With the Angels takes Gimma; Sacrosanct dominates Bongard

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With the Angels may have used Sunday’s Joseph A. Gimma Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies at Aqueduct as a paid workout for the Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette here in two weeks.

As she did in her debut, With the Angels made the front soon after the start under Jose Ortiz and just cruised to an easy, front-running victory, this time by 9 3/4 lengths over Valtellina in the $121,250 Gimma. With the Angels won her debut by 11 3/4 lengths last month at Saratoga.

Afterward, trainer Linda Rice said she would consider wheeling With the Angels back in two weeks in the Frizette, a one-turn mile against open company.

“The door’s open for the Frizette, just going to see how she comes out of it, if she’s eating well, if she’s sharp, that sort of thing,” Rice said. “We are going to consider the Frizette. If we decide to back up and go to the Maid of the Mist [versus New York breds on Oct. 27] that’s an option as well.”

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With the possibility of the Frizette on Oct. 5 in the back of his mind, Ortiz gave With the Angels a vigorous hand ride inside the final furlong to the wire even though she was well clear at that point.

“She’s going to have to face better horses next time and in the future, I wanted [her] to get something out of it today,” Ortiz said. “At the eighth pole, I looked back, saw nobody coming, I showed her the whip a little bit and just hand-ride her a little bit, teach her that she needs to keep going. Who knows? Maybe she shows up in the Frizette.”

With the Angels, a daughter of Omaha Beach owned by Winning Move Stable, Rideau Racers, John Oxley, Sanford Robbins and Lady Sheila Stables, covered the seven furlongs in 1:24.04 - 0.29 faster than Sacrosanct’s final time for winning the Bertram F. Bongard two races later -and returned $2.20 as the 1-9 favorite.

Sacrosanct dominates Bongard

Equally as impressive as With the Angels, Sacrosanct galloped to a front-running, 12-length victory in the $125,000 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes for 2-year-old New York-bred males.

Guided to the front from his rail post by Manny Franco, Sacrosanct carved out splits of 22.89 seconds for the quarter, 46.68 for the opening half-mile with Buttah, under Lane Luzzi, attempting to press him from the outside. But Sacrosanct easily dispatched Buttah, leaving the three-eighths pole and galloped home a geared-down winner.

Sacrosanct, a son of Honest Mischief owned by Lady Sheila Stables, Net Birdie LLC and Schwing Thoroughbreds, covered the seven furlongs in 1:24.35 and returned $4.50 as the favorite.

Franco said he wasn’t expecting to be on the lead, but his horse broke sharp and the horse he figured to be on the lead, Pay the Juice, did not. Franco said despite having Buttah outside of him, and for a brief time McDiesel three wide, his horse was traveling easily.

“I had those two horses outside of me, but my horse was doing it easy, you could see he had his ears up like he was comfortable, so I was happy where I was,” Franco said. “When I asked him to run he was there for me.”

Sacrosanct entered the Bongard having won his debut by 3 1/4 lengths at Saratoga on Aug. 21.

“We sent him up there early because we were high on him and he ran well,” said Dustin Dugas, assistant to trainer Brad Cox. “Brad thought by the way he was training up there that he could stretch out and he did it today with ease.”

Buttah finished second by 1 3/4 lengths over Pay the Juice. Smilensaycheese, Manhattan Twist, Oath of Omerta and McDiesel complete the order of finish.

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