C C’s Pal started off the New Year the same way she ended her 2011 campaign
— in the winner’s circle at Aqueduct Racetrack. In the process, she handed
jockey Junior Alvarado the second of his four wins on the Sunday card.
Taking over from the pacesetters in midstretch, the five-year-old C C’s Pal
rolled to a commanding 2 3/4-length victory in the 141st edition of the $75,000
Ladies
Handicap, her second straight stakes victory at the Big A.
C C’s Pal settled in third as 6-5 favorite Katy Now and Bahama Bound raced
through fractions of :24 4/5, :49 3/5 and 1:13 4/5, then charged up on the
outside to take the lead approaching the eighth-pole, hitting the wire in 1:52
4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles.
Sent off as the 7-5 second choice, C C’s Pal extended her career record to
7-5-5 from 25 starts. She has earned $451,086.
Bahama Bound finished a neck in front of Katy Now for second, with One Last
Dance finishing fourth and Fools in Love fifth. Karmageddon was scratched.
“She tries hard,” said Alvarado, who was aboard when C C’s Pal won the
six-furlong Garland of Roses on December 3. “When I rode her six furlongs, she
was running in the end. I rode her long right now, and she was running in the
end, too. (Distance) doesn’t matter, she’s just a big-heart filly.”
The Venezuelan-born Alvarado, 26, started the day by completing a sweep of
the rolling Pick 3 ($28.60) in races 2-3-4 aboard Beggarthyneighbor ($2.80), C
C’s Pal ($4.80), and Muster Up ($8.80). Alvarado later completed the four-timer
in the 7TH race, a six-furlong claimer, with Queen of the Lake ($8.30).
C C’s Pal has now won three of her four starts since joining trainer Rick
Dutrow Jr.’s barn, two of them sprinting. She also placed third in the Grade 2
Go for Wand, a one-turn mile, on November 25.
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure she could get a mile and an eighth, but if
you’re ever going to get a mile and eighth it’s going to be here on this inner
track,” said winning owner Eric Fein of C C’s Pal, who had also been under
consideration for the six-furlong Interborough on the New Year’s Day card.
“I left it up to Rick. We actually would have run in both if we could have.
That’s how good she is doing.”
Later in the
Interborough, Nicole H successfully defended her title in the co-feature on
New Year’s Day.
Odds-on to post a repeat victory in the six-furlong race for fillies and
mares, Nicole H raced behind horses in fourth to the top of the stretch, split
rivals at the three-sixteenths pole to launch her rally, and maintained a neck
advantage to the wire after gaining the upper hand over pacesetter Winning
Image.
“Throughout the first part of the race she was as brilliant as she has always
been — very handy and full of herself,” winning rider Ramon Dominguez said.
“When she made the lead, there was a change today. She was obviously slowing
down the last sixteenth of a mile. You have to take into consideration that she
hasn’t run in a while; I don’t know whether that was a factor, but I’m not
overly concerned. Overall I was happy with her; there is always room to improve,
she probably just got tired the last sixteenth.”
Nicole H, who returned $2.90, completed the distance in 1:10 4/5.
After winning the 2011 Interborough, Nicole H took the Grade 2 Distaff
Handicap, also at Aqueduct. A respiratory infection kept her away from the races
until October 22 when she led in deep stretch of Suffolk Downs’ Robert M.
O’Malley before she was nipped on the wire by a resurgent It’s Me Mom. The
Interborough was Nicole H’s first start following the O’Malley, with It’s Me Mom
having won two straight following the race, including an 8 1/4-length runaway
score in Saturday’s Minaret Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
Trainer Mike Hushion hopes Nicole H will once again be able to use the
Interborough as a springboard to graded stakes success as he has the Grade 2
Barbara Fritchie at Laurel Park in mind for her next start.
“At the top of the stretch, there were four across in front of her, but the
seam was plenty and (Dominguez) didn’t have to bang his way out of there,” said
Hushion. “He said he loved everything about her the whole way. He wasn’t
concerned about her switching leads late, he was just concerned she didn’t keep
going and open up on them. The blinkers were cut back on her a little bit; maybe
they need to be closed up again, I don’t know.”
Nicole H, a 5-year-old daughter of Mr. Greeley owned by Gem, Inc., is 6-6-2
in 17 career starts and is unbeaten in four tries at Aqueduct, including three
races on the inner track. The $45,000 winner’s share of the Interborough purse
lifted her career earnings to $374,344.
Aquitania finished third, followed home by Isn’t She Grand, Bold Affair, and
Don’tgetsuspicious.