Bella Sofia stands in way of Mott repeat in Gallant Bloom
ELMONT, N.Y. – Last year, trainer Bill Mott had the foresight to supplement the 3-year-old filly Frank’s Rockette to the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap and watched as she dominated four older females by 7 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park.
Sunday, when Mott runs the multiple stakes-winning 4-year-old Lake Avenue in the $250,000 Gallant Bloom, she will have to contend with the 3-year-old Grade 1 winner Bella Sofia in the 6 1/2-furlong race.
Only five were entered in the Gallant Bloom, but this race looks more competitive than last year’s edition.
Bella Sofia will be the favorite based on her 3-for-4 record, which includes a dominant 4 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 7 at Saratoga. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez said that performance was everything he could have hoped.
“She didn’t go rank to the lead, at one point she was [third] on the outside,” Rodriguez said. “She could have went to the lead because she broke on top, but Luis [Saez] let the filly wait for his cue. When he went to riding her, she took off. She changed leads at the top of the stretch when he hit her, but maybe that was just greenness.”
Bella Sofia broke from the outside in the Test. Sunday, she has the rail under Saez. There is other speed in the race, including Don’t Call Me Mary on the outside and Lady Rocket in post 2.
“If she doesn’t break, hopefully she can sit and make one run,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he and the ownership group that includes Michael Imperio and Vincent Scuderi and has expanded to include, among others, Medallion Racing and Parkland Thoroughbreds, chose the Gallant Bloom over Saturday’s Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing and the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America on Oct 9 at Keeneland.
The TCA is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, though Rodriguez said he’s not sure Bella Sofia would be pointed to that race.
“Not too sure about the Breeders’ Cup because we’ve got to run against Gamine,” Rodriguez said. “That horse will be 1-5 regardless who’s in the race.”
Lake Avenue finished second behind Gamine in the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 28 at Saratoga. It was her third consecutive second-place finish in a graded race following neck losses to Bell’s the One in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss and Estilo Talentoso in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses.
“In all three races I had no excuses,” Mott said. “It’s always nice when you don’t have an excuse.”
Asked about taking on Bella Sofia, Mott said, “She’s had a little more time to recover from her race, we’re coming back on relatively short test for having had a hard race like that. It’s been a month, well just have to see.”
With Junior Alvarado at Monmouth Park on Sunday, Jose Ortiz has picked up the mount on Lake Avenue.
The Gallant Bloom goes as race 9 on a 10-race card that includes the $150,000 Bertram F. Bongard for New York-bred 2-year-olds.