|
|
Judy the Beauty holds on at wire in Filly & Mare Sprint
Judy the Beauty started to make her move around the turn and angled five wide into the stretch. Stonetastic still held onto a slim lead, but relinquished command in midstretch as Judy the Beauty wore her down. Judy the Beauty continued to dig in under Mike Smith as Better Lucky, the 23-1 third longest shot on the board, came all the way from last to challenge the leader, but couldn't get up in time. "She ran really well," said Tom Albertrani, trainer of runner-up Better Lucky. "I thought we might have had a good chance at the eighth-pole, but the winner just kept us far enough away to get beat by a head. She's a super filly. This was her last race and I'm really going to miss her. You could not have a more honest horse in the barn." Judy the Beauty covered seven furlongs over the fast main track in 1:21 4/5 as the 3-1 favorite and returned $8.20 to her loyal supporters for the score. She banked $550,000 to increase her bank account to $1,167,146 from a 18-9-7-1 career line. "Absolutely dynamite," Smith said. "I couldn't have asked for a better trip. Almost every step of it, except for almost getting caught. She broke extremely well which at times can be very crucial for her because sometimes she gets away really bad. I was happy about that; one of the best she's ever left the gate. We saw that work at Keeneland. We knew she was ready." Better Lucky took second and was 3 1/2 lengths clear of the 39-1 longest shot on the board, Thank You Marylou in third. Stonetastic, Leigh Court, Southern Honey, Artemis Agrotera, Sweet Reason, Little Alexis and Living The Life rounded out the order of finish. "She ran very well," said Javier Castellano, rider of runner-up Better Lucky. "I was very proud of the way she handled things. She was the only one closing. I have to give credit to the winner, she just wouldn't stop." Judy the Beauty began her five-year-old campaign here in march, taking the Las Flores, then shipped cross-country the following month to add Keeneland's Madison to her resume. The chestnut ran fourth under the Twin Spires in the Humana Distaff in May, her first ever off-the-board finish, before taking a three-month break and reappeared in August to capture the Rancho Bernardo at Del Mar. The daughter of Ghostzapper captured the Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland last season, holding Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint champion Groupie Doll to third that day, and finished a half-length second to that rival next out when Groupie Doll defended her Breeders' Cup title at Santa Anita. Judy the Beauty's other stakes win, Woodbine's Shady Well, came when she was a juvenile, and she followed that by going on a four-race runner-up streak that included the Spinaway, Prioress and Gallant Bloom Handicap. That latter race closed out her sophomore season, and she opened 2013 with an optional claiming win before recording another pair of seconds in the Winning Colors and Princess Rooney Handicap as well as a third behind Groupie Doll in the Presque Isle Downs Masters. Bred in Ontario by Adena Springs, Judy the Beauty was a $20,000 Keeneland September yearling. She is out of the stakes-winning Holy Bull mare Holy Blitz, and her third dam is the stakes-scoring Horsafire, who would go on in the breeding shed to produce Grade 2 heroine Incinerate, Grade 3 victor Fan the Flame and Judy the Beauty's second dam, multiple stakes winner Pagofire. Incinerate is herself the dam of both Grade 1 diva and 2005 Kentucky Oaks runner-up In the Gold as well as three-time stakes scorer High Blitz. Another of Horsafire's grandprogeny is Hemingway's Key, who ran third in the 2006 Preakness. Farther back in this female family one can find champions Affectionately, Bridal Flower, Bimelech and Black Helen as well as blue-hen mare *La Troienne. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
 Send this article to a friend
|
|
