Added distance no problem for Newly Minted in Fleet Indian Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Going into the 1 1/8-mile Fleet Indian Stakes at Saratoga on Friday, every filly in the race had a question mark next to her about whether she could get the distance.

At the end of the race, with favored Newly Minted galloping leisurely past the wire nine lengths in front her nearest competitor in a strung-out field, everyone had their answers.

Newly Minted ran her record to four wins in five starts with the Fleet Indian win, a $200,000 race restricted to New York-bred 3-year-old fillies. Her only loss was a third-place, one-paced finish on the grass in the seven-furlong, $150,000 New York Stallion Stakes on June 23 at Belmont, her last start.

“I wish we could erase that from her form,” said trainer Linda Rice after the Fleet Indian. “But what’s done is done.”

As for the distance questions, Rice said that Newly Minted’s recent workouts had encouraged her to stretch the horse out.

“This filly had trained so well into this race, and conformation-wise, she’s built like a filly who would get two turns,” Rice said. “So I was pretty comfortable with the distance today. But look, yeah, if we could have run it at seven furlongs I would have been more confident.”

With Jose Lezcano aboard, Newly Minted closely tracked the front-running Maiden Beauty for the first six furlongs of the race, chasing relatively quick early fractions of 22.99 and 46.66 seconds. After six furlongs in 1:11.15, Newly Minted and Maiden Beauty began distancing themselves from the rest of the field, but Newly Minted put her rival away mid-stretch. Lezcano eased her up 100 yards from the wire.

The early fractions made for some tense moments for Rice. The farthest Newly Minted had ever run was seven furlongs, and though she widened her lead at the end of her shorter races, that disappointing turf performance lingered in Rice’s head.

“Jose did a beautiful job getting her into position going into the first turn, and I was happy with what he did there despite the fractions,” Rice said.

Kid Is Frosty closed from last early to be second, 5 3/4 lengths in front of Elegant Zip in third. Behind the Couch, who trailed throughout most of the race, was eased at the three-eighths pole and vanned off.

Following the race, Jeremiah Englehart, Behind the Couch's trainer, said the horse suffered from a series of minor problems during the race. First, she bled from the lungs; second, she displaced her palate; and third, she had to get two staples in her left hind hock. "She might have kicked herself in the gate, and/or hit herself during the race," Englehart said.

Rice said she will continue to take it slow with Newly Minted, a Central Banker filly who did not race at 2. But with the impressive performance of the Fleet Indian now in the books, she said she’d consider open company sometime down the road.

“We just want to take it one step at a time,” Rice said. “I think open company, graded stakes this winter, as she’s turning 4, [that] would be a good thing.”

- additional reporting by David Grening