It’s Tricky grinds out Ogden Phipps score

It’s Tricky hasn’t had it easy but is now three-for-three on the year (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) As she’s done in her two prior races this season, It’s Tricky had to dig deep to take Monday’s Grade 1, $392,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap by three parts of a length over pacesetter Cash for Clunkers. The Mineshaft miss is now three-for-three on the year following victories in the Top Flight and Distaff Handicaps, both Grade 2 contests at Aqueduct, and returned $6.20, $3.80 and $2.10 to her backers on Monday as the 2-1 second choice. “She’s a special filly,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “(Jockey) Eddie (Castro) rode her very well. Rick Violette’s filly (Cash for Clunkers) was tough, wow! We just did get there. From the three-sixteenths pole to the eighth pole, I was worried — she wasn’t there yet. She ran great.” “I put her right there, gave her a shot, and in the stretch she had to make her run. That’s her,” Castro stated. “The plan, number one, (was to focus on) Awesome Maria. But when you’re in the gate, it’s different. You break from the gate, and it changes. You have a decision. Awesome Maria didn’t break, and I put (It’s Tricky) right there.” While It’s Tricky’s win in the Ogden Phipps continued her current win streak it spoiled the six-race win skein Awesome Maria brought into her title defense run of the race. The gray Maria’s Mon mare captured last year’s running of the Phipps by three lengths but didn’t fire on this occasion and wound up third.

Cash for Clunkers had 1 1/2 lengths to spare over 6-5 favorite Awesome Maria
on the wire after setting the pace through fractions of :22 3/5, :45 3/5 and
1:09 2/5. It’s Tricky drafted just off her flank under Castro while Awesome
Maria took up position to the outside of Juanita. Castro sent It’s Tricky after
Cash for Clunkers on the turn and John Velazquez also urged Awesome Maria to
make her run.

It’s Tricky ranged up in the lane but the Godolphin colorbearer didn’t pass
her rival until just strides from the wire, finishing 1 1/16-miles on the fast
Belmont Park dirt in 1:41 3/5. Cash for Clunkers easily held second
over Awesome Maria, and it was another eight lengths back to She’s All In, who
trailed throughout but got up to take fourth from Juanita.

“She ran her eyeballs out,” Violette praised Cash for Clunkers. “She was
pressed from the middle of the turn. Eddie (Castro on It’s Tricky) rode a
terrific race. I thought he would be more worried about Awesome Maria and maybe
leave us alone a bit longer. We had to start running on the middle of the turn
and it was a long, hard drive.

“For a filly that hasn’t really been pressed to the wire, she just really ran
her eyeballs out. I am really, really proud of her. We found out today that she
is a real filly.”

Awesome Maria followed the same plan that saw her take last year’s Ogden
Phipps, winning the Rampart and Sabin, both Grade 3s at Gulfstream, but was
unable to emulate her prior performances.

“I thought she ran pretty well,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Awesome Maria
before adding, “I think I did a really poor job preparing her for this race. We
stayed in Florida too long, got rained on a lot, missed a couple of works down
there. Then I tried to make up for it here and breezed her on a sloppy track. I
really did a bad job preparing her for this race. It wasn’t her fault. I’ll take
the blame for it. We’ll go to Saratoga.”

It’s Tricky opened her four-year-old campaign in the Top Flight, returning in
that March 3 contest four months after closing out her sophomore season with a
runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic. It was also her first win
since taking the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks last July at Saratoga. The
bay filly posted victories in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes and Busher Stakes last
season, but ended 2011 with a string of runner-up efforts in the Grade 1
Alabama, Grade 2 Cotillion and Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic.

It’s Tricky has now banked $1,526,500 in career earnings and improved her
line to read 12-8-3-0. Her only off-the-board placing came in last year’s Grade
2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, where she finished fourth.

Bred in Kentucky by Stonerside Stable, It’s Tricky lass is out of the Grade
3-scoring Tale of the Cat mare Catboat, who is a half-sister to stakes-placed
winners This Fleet is Due and Betty Garr. That trio’s dam is herself a
half-sibling to multiple Grade 3-placed stakes hero Northern Wolf.

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