Critical Value takes advantage of setup in easy Bouwerie Stakes win

Critical Value, the best horse in the field, got the perfect setup and, unsurprisingly, an easy victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Bouwerie Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park.

Sitting an up-close fourth behind a three-ply speed duel, Junior Alvarado tipped Critical Value four wide approaching the quarter pole, made a blitz to the lead at the three-sixteenths pole, and cruised to a 4 1/2-length victory while being geared down the last 50 yards.

Big Q, part of the contentious early pace, finished second, 1 1/4 lengths in front of Naked Avenger, who was last early. Risky Mischief finished fourth, followed by Courageous Girl. Ilchester Cheetah scratched.

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The win was the third in five starts for Critical Value, a daughter of Bodemeister owned and bred by the Ten Strike Racing partnership of Marshall Gramm and Clay Sanders and trained by Jeremiah Englehart. Critical Value also won the Maid of the Mist Stakes at Belmont last October before finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Demoiselle against open company at Aqueduct last December.

Critical Value sat a little closer than Englehart thought she would be, but it certainly didn’t take away from her kick.

“I was kind of surprised she was as close as she was, but it looked like she was taking Junior there,” Englehart said. “When she’s on her game, she usually gives it her all.”

Critical Value covered the seven furlongs in 1:23.07 and returned $3.70 as the favorite.

Englehart was disappointed in the fourth-place finish by Risky Mischief, who did break a step slow and then rushed up under Jose Ortiz and got involved in a pace duel. He felt she was training extremely well for her first start since she finished sixth in the Grade 1 Spinaway last September.

“For as well as Critical Value ran, I was a little disappointed in Risky just because she was doing so well,” Englehart said. “Jose said [the slow break] probably hurt a little bit because he was going to be content to sit behind those two horses, but he said no one was going for the lead so he said let me go and see how they react. Watching her first race, if she could have gotten the lead, I think she would have run better.”