April takes Pride of place in Ramser

April Pride is the first Northern Hemisphere group/graded stakes winner for her sire Falbrav (Benoit Photo) Forging Oaks Farm’s APRIL PRIDE (GB) (Falbrav [Ire]) returned to her promising early-season form with a 1 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Harold C. Ramser Sr. H. (G3) at Oak Tree. Making her third start off a layoff for Jim Cassidy, the bay sophomore settled in fifth for Garrett Gomez, gained ground turning for home, split rivals in the stretch and finished with good energy to claim her first graded stakes coup. April Pride rattled off the firm-turf mile in 1:34 and rewarded her backers with mutuels of $17.80, $9 and $5 as the nearly 8-1 sixth choice in the eight-horse field. The pacesetter Century Park (General Meeting), who carved out quick splits of :23 1/5, :46 1/5 and 1:09 4/5 under pressure, stayed on resolutely for second. The 13-1 shot returned $13.20 and $6.80 for holding off the late-running Starlarks (Ire) (Mujahid) by a neck. Starlarks, sent off at 6-1, paid $4.20 to show. The $1 exotics were worth $90 (exacta), $449.20 (trifecta) and $2,699.70 (10-1-4-2 superfecta) with 2-1 favorite Minute Limit (Ire) (Pivotal) another three-quarters of a length back in fourth. Acting Lady (Theatrical [Ire]) crossed the wire fifth, followed by Point of Reference (Benchmark), Mrs Kipling (Ire) (Exceed and Excel) and Strawberry Tart (Atticus). Air Fair (Yes It’s True), Malibu Win (Malibu Moon) and Pride Dancer (Ire) (Fasliyev) were withdrawn.

“I didn’t know a lot about her going in,” Gomez said of April Pride, “but I
had watched her races and seen that she had a good turn of foot, but she didn’t
seem to be able to carry on with it. Today, she didn’t really break running too
well, so we were able to take back and she rated beautiful. When we straightened
out for home, we were going for a really tight hole and we actually had to slow
down a bit before we went for it.

“I actually think that helped her, because when I asked her she really
accelerated, so much so that when we went through there, my boot slipped back in
my right iron. That hole was tight and she went through there great — I think I
worried about it more that she did.”

“Garrett rode her great,” Cassidy said. “The whole thing was the ride. It’s
always important for a filly to get a graded stakes win. I’m very happy. She’s
been unlucky in the past, so today she showed her stuff. I told Garrett he’d
have to stay after her down the lane, and he did. I’m not quite sure what might
be next.”

April Pride, who improved her career record to 14-3-5-2, $182,611, was a
useful juvenile in England last year. A debut maiden winner at Bath for trainer
Richard Hannon, she went on to finish a decent fifth in the Albany S. (Eng-G3)
at Royal Ascot, second in the Dragon S. at Sandown, fourth in the Princess
Margaret S. (Eng-G3) at Ascot, and third in the Prestige S. (Eng-G3) at Goodwood
in her final English start. April Pride made her American debut in the Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, but failed to run up to her best and tired to 11th.

Freshened for two months, April Pride turned in a much improved runner-up
effort in the Blue Norther S. at this same course and distance, and two starts
later, she captured the March 8 China Doll S. by a sharp two lengths. She
shipped to Keeneland for the April 16 Appalachian S. (G3) and was installed as
the 5-2 morning-line favorite, only to injure herself when kicking the wall in
the paddock. April Pride was forced to scratch and did not resurface for five
months, returning with a non-threatening eighth in the Sandy Blue H. at Del Mar.
She hinted that she was rounding back into form with a third versus older
distaffers in an allowance/optional claimer at Oak Tree, a fine tune-up for the
Ramser.

April Pride was bred by Sir Eric Parker in Great Britain. After RNA’ing for
$38,442 as a Tattersalls October yearling, she was sold for $50,370 as a Goffs
March two-year-old. She is out of the winning Theatrical (Ire) mare Hasta, and
her second dam, the winning Slew the Queen (Seattle Slew), is a full sister to
Grade 3 victor and sire Metfield. With her fourth dam being Hall of Famer Silver
Spoon (Citation), April Pride comes from the family of Grade 1 star Catinca
(Storm Cat) and multiple German Group 1 hero Germany (Trempolino).