Condo Commando takes command in Demoiselle

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There will be a lot of talk about how Condo Commando benefitted from Aqueduct’s main track favoring inside speed Saturday. But that would only serve to diminish what was a spectacular performance by her in the Grade 2, $400,000 Demoiselle Stakes.

Taking control entering the first turn under Joel Rosario, Condo Commando ran her seven 2-year-old filly rivals off their feet en route to an eye-catching 11 1/2-length victory in the Demoiselle.

Calamity Kate rallied to get second by three-quarters of a length over Angela Renee. She was followed by Quezon, Save Rock and Roll, Gap Year, and My Cara Mia. Jacaranda was scratched due to a temperature, according to trainer Mike Hushion.

Condo Commando’s final time of 1:50.40 for 1 1/8 miles was 2.19 seconds faster than Snowbell ran the same distance in the Grade 3 Comely Stakes for 3-year-old fillies earlier on the card. It was also 0.66 seconds faster than Leave the Light On’s final time for the same distance in the Grade 2 Remsen for juvenile males.

“She’s been training very good. I was very pleased with the way she was coming into the race, and to see her do this, it’s very, very special,” said winning trainer Rudy Rodriguez.

“She’d been training this way; we knew she was sitting on this,” winning owner Michael Dubb added. “It certainly didn’t hurt that the track had been favoring speed. I’m not going to deny that.”

Nobody would deny that, but Condo Commando would have won this race on almost any type of track. She made the lead quite effortlessly under Rosario, setting fractions of 23.97 seconds for the quarter, 48.20 for the half, and 1:12.63 for six furlongs while maintaining a measured one-length lead over Angela Renee.

Turning into the stretch, Condo Commando kept on going while the others gave futile chase. Condo Commando returned $5.10 as the favorite.

“She has a nice stride,” Rosario said. “It was easy because they didn’t put a lot of pressure on me early, and she kind of kept going the same speed. I waited as long as I could to ask her. I always had her in hand.”

Condo Commando, a daughter of Tiz Wonderful, added the Demoiselle to a résumé that includes the Grade 1 Spinaway, a race she won by 13 1/4 lengths in the slop at Saratoga. She was kept out of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies after finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Frizette.

Dubb said Condo Commando would stay in New York for the winter and likely use the Aqueduct races – the Busher, Busanda and Gazelle stakes – toward a possible start in the Kentucky Oaks.