Lonely Road, making her turf debut, parlayed a dream trip along the fence and held on late to upset the GIII Matron S. Monday at Belmont.
Fourth debuting over the local main track May 4, the bay graduated by 4 1/2 lengths here next out June 13 before making no impact when eighth in the GIII Schuylerville S. July 20 at Saratoga. Dismissed as the fifth-longest choice in this full field, the homebred came away well and found a good spot stalking from the pocket in fourth behind splits of :21.91 and :45.57. Saving ground on the turn, she ran to daylight when pacesetter Egoli (Quality Road) came out one path at the top of the lane and punched through to take the lead outside the eighth pole. Immediately challenged by favored Entirely, Lonely Road gradually turned that foe back and held desperately to edge out French import Monette (Fr) at the wire. The victory gave trainer Christophe Clement a sweep of the Columbus Day graded action at Belmont after Blacktype (Fr) captured the GII Knickerbocker S. earlier in the card, and his third graded win of the weekend following Have At It's score in Saturday's GII Hill Prince S.
“Mr. Evans kept telling me that the dam was a good turf filly,” said Clement. “She's a homebred, so Mr. Evans deserves major credit. Whenever you get a homebred graded stakes win, that's a well done job. She worked well on the turf last week and I thought she got a perfect trip with David [Cohen]. She stalked just behind the leaders and it worked out.”
As for his barn's recent success, Clement added, “They've all been running well, so I'm very happy. We were very much affected by bad weather at the start of the meet in September, which is why we were a bit slow.”
Pedigree Notes:
Lonely Road is the 32nd stakes winner and 21st graded stakes winner for Quality Road. She is the first foal from her aforementioned dam, who finished third in the GIII Eatontown S. in 2014 and is a half-sister to GSWs Kid Dreams (Lemon Drop Kid) and Dreamy Kid (Lemon Drop Kid). Lonesome Town foaled a colt by Robert Evans colorbearer Tonalist in 2017 and produced a Lemon Drop Kid colt this season before returning to Tonalist.
Monday, Belmont
MATRON S.-GIII, $150,000, Belmont, 10-8, 2yo, f, 6fT, 1:10.88, gd.
1–LONELY ROAD, 118, f, 2, by Quality Road&log=">Quality Road
1st Dam: Lonesome Town (GSP, $141,603),
by Broken Vow
2nd Dam: Dreams, by Silver Hawk
3rd Dam: Sleep On It, by Buckpasser
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Robert
S. Evans (KY); T-Christophe Clement; J-David Cohen. $82,500.
Lifetime Record: 4-2-0-0, $135,900. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Monette (Fr), 119, f, 2, Cockney Rebel (Ire)–Eleona (Ger), by
Areion (Ger). (€29,000 RNA Ylg '17 OSLATE). O-Madaket
Stables LLC; B-Mme Mette Campbell Andenaes (FR); T-H.
Graham Motion. $30,000.
3–Entirely, 119, f, 2, Point of Entry–Reef Bay, by Danzig.
O-Augustin Stable; B-George Strawbridge (KY); T-Jonathan
Thomas. $18,000.
Margins: HD, HF, 3HF. Odds: 18.70, 4.50, 1.55.
Also Ran: Into the South, Guacamole, Tradeable, Jaded Lady, Malibu Mischief, Egoli, Jazzy J, Questionoftheday. Scratched: Dragic. 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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