Winners Galore!
This has been an unforgettable week for the stable thanks to a total of four wins including a memorable back-to-back victory for Princess Grace in the $200,000 G3 Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes.
Given a confident ride by Florent Geroux, John and Susan Moore’s Princess Grace dictated the pace from the front, gradually winding up the clock as one by one, the challengers came to test her before she drew off to win by three lengths.
This was a nice return to form for the multiple graded-stake winning daughter of Karakontie, who disappointed slightly on her seasonal debut last month.
“I talked to Florent this morning and we’ve been overthinking this filly where we’re worried about being on the lead,” Stidham told the DRF after the race. “I told him when the gate opens, you just ride the way the race comes up.”
“When I saw 24 and 2 and 49 for the half, I thought it was her race at that point,” Stidham added.
Princess Grace was far from the only winner for the barn this week.
Over at Colonial Downs on the same day, Purrfect made an exciting debut for her owners, Godolphin, drawing off to win by more than three-lengths under Trevor McCarthy.
Two days later at Delaware Park, Global Sensation did the same thing for the same connections, showing plenty of speed under Angel Suarez to win tidily on his debut.
Family Tree Racing’s Jack a Rose made it four stable wins for the week when doing the business in stylish fashion, again under Suarez. This 4-year-old son of Midshipman has been improving steadily with each run.
And now for the weekend entries.
Tomorrow at Laurel Park, Pixelate is making his seasonal debut in the $100,000 Prince George’s County Stakes, a turf race over 1 and 1/8th miles. This multiple graded-stake winner is drawn 1 of 7, and is an 8/5 shot to rewards the connections’ patience under jockey Jevian Toledo.
Two races later, Alms is similarly drawn 1 of 10 in the $100,000 Big Dreyfus Stakes, another turf contest over 1 and 1/8th miles. Toledo again takes the ride on this talented runner, and is a 7-2 shot to make it a first win for the season.
