Bye Bye finds stakes-debut victory in Soaring Softly
Bye Bye ($19) overcame a wide trip to win her stakes debut under Eric Cancel in Saturday’s Grade 3 Soaring Softly at Belmont.
Bye Bye raced in midpack in the five-path going down the backstretch in the seven-furlong turf sprint, as Lexinator and Star Devine dueled through splits of 22.61 and 44.62 seconds.
Bye Bye loomed three wide into a stalking position on the turn, and then hit the front nearing the eighth pole before holding off a charging Invincible Gal to prevail by a neck. Candace O, who like Invincible Gal is trained by Graham Motion, finished another neck back in third.
Star Devine faded to fourth and Tobys Heart, the 3-2 favorite, was a non-threatening fifth in the 11-horse field of 3-year-old fillies.
Over a firm course, the final time was 1:21.19.
Trained by Christophe Clement for Bach Stables, Bye Bye was coming off a fast maiden special weight score in her second start at Gulfstream. The Kentucky-bred daughter of leading sire Into Mischief earned $55,000 of the $100,000 purse.