Antoinette shines in off-turf Tepin Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Thursday’s $100,000 Tepin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Aqueduct was transferred to the dirt, it was a good opportunity for some connections to find out if they had more than a just turf horse in the barn.

Antoinette proved that she may just be as good on dirt as she is on turf.

Sitting behind and between horses down the backside under Joe Bravo, Antoinette slipped through an opening along the rail in the final three sixteenths of a mile to win the Tepin by 1 3/4 lengths over I Dare U, the even-money favorite. It was a half-length back to Quality Heat, who was followed by Stretchthestory, More Glitter, and Logic N Reason. Enola Gay scratched.

Antoinette is a daughter of Hard Spun owned and bred by Godolphin Racing and trained by Bill Mott. She finished fourth in her debut going a mile on turf at Belmont on Sept. 14 before winning a turf maiden race there on Oct. 24.

“You don’t really know off the two turf races if she’s going to handle the dirt or not, today was a good learning experience that she did handle it,” said Bravo, who has ridden Antoinette in all three of her starts. “Bill brought over the best horse.”

Bravo kept Antoinette behind dueling leaders I Dare U, under Manny Franco, and Quality Heat, under Kendrick Carmouche, who ran an opening quarter-mile in 23.95 seconds and a half-mile in 47.89. Bravo kept Antoinette behind I Dare U, until that one drifted off the rail. Bravo took advantage of the opening to guide Antoinette on through and she drew clear for the victory.

Antoinette covered the one mile over a fast main track in 1:38.87 and returned $11 to win.

“It’s so windy out there, I just figured getting her covered up was going to be best for her,” Bravo said. “Turning for home I really expected [Quality Heat] to drop back, but she hung in there. Manny came off the fence and this filly is just push-button. She’s a nice horse and she’s probably going to improve off this.”