Power Squeeze closed wide off the far turn and outfinished Candied in Saturday’s $600,000 Alabama (G1) at Saratoga, scoring by a head in the 1 1/4-mile event for three-year-old fillies. A nose winner of the Delaware Oaks (G3) in her previous start, Power Squeeze recorded her fifth stakes victory this season, and first Grade 1 win, for owner Lea Farms.
Jorge Delgado trains the chestnut daughter of Union Rags, and Javier Castellano was up on the 6.40-1 fourth choice. Power Squeeze was timed in 2:04.35.
“When you have a filly that comes off the pace things can happen – traffic – if you’re inside you can get stuck and they won’t give you room, but Javier figured out how to ride her the cleanest he could,” Delgado said.
Grade 1 juvenile winner Candied, the 9-5 favorite, rated off the pace with Power Squeeze while Chatalas established fractions in :23.31, :47.06, and 1:11.92 on a clear lead. Candied got the jump on the winner, striking the front in midstretch despite being knocked sideways by a drifting out Chatalas, and she dug in gamely when challenged. But Power Squeeze kept plugging away on the far outside and got up to win the head-bobbing finish.
“That is what I like to do,” Castellano said of his trip. “Everything was perfect the way she did it. Everything worked out great. There was great pace, hot pace, she came from behind, just fought all the way to the end. “
“It was unbelievable,” Delgado said. “I want to watch the replay a thousand times and enjoy it – I never felt like a winner until the wire.”
Late-running Just Basking wound up another length back in third and it was a big gap back to the rest, as Miss Justify, Intricate, Chatalas, Neon Icon, and America’s Vow completed the order.
After breaking her maiden the third time out at Delaware Park last fall, Power Squeeze romped in the Cash Run S. over a one-turn mile at Gulfstream on New Year’s Day. She followed with a victory in the two-turn Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs and then stepped up in class to capture the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). Her win streak came to an end with an eighth in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) in early May.
Power Squeeze recorded a rallying third to Thorpedo Anna in the Acorn (G1) during the Belmont at Saratoga meet, and she returned to the winner’s circle with a courageous performance in the July 8 Delaware Oaks, edging odds-up Sidamara in the final strides.
“(Castellano) kept coming and coming and he knows that the filly fights a lot – like in Delaware, but this time on the outside,” Delgado said. “On the head bob, she knows how to win. She wanted to win. She has so much determination to win.”
Power Squeeze was bred in Kentucky by Forging Oaks Farm. A $90,000 OBS April two-year-old purchase last year, she’s out of the multiple stakes-winning Awesome Again mare Callmethesqueeze, who is also the dam of the stakes-winning Call on Mischief.
Delgado said the Cotillion (G1) at Parx on Sept. 21 will be next for Power Squeeze.
