Celestine extends winning streak in Wait a While

Celestine, who beat maidens and then won the Sanibel Island Stakes at Gulfstream Park for her former connections in March, stretched her winning streak to three by capturing Saturday’s $100,000 Wait a While Stakes at Belmont Park in her first start for Bill Mott.

Celestine was off alertly and tracked Lady Shipman from third position through fractions of 22.77 and 45.89 seconds, and came through along the rail under Rajiv Maragh to draw clear from 5-4 favorite Sunset Glow by 1 1/2 lengths, running seven furlongs in 1:21.06 on a firm Widener turf course.

“Not only is she super talented, but she’s versatile,” said Maragh, who was also aboard for the filly’s front-running win in the Sanibel Island. “She can adapt to any scenario and I think it’s going to bode well for her going forward. Her mile race last time, she was extremely impressive, she finished up strong and it seemed like she can go farther, but she’s also won going five [furlongs], so that’s another thing about her. She’s so versatile.”

Celestine ($12.60) improved to 3-1-0 from six starts overall, with her only defeat on grass a runner-up finish to Asia, who has won both of her career starts.

“She’s just a lovely filly, a beautiful filly,” said Mott. “She does everything right. She’s pretty and she’s fast. She came to us in good shape. Mr. [Bill] Kaplan had her down in Florida, and he stays in Florida, so I was the lucky recipient of her up here. But she came to us in good shape and we just hoped she would run as well for us as she did for him.”

Sunset Glow chased throughout and finished second by a length over Lady Shipman, who saved the show spot by a neck over Isabella Sings.

Stella Street trailed throughout after breaking about five lengths behind the field in her U.S. debut.