,000 RNA 2yo '18 OBSAPR).
O-Alexis Delgado; B-C. Kidder, N. Cole, J. K. Griggs & Linda
Griggs (KY); T-Alexis Delgado. $30,000.
Margins: 2HF, 4, 3 3/4. Odds: 0.30, 17.70, 7.50.
Also Ran: Cassies Dreamer, Safta, Wings of Dawn.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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