Bella Sofia rides pace advantage to victory in Bed o' Roses
ELMONT, N.Y. – Taking full advantage of her pace advantage, odds-on favorite Bella Sofia went wire to wire in the Grade 2, $279,000 Bed o’ Roses to kick off the stakes action Friday at Belmont Park.
Obligatory, taking the worst of things pace-wise, made things fairly close at the end, coming off the rail in midstretch after racing much closer to the lead than usual and closing to within a half-length at the finish. There was a huge gap, 10 1/2 lengths, from Obligatory back to third-place Glass Ceiling. Longshot Easy to Bless faded to finish last in a four-horse field.
Easy to Bless was the only one of the three pace-chasers to apply even token pressure to Bella Sofia, who broke on top and set a tepid early pace. The first quarter-mile went in 23.62, but the horses were running straight into about a 15 mile-per-hour backstretch headwind. Bella Sofia held her lead around the far turn and opened enough of a lead to hang on over Obligatory, who steadily narrowed the margin through the last half-furlong. Bella Sofia was timed in 1:21.36 for seven furlongs on a fast track and paid $3.50 to win.
Bella Sofia earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100.
Was it a strong performance, or not so much? Depends who you asked. Winning jockey Luis Saez said Bella Sofia had won easily.
“She finished like nothing, came back like she was really not racing,” he said. “Last time she got a little tired.”
“Last time” was the Vagrancy Handicap on May 14, where Bella Sofia, giving weight in her first race since the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, had to work to win by a nose. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez wasn’t keen on bringing the filly back 27 days later, but was overruled by Bella Sofia’s ownership group: Michael Imperio, Medallion Racing, Sofia Soares, Vincent Scuderi, and Parkland Thoroughbreds.
“I think we made a mistake,” Rodriguez said. “She looked like she got a little tired in the end. I used to work for Bobby Frankel, Richard Dutrow, and they all say when you got a good horse, you take care of the horse. I knew in the back of my mind we were coming back quickly, but she’s just so special.”
Rodriguez noted that his filly failed to change leads in the stretch. “She usually changes leads and today she didn’t,” he said. “I’ve got to see what’s bothering her.”
Rodriguez declined to specify next-race plans for Bella Sofia, who won the Grade 1 Test last summer at Saratoga.
Bella Sofia, bred in Kentucky by Two Tone Farm, is by Awesome Patriot out of Love Contract, by Consolidator. Her career record now is a sparkling 8-6-1-0.
Obligatory’s rider, Jose Ortiz, felt like he was on the stronger horse.
“Nothing against Sofia, but I think my horse is better,” Ortiz said. “She just beat me because of the circumstances of the race. I’m very happy with the way my horse ran. I thought I was going to have to rush her, and she wasn’t going to finish, but she was there for me.”
Obligatory’s best races have come when she settles farther off the lead and comes with one big run.
“We were hoping someone would try to go with [Bella Sofia], but nobody did,” said trainer Bill Mott, who mentioned the Ballerina at Saratoga as a summer goal for Obligatory.