Unraced since suffering her first loss in the May 4 Edgewood (G3) on Kentucky Oaks Day, Rushing Fall returned triumphant in Saturday’s $300,000 Lake Placid (G2) at Saratoga. Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) heroine engineered a perfect stalk-and-pounce trip on the way to a 2 3/4-length victory over Capla Temptress.
A Chad Brown trainee owned by e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, Rushing Fall was under consideration for Royal Ascot’s Coronation S. (G1) but needed more time. She likewise missed the summer’s marquee domestic event in the three-year-old turf fillies’ division, the Belmont Oaks (G1), as well as the Spa’s first graded race to suit her, the Lake George (G3).
Bettors kept faith with Rushing Fall, dispatching her as the 6-5 favorite in the Lake Placid. That was the only race to remain on a soggy Saratoga turf Saturday, with the other three transferred to the main track. But the daughter of More Than Ready was already proven on rain-softened ground, and she never gave her fans a moment’s worry.
Regular rider Javier Castellano secured an ideal position tracking the 16-1 front runner Go Noni Go through splits of :25.29 and :50.20 on the soft Mellon turf. Rushing Fall cruised up to her flank at the six-furlong mark in 1:14.67, still on the bridle, and stamped her class in the stretch. Drawing off, she negotiated 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.86.
Capla Temptress, at the rear early after brushing the gate, spun out wide into the lane and kept on to finish a clear second by 2 1/2 lengths. The well-traveled import completed an exacta of Breeders’ Cup alumnae, having checked in seventh behind Rushing Fall at Del Mar last November.
Daddy Is a Legend took third, and Andina Del Sur, sporting the colors of Don Alberto Stable just a couple of hours after the retirement of their champion Unique Bella, wound up fourth. Rounding out the order under the wire were Rushing Fall’s stablemate, Significant Form; Go Noni Go; and the hitherto consistent Thewayiam.
Now a new millionaire, Rushing Fall’s scorecard stands at 6-5-1-0, $1,008,000. She was on a tight timetable to make the Breeders’ Cup at two, debuting at Belmont Park September 16 and earning the last-chance Juvenile Fillies Turf ticket in Keeneland’s Jessamine (G3). After defeating an international cast at Del Mar, Rushing Fall made a winning sophomore bow in the April 8 Appalachian (G2) back at Keeneland. Her unbeaten sequence ended in the Edgewood, where she prevailed in a battle with Daddy Is a Legend only to lose the war when nailed by the swooping Toinette.
Rushing Fall was bred by Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding in Kentucky and sold for $320,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling. Out of the Forestry mare Autumnal, the bay is a half-sister to multiple Grade 3-placed stakes scorer Milam (by Street Sense).
Later Saturday in the Del Mar Oaks (G1), Rushing Fall’s Breeders’ Cup form was validated again when Fatale Bere rallied in time. A wide-trip fifth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and most recently sixth to Athena in the Belmont Oaks, the 7-1 chance motored in the stretch to nab 9-5 favorite Ollie’s Candy by a neck. Hall of Fame rider Kent Desormeaux was at his best as he guided Fatale Bere through 1 1/8 firm-turf miles in 1:48.14.
The Leonard Powell pupil was scoring her third U.S. win after the Surfer Girl in her debut for the barn and the April 7 Providencia (G3). The French import has not always had the best of luck, so her unplaced efforts come with asterisks. Eighth in the Jimmy Durante (G3) when a front-running bid did not suit her style, and last of seven when her saddle slipped in the Honeymoon, she reportedly bled at Belmont last time. Fatale Bere has compiled a record of 10-5-0-1, $422,975.
