Belmont: Cavorting gets back on track with Jersey Girl score

ELMONT, N.Y. – A New York girl proved best in the $150,000 Jersey Girl Stakes, as Cavorting, the only prior winner at Belmont Park in the field, rallied on the outside to win the six-furlong event for 3-year-old fillies Friday.

The race marked the first victory for lightly raced Cavorting since last August. The Bernardini filly, who runs for Stonestreet Stables, looked like a potential star when she romped at Belmont in her debut, then added the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga against a field that included eventual champion Take Charge Brandi. However, Cavorting subsequently finished seventh in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes in the slop at Belmont, was given the rest of the year off, and came back to finish ninth in the Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes in February at Gulfstream Park.

“She’s another one that’s taken a little bit of work,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “[It was] frustrating. She ran poorly here in the slop and then at Gulfstream. But luckily, we have patient owners who let us figure her out and get her back doing what we wanted to do, and it all worked out.”

Cavorting ($9.20) broke on top under Irad Ortiz Jr., but the rider then took her back to sixth in the opening quarter as Spark, the longest shot on the board, posted opening splits of 22.28 and 44.93 seconds.

“She broke sharp and then he kind of settled her back because they were going so fast,” McLaughlin said. “He was happy to settle her back. She settled okay.”

Spark held a clear lead turning for home, but began to buckle late under pressure from multiple stakes winner Enchanting Lady. Meanwhile, Cavorting and Ortiz came widest of all and took dead aim as the top three got some separation from the field. Cavorting surged by Enchanting Lady in the late stages to win by three-quarters of a length, with Spark holding third another three lengths back.

The final time for the six furlongs was 1:09.08.

McLaughlin said he feels Cavorting, who is 3 for 3 in races at 6 1/2 furlongs or less, might want to go a bit longer, and that races such as the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga might be in her future plans.

“A little bit longer, but maybe not that much,” McLaughlin said. “Maybe seven-eighths.”

McLaughlin will saddle Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Frosted in tomorrow’s Belmont Stakes, while Ortiz has picked up the mount on Derby eighth-place finisher Mubtaahij.