Despite being left in the gate of Saturday’s $111,300
Athenia H., Joseph Allen’s ASTI (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells) managed to make a big rally to pull of the victory
over even-money favorite Bohemian Lady (Carson City). Originally scheduled for
Belmont Park’s turf, the 1 1/16-mile test was moved to the muddy main track and
subsequently downgraded from Grade 3 status to listed pending review by the
American Graded Stakes Committee.
Under Jorge Chavez, Asti settled in last through :23 1/5 and :45 4/5 behind the
pacesetting Bohemian Lady. The Allen Jerkens trainee altered course in the
stretch to make a strong rally on the outside and get up in the final strides to
win by three parts of a length at 7-1 while stopping the teletimer in 1:42 2/5.
Asti returned $16.20, $4.30 and $3.10 for the victory while
Bohemian Lady returned $2.80 and $2.40. Another three parts of a length back came Zosima
(Capote) who gave back $5.20 for the place. The exotics returned $50.50 (exacta) and
$222 (7-10-8 trifecta). My Lordship (Lord Avie), Miss Mambo (Kingmambo) and
Sharp Needle (GB) (Mark of Esteem [Ire]) rounded out the order of finish.
Delta Princess (A.P. Indy), Natalie Beach (Arg) (Tempranero [Chi]), Moon
Dazzle (Kingmambo) and Fortunate Damsel (Runaway Groom) were all scratched.
Bred in Ireland by Dayton Investments, Asti is out of the stakes-winning Astorg
(Lear Fan), who has also produced the unraced two-year-old Azalee (Peintre Celebre).
This victory, her first stakes win, improves Asti’s line to 16-2-5-3 with $248,587 in earnings.
She’s placed in seven other black-type events, including a French Group 1.