Balpool easily takes Memories of Silver
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Balpool took advantage of a surface switch, a pace duel and a small field to record a 3 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $93,000 Memories of Silver Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.
Originally scheduled for one mile on turf, the Memories of Silver - and the three other turf races carded for Saturday’s program - were transferred to the sloppy main track due to heavy rain Friday and Saturday morning. That caused the Memories of Silver to scratch down to a field of four.
Under Manny Franco, Balpool broke sharp but settled into third while Unified Alliance and Downtown Mischief sparred on the lead through a quarter in 23.12 seconds and a half-mile in 46.22.
Downtown Mischief, the 4-5 favorite after winning all three of her career starts, took the lead at the three-eighths pole. But Franco had Balpool on the move and took over from Downtown Mischief at the three-sixteenths pole. From there, Balpool gradually edged clear to win handily. Downtown Mischief finished a length better than Crypto Mama. Unified Alliance was last.
Lady Beth, Hang the Moon, Bulsara, Junipers Moon and Royalty Interest all scratched.
Balpool, a daughter of Uncaptured owned by Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables and trained by Rob Atras, covered the mile in 1:36.76 and returned $5.80 as the second choice.
“I just wanted to make sure she broke good and wasn’t too far off the speed,” Franco told the New York Racing Association publicity department. “I knew today horses weren’t going to close so much. It was a good pace in front and I was right there behind them.”
It was the second straight win and third from five career starts for Balpool, who was being considered for the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico on May 19 before this opportunity presented itself.
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