by Jennifer Caldwell
Green Hills Farm Inc.’s Love and Pride added a first graded victory to her
resume on Saturday with a 1 3/4-length wire job in the Grade 3, $150,000
Obeah
Handicap at Delaware Park. The four-year-old daughter of A.P. Indy used her
rail post to good advantage, grabbing command out of the gate and setting splits
of :23 2/5, :47 3/5, 1:11 3/5 and 1:37 1/5 before finishing 1 1/8 miles on the
fast dirt in 1:49 4/5.
Jockey Jeremy Rose guided the Todd Pletcher trainee around the track and had
enough mount left to withstand 4-5 favorite Tiz Miz Sue’s rally in the lane.
That one bided her time on the backstretch, stalking the pace while wide, before
scooting between Love and Pride and Suroof to challenge rounding the turn. The
five-year-old mare put in a game effort but just couldn’t catch the winner and
was forced to settle for second in the Obeah for a second straight year.
The pair could find themselves in a rematch if their connections opt to enter
them both in the Grade 2, $750,000 Delaware Handicap on July 21. The top four
finishes from the Obeah, the local prep for the 1 1/4-mile Del ‘Cap, earn a free
nomination to that race.
Love and Pride paid $4.20, $2.20 and $2.10 as the even-money second choice in
the field of five. Check Point was another nine lengths behind Tiz Miz Sue on
the wire to take third, while Suroof and She Be Classy completed the order of
finish after Pachattack was withdrawn in favor of the Grade 3 All Along Stakes
at Colonial Downs later on the day.
Love and Pride opened her career at Delaware, taking her maiden debut by
three parts of a length, and two races later recorded an 8 1/4-length victory
against optional claiming company. She made her first foray outside the confines
of Delaware when shipped to New York for Saratoga’s Proud Spell Stakes and
triumphed on that day by 6 3/4 lengths.
The dark bay lass wouldn’t visit the winner’s circle again until making her
four-year-old bow on January 28, capturing the Affectionately Stakes at Aqueduct
by seven lengths. She was second next out in the Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap and
just missed by a head in the Grade 3 Allaire duPont Distaff most recently. The
Obeah improved Love and Pride’s record to 13-5-2-4, including a third in last
year’s Grade 1 Gazelle Stakes, and she has now banked $370,760 in lifetime
earnings.
Bred in Kentucky by Stud TNT, Love and Pride was a $380,000 Keeneland April
two-year-old in training RNA. She is out of the Grade 1-placed Storm Cat mare
Ile de France, making her a three-quarter sibling to classic-winning champion
and top sire Bernardini. That stallion and Ile de France are both out of
Broodmare of the Year and Grade 1 victress Cara Rafaela, who also produced the
dam of multiple Grade 3 scorer Thiskyhasnolimit. Cara Rafaela is herself a
half-sister to dual Grade 3 hero and sire Abaginone.
Love and Pride’s fourth dam is the Grade 3-winning Northern Dancer mare
Northern Fable.
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