Green Hills Farm’s Love and Pride has been knocking heads with some of the
“She’s a filly that’s kind of hinted she had one of those in her, and she’s
The race started with a bang, but not the kind trainer Kiaran McLaughlin
Brushed by a Star had already grabbed the lead, with Love and Pride keep in
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Not surprising, It’s Tricky appeared a bit rank on the backstretch but had
settled under jockey Eddie Castro entering the turn. The duo scooted through an
opening on the inside and took up second as Tiz Miz Sue rallied to stick her
head in front of Royal Delta for third. None of those could catch Love and
Pride, though, who held the tenacious Royal Delta in a final time of 1:49 1/5
for 1 1/8 miles on the fast dirt.
“We broke well, and I wanted to give her the best chance the first part of
the race as I could without letting her run off with me,” Velazquez explained.
“She broke on top and I saw Corey Nakatani (on Brushed by a Star) wanted to go
to the lead so I got off them a little bit. I had her in a pretty decent spot
and the other horse kept pushing me to the outside and she got a little more
aggressive. I just waited there until we got to the three-eighths pole, and when
I saw (It’s Tricky) get through on the inside, it was time to go and she
responded right away.
“She does not like the whip,” he added. “I was in front and I thought maybe
I’ll just show it to her and keep her mind to running, and it was a mistake. I
showed it to her and she went back to the left lead and she started waiting
instead of completely going. I learned something new; don’t show it to her.”
Pletcher was happy about the slower fractions of the Personal Ensign and that
Love and Pride didn’t seem to miss wearing blinkers.
“Being an A.P. Indy, she probably gets a mile and a quarter; she just doesn’t
want to go as fast as she did the last time (in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap),
so we made a couple of adjustments. The team at Delaware did a great job with
her, had her ready to go, and training over that deeper surface, I think, may
have paid off today,” he said.
“Michael Dilger, my Delaware assistant and I had about a 10-second
conversation, and we figured we had nothing to lose (by taking off the
blinkers). We were just trying to get her to turn off a little bit. When Johnny
showed her the stick the first time, she jumped to her left lead, and that’s
kind of always been her, so he just kind of had to pick her up and hand ride her
aggressively from there.
“We had anticipated we were going to be close (to the pace), but she’s
actually run some of her better races when she’s just been in a stalking
position. The complexion of the race changed at the start when It’s Tricky
stumbled, and we weren’t sure if (It’s Tricky) would be on the lead, if we’d be
on the lead, or possibly (Brushed by a Star), but we were in a good stalking
position and happy she was in a nice, comfortable rhythm.”
Love and Pride was sent off the 10-1 fourth choice in the six-distaffer field
and paid $22, $6.70 and $3.50 to her backers.
“It’s nice to sometimes just come into a race and you don’t have to sweat it
out too much,” Pletcher said of winning with a high-priced horse. “If you are
fortunate and get a result like this, then it’s a home run, and if you don’t, no
one is throwing rocks at you on the way out.”
Royal Delta ground out second, a length in front of It’s Tricky, who had a
half-length to spare on Tiz Miz Sue. Brushed by a Star followed in fifth, beaten
11 1/2 lengths by Tiz Miz Sue, while R Gypsy Gold trailed throughout to be last
on the line.
“(Royal Delta) ran a good race, an incredible race, but not her best race. I
don’t know. Mike maybe should have gone a little earlier. I don’t have much to
say about it,” trainer Bill Mott mused.
Jockey Mike Smith was not so circumspect.
“I’m not going to make a lot of excuses. The winner ran a bang-up race. We
got outrun,” he admitted. “If I had to do it all over again, I would have rode
her a little differently and got brave early. I would have moved earlier. In
doing that, though, I could have tackled the long shot and make myself a little
vulnerable for a closer. We did that a little bit the last time, and it didn’t
seem like the thing to do. In hindsight, it kind of was.”
McLaughlin was just glad It’s Tricky seemed to come back OK.
“She stumbled very badly and (jockey Eddie Castro) was lucky to stay on,” he
“She ran awesome today. She tried so hard,” Castro praised. “After the
Love and Pride opened her career at Delaware Park, taking her maiden debut by
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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. In the interim, she ran fifth to It’s Tricky second in the
Grade 2 Cotillion, third in the Real Prize Stakes behind that race’s winner R
Gypsy Gold, the filled the third spot once again, this time behind champion
Awesome Feather in the Grade 1 Gazelle Stakes.
Following her seasonal opening win, Love and Pride finished second in the
Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap to It’s Tricky and just missed by a head in the
Grade 3 Allaire duPont Distaff two races later. She finally recorded her first
graded score in the Grade 3 Obeah Stakes, appropriately enough back at Delaware
Park, and entered this one off a hard-fought fourth behind Royal Delta and Tiz
Miz Sue in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap.
Love and Pride improved her scorecard to read 15-6-2-4 with her Personal
Ensign triumph, and the winner’s share of purse boosted her earnings to
$775,760.
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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