Beauty Reigns gets first stakes win with Pumpkin Pie
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ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Bill Mott was at first surprised and then concerned when he came to the Belmont Park paddock and saw there were only four horses, scratched down from six, in Saturday’s $162,750 Pumpkin Pie Stakes.
“I said, 'What?!' All the speed’s gone,” said Mott, the trainer of Beauty Reigns. “We were very concerned about that. I think going into it we would have been much happier having those other two in there.”
In the end, Mott was quite happy with the performance of Beauty Reigns, who raced close up to a slow pace and still had plenty left under Junior Alvarado to win the Pumpkin Pie Stakes for female sprinters by two lengths.
Icona Mama, who set the pace while being pressed by 1-5 favorite Senza Parole, fended that one off by a neck for second. Shore War finished last. Amalfi Drive and Indy Bay both scratched, the latter to run in next Saturday’s $300,000 Dream Supreme Stakes at Churchill Downs.
The Pumpkin Pie was the first stakes victory for Beauty Reigns, a daughter of Into Mischief, who had placed in four graded stakes in her career, including third-place finishes both in the Grade 1 Ballerina this year and the Grade 1 Test last year.
In the Pumpkin Pie, Beauty Reigns broke sharp under Junior Alvarado, who kept her tucked in along the rail while Icona Mama, under Manny Franco, set the pace, and was joined by Senza Parole, who broke slowly but rushed up under Flavien Prat. Those two were head and head through a half-mile in 46.94 seconds and it appeared that Prat still had horse turning for home.
But Senza Parole couldn’t dispose of Icona Mama and Alvarado had plenty of horse when he tipped Beauty Reigns into the clear. Beauty Reigns took over inside the eighth pole and drew clear. Beauty Reigns covered the seven furlongs in 1:22.56 and returned $7.46 as the second choice.
“She broke very sharp, I didn’t want to take that away from her since it was a strange race with only three other horses and she was there in a good spot,” Alvarado said. “Before we got to the half-mile pole, I had to take a hold just to make sure she didn’t engage too early. Turning for home, I could see Flavien still sitting on his horse, but I was doing the same thing and normally she has a good kick when she’s traveling that well.”
Mott said he was glad Alvarado waited to ask Beauty Reigns to run.
“You can’t rush her off her feet, if you rush her off her feet she doesn’t finish,” Mott said.
Mott said Beauty Reigns, owned by Emily Wygod Bushnell’s Tranquility Lake Farms, will likely race next year.
Carle Place
Trainer Miguel Clement entered four in the $175,000 Carle Place Stakes but was always undecided on which ones he would run. Intricate Spirit and Illmatic were virtually certain to run. Clement was more undecided on Big Destroyer and Blazing Tiger, both of whom are eligible for a first-level allowance race in two weeks.
When the Carle Place, scheduled for turf, was moved to the Tapeta, Clement said he had a gut feeling that Blazing Tiger would appreciate that surface more than Big Destroyer, so he scratched the latter.
Clement was proven right as Blazing Tiger, under Manny Franco, split horses in the stretch and outfinished a wide-rallying Doubting Thomas, the 8-5 favorite, to win the Carle Place by a head. Doubting Thomas finished 3 1/4 lengths in front of Two Out Hero.
Part of Clement’s decision to keep Blazing Tiger in the race was because he was a closer and the Tapeta on Saturday favored that running style. Blazing Tiger was in the back, but only about four lengths off the pace. Franco was patient and still near the back after the opening half-mile before he rallied between horses in the stretch. He still had to outrun a hard charging Doubting Thomas, which he did.
“The longer you wait, the better he’ll finish for me,” Franco said. “We found that out last time and it worked out perfect again.”
Blazing Tiger, a son of Twirling Candy owned by Adelphi Racing Club and High Five Racing, covered six furlongs over Tapeta in 1:09.55 and returned $18.50.
“I thought Manny rode him brilliantly,” Clement said. “This horse likes to run like that. He broke his maiden that similar way. You have to wait and come with one late run.”
The victory was the second straight for Blazing Tiger after he lost his first six starts. More importantly, for him, however, it may have saved him from an unwanted operation.
“He was supposed to be gelded this week,” Clement said. “We might have to rethink that.”
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