Cadenza enjoys class relief, prevails in Galway Stakes
:quality(75))
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Cadenza was the slowest to begin but, more importantly, she was the fastest to finish in Saturday’s $200,000 Galway Stakes at Saratoga. Cadenza rallied from last to a popular 1 1/2-length victory over Epic Lady Luck in the 5 1/2-furlong listed stakes for 3-year-old fillies decided over a yielding turf course.
Cadenza was getting ample class relief in the Galway, having finished third here in two Grade 3 turf sprints, the Coronation Cup and Soaring Softly, earlier in the season. The condition of the course on Saturday caused concern for her connections and backers, considering she had faltered during the latter stages of the Coronation Cup, which was also decided over boggy ground, in her most recent start.
Those concerns increased at the start of the Galway when Cadenza checked back to last immediately after the break. She still trailed, racing about eight lengths off the pacesetting Gerrard’s Cross, leaving the backstretch before unleashing a big run while circling the field around the turn.
Cadenza straightened away at the top of the stretch about three lengths behind Gerrards Cross, continued to surge down the center of the course to readily strike the front inside the furlong marker, then edged away under vigorous urging from her regular rider Manny Franco. Epic Lady Luck saved ground, eased out to midtrack on settling into the stretch, and out-finished the others to be second-best, a head in front of the tiring Gerrards Cross.
Oscar’s Encore and Mauna Loa, the favorite and second choice in the eight-horse field, finished last and next-to-last respectively, with the latter vanned off after having reportedly bled.
Cadenza, a daughter of Charlatan, is trained by Brad Cox for Stonestreet Stables LLC. She completed 5 1/2 furlongs over the soggy footing in 1:03.91 seconds and paid $10.08.
“We thought she would be out-footed early. We wanted to be patient, that was the plan, and when I saw the 21 and change I thought they might back up,” Cox said. “Although honestly, I didn’t think she was traveling great the first part of it. But Manny (Franco) said when he tipped her out on the turn and she saw daylight, she just grabbed him and took him there and stayed on well.”
Cox said although he felt the yielding turf could be an issue, with the class relief and the way his filly had been training, he was confident she would turn in a strong effort.
“She breezed awfully well across the street last week, so I was confident she’d run a big race, but there’s always the concern of will she handle the ground. And she did today,” Cox continued. “I thought it was a very competitive race on paper, but without Cy Fair, obviously a softer spot than last time.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.