Bank Sting outlasts Eloquent Speaker in La Verdad Stakes
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It was more difficult than the toteboard suggested it would be, but 1-5 favorite Bank Sting got the job done nonetheless, persevering past a stubborn Eloquent Speaker to win Sunday’s $100,000 La Verdad Stakes for New York-bred females by a neck at Aqueduct.
It was 9 3/4 lengths back to Courageous Girl in third. Letmetakethiscall and Awillaway completed the order of finish.
It was the second straight win and sixth overall from eight starts for Bank Sting, a 5-year-old daughter of Central Banker owned by Hidden Brook Farm and Joseph and Anne McMahon and trained by John Terranova.
Bank Sting, ridden by Dylan Davis, was sent off the heavy favorite coming off a dominant 8 1/4-length victory in the Staten Island division of the New York Stallion Series four weeks ago.
The La Verdad was run over a muddy, sealed track that seemed to favor inside runners. That may have helped Eloquent Speaker, who under Eric Cancel kept the rail position, from where she broke while sparring on the lead with Bank Sting through a quarter in 23.01 seconds and a half-mile in 47.08.
Davis had Bank Sting on even terms, expecting the same run he gave her when she won the Staten Island. But Dylan Davis didn’t feel Bank Sting was handling the muddy going as well as she did the fast track last month. From the three-sixteenths to the eighth pole, it appeared Eloquent Speaker was holding Bank Sting at bay. But Bank Sting kept coming under Davis to finally stick her neck in front a stride or two from the wire.
“I think with the inside bias and speed-favoring [track] I was a little worried [when] I saw how Eric was going at the quarter pole,” said Davis, who won three races on Sunday’s card. “I had to get into her like I did her last race where I had to get her run going. At the eighth pole, [Eloquent Speaker] was able to keep that neck on me, but I like what I saw, she was able to dig in a little more and fight on to the wire, which was great.”
Cancel said when Eloquent Speaker opened up a little advantage in midstretch “she kind of waited for the other horse … but I’m stilly very, very happy with the way that she ran.”
Bank Sting covered the seven furlongs over the muddy surface in 1:25.00 and returned $2.40 to win.
Terranova blamed himself a little bit for Bank Sting perhaps not performing as well as many expected.
“I went a little bit too light on her in between races,” he said. “She won that race pretty easy last time. I probably should have given her a little more work to do in between.”
Terranova said Bank Sting would be nominated to the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel Park on Feb. 19. Either that or the $100,000 Biogio’s Rose, restricted to New York-bred females here on March 6, would likely be next.