Carolyn's Cat upends top pair in Vagrancy

What appeared to be a match race on paper turned out to be anything but Sunday at Belmont Park.

Race favorites Game Face (6-5) and Any Limit (3-2) both finished out of the money and well behind Carolyn's Cat who went gate to wire under Alan Garcia to win Sunday s Grade 2, $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap by 3 1/4 lengths at Belmont.

Porte Bonheur, making her first start since last Nov. 2, finished well to be second, 4 1/4 lengths clear of longshot Are We Dreamin. Any Limit, who pressed Carolyn's Cat through a half-mile in 45.85 seconds, finished fourth, 3 3/4 lengths ahead of 6-5 favorite Game Face, in what was her worst career performance.

Carolyn's Cat, equipped with one aluminum pad on a front foot by trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, broke alertly under Garcia and ran an opening quarter in 22.52 seconds and 45.85 for opening half-mile. Any Limit put a head in front midway on the far turn, but Garcia had yet to ask Carolyn's Cat to run. When he did, she responded, opening up turning for home and cruising home an easy winner. Carolyn s Cat, a 4-year-old daughter of Forestry purchased at auction by William Warren for $650,000 as a yearling, covered 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.34 and returned $13. She is now 4 for 10 lifetime.

"She broke good and then I decided I would take advantage of my break and take the lead, and my filly just kept going," Garcia said.

Carolyn's Cat will be aimed at the Grade 1 Ballerina in August at Saratoga, though where she runs in between is less certain.