Braverthanubelieve, on quick turnaround, uses late surge to take Fifth Avenue
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Juvenile filly Braverthanubelieve, with a fleet turn of foot off a two-week break, surged late to win the $500,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series on Saturday at Aqueduct.
After a patient summer John Ortiz has been eager to make up for lost time with a highly promising New York-bred.
“We believed this filly was very special from the beginning,” Ortiz said. “She came to us at Saratoga and gave us a workout that we knew was not from just a New York-bred — this was a competitive racehorse. She did get sick on us, we gave her the right time, brought her back correctly. She jumped right back into training like she never missed anything.”
At one point Ortiz considered skipping a maiden start for Braverthanubelieve and debut her in the Fifth Avenue division. When she won a statebred maiden special weight at six furlongs on Nov. 22, the trainer was all the more confident that she could handle the seven-furlong stakes. Bettors who were similarly confident were handsomely rewarded when she paid $18.18 to win.
Braverthanubelieve’s victory extends an impressive streak for sire Honest Mischief, whose progeny won the Fifth Avenue and Great White Way divisions of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct last year. Named the leading freshman sire outside of Kentucky in 2024, 35 of his 73 starters have won.
In her first start, under Ricardo Santana Jr., Braverthanubelieve got the job done on the front end, but in Saturday's deep field of 10, jockey Joel Rosario wasn’t as keen on getting her to the lead. He settled into fifth with the 8-1 filly, leaving 10-1 outsider Fancy Lights to duel with 3-2 favorite Hot Currency through an opening quarter-mile in 22.56 seconds.
“The pace was good, and I was sitting in a good spot,” Rosario said. “I said, ‘hopefully when I ask her, she responds,’ and she did.”
Hot Currency, a 6 1/2-length maiden winner last time out for trainer Linda Rice, lived up to her billing on Saturday, pressing Fancy Lights through a half-mile in 45.71 before taking over on the far turn. The hot pace set up well for others, however, and Braverthanubelieve and Chad Summers-trained filly Daniella Marie launched bold bids turning for home.
Stalking from third, Daniella Marie took the first crack at the leader but could not pass, as jockey Flavien Prat kept getting more from Hot Currency near the wire. She couldn’t hold off another closer, however, and with a blazing move down the center, Braverthanubelieve and Rosario breezed past Hot Currency to a 1 1/4-length victory. She completed the seven-furlong distance in 1:23.92.
“She actually moved really well,” Rosario said. “We were just waiting for the right time [to make a move] and I had to kind of get after her a bit. The other couple kept moving in front, but the whole time, it looked like I had horse. She ran a big race.”
Hot Currency finished 3 1/4 lengths clear of Daniella Marie, who still managed to clear the rest of the field by 6 1/2 lengths despite tiring in the late stages.
Ortiz said that he intends to keep Braverthanubelieve on the New York-bred stakes program for the time being. As she adds distance, the trainer believes that she might have even more to offer.
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