Belmont Park: Afleeting Lady wins first graded stakes in Turnback the Alarm Handicap

ELMONT, N.Y. – Based primarily on her pedigree, Afleeting Lady was an attractive broodmare prospect, which explains why Jon Clay’s Alpha Delta Stables and Rich Santulli purchased the 5-year-old mare privately this week from owners Bill Lauffer and William Cubbedge.

On Saturday, Afleeting Lady increased her value by capturing her first graded stakes, running past All Due Respect inside the eighth pole and bounding clear to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Belmont Park.

All Due Respect held second by 2 1/4 lengths, while Nefertini nosed out Go Unbridled for third. R Gypsy Gold, the 5-2 favorite, finished fifth, followed by defending Turnback the Alarm winner Arena Elvira, Maristar, and Catch a Thief.

The win was the sixth from 19 starts for Afleeting Lady, a daughter of Afleet Alex out of the mare Oatsee, which makes her a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Shackleford and Lady Joanne, the Grade 3 winner Baghdaria, and the listed stakes winner Stephanoatsee.

The win also gave trainer Dale Romans his first win of the Belmont fall meet after losing with his first 29 starters.

“We had a little slump – we’ve had them before – if you’re only going to win a few, you might as well win the right ones,” Romans said by phone from Southern California where he is preparing horses for next weekend’s Breeders’ Cup. “We’ve been trying to get a graded stakes for her all along. She’s really gotten good this fall. A horse with her pedigree and her talent deserves to get a graded stakes on her resume.”

Afleeting Lady entered the Turnback the Alarm off a 4 1/2-length victory in the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth on Sept. 3.
Saturday, breaking from the outside post under Joel Rosario, Afleeting Lady stalked All Due Respect through a quarter in 23.39 seconds, a half-mile in 46.17, and six furlongs in 1:10.27.

Afleeting Lady crept alongside All Due Respect outside the eighth pole and drew clear in the final sixteenth.

“That was an easy trip,” said Rosario, who won three races on the card. “It looked like [All Due Respect] was the speed. My horse has speed, too, but I just let them go and let my horse get comfortable, and she was really game today.”

Afleeting Lady covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.17 and returned $8.

Romans said Afleeting Lady would likely run in the Grade 2, $150,000 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 22 – a race in which she finished second last year – before being retired.