Borrowing Base gets a realistic setup this time

Borrowing Base was somewhat of a buzz horse when she ran in last month's Montauk Handicap, but a pedestrian pace and a sloppy track were her undoing as she finished sixth at 5-1 in the stakes restricted to New York-bred fillies and mares.

Not wanting her campaign to end on that note, trainer Pat Quick decided to delay a scheduled break for the mare and wheeled her back on two weeks' rest in Sunday's $82,100 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct.

Good move.

Swung four wide by Javier Castellano approaching the quarter pole, Borrowing Base was able to run down the leaders despite lugging in at the eighth pole and drew clear to a three-length victory in what was the 137th and final running of the Ladies. Nijinsky Bullet finished second with Julie B checking in third.

It was the sixth win and first stakes in the 43-race career of Borrowing Base, a 5-year-old daughter of Personal Flag owned by Daddies Girls Stable. Borrowing Base had to withstand a jockey's objection and stewards' inquiry to keep the victory. Winston Thompson, the jockey aboard Nijinsky Bullet, claimed foul after Borrowing Base veered in on his mare, but the stewards deduced it did not affect the outcome of the race.

Borrowing Base covered the 1 3/16 miles in 2:07.30 and returned $18.40. Maryland shipper Sweet Goodbye, the 7-5 favorite, never made the lead and faded to last after chasing front-running Rap Tale for the first mile.

"It was her distance," Quick said. "I told some of the owners on the way here, I feel sorry for the other horses in the race - she was doing so well coming into it."

Quick noted that the six-furlong time for the Montauk was 1:17.08 while the same three-quarter-mile fraction in the Ladies was 1:14.12.

"In the Montauk they went 1:17-and-change and she never got a chance to run," Quick said. "Today, she did."

Quick indicated that Borrowing Base would most likely get a freshening. She's been racing virtually once a month since Quick claimed the mare for $30,000 in August of 2007.

The Ladies Handicap was dropped from the New York Racing Association's stakes schedule for 2009.

* One race earlier, Distorted Passion split horses at the eighth pole and outfinished a troubled-trip By the Light to win the $68,200 Foil Stakes by a neck. Rajiv Maragh rode the winner for Todd Pletcher and Gulf Coast Farms.

Distorted Passion covered the six furlongs in 1:10.40 and returned $20.80.

Two horses euthanized

Sunday's card was the last at Aqueduct until Dec. 26. Few were in the holiday spirit after two horses had to be euthanized.

Routine Addendum, a 2-year-old gelded son of Read the Footnotes, broke a front leg after clipping heels during the running of the fifth race. Jockey Sheldon Russell, who was unseated in the race, went to North Shore University Hospital where X-rays on his left hand were negative.

However, Russell was planning to take off his mounts at Philadelphia Park on Monday and Tuesday, according to his agent Bill Castle. Russell needs to see an orthopedist for further evaluation to make sure there is no ligament damage, Castle said. Russell is hoping to continue riding at Laurel Park on Thursday.

Prior to the sixth race, Nika, a 2-year-old daughter of Dixie Union, broke through the starting gate and ran off and eventually impaled herself into an outside railing near the gap. She lost too much blood and could not be saved, according to track veterinarians. Nika was a $500,000 purchase by Mr. and Mrs. William Warrant at the OBS March Sale.

$150K carryover into Dec. 26 card

No one hit the pick six on Sunday, the second straight card in which the wager went unclaimed, resulting in a $150,027 carryover entering the Dec. 26 card.

Entries for that card will be taken on Dec. 22.