Crystalle overcomes slow start en route to P.G. Johnson win

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – What did Thursday’s $100,000 P.G. Johnson Stakes and Wednesday’s $100,000 With Anticipation have in common? Both races are for 2-year-olds on the turf and both saw the favorite break poorly, conceding several lengths to the field at the start.

But unlike the With Anticipation, when Our Country got rank and rushed up inside horses, checked sharply, and ultimately finished fourth as the 6-5 favorite, Crystalle was able to overcome her slow beginning in the P.G. Johnson, surging late to register a neck decision over Sweet Melania as the 8-5 choice.

Crystalle entered the P.G. Johnson technically a maiden after being disqualified from a 2 1/4-length victory in a controversial stewards' decision when launching her career here earlier this month. In Thursday's 1 1/16-mile P.G. Johnson, she had her head cocked to the side when the gates opened and ultimately settled at at the rear of the field after recovering under her new rider Joel Rosario.

Crystalle remained last for the opening six furlongs, angled five wide while commencing her rally into the stretch, appeared to hang briefly outside rivals through midstretch before surging late to wear down Sweet Melania in the final strides. The latter also rated off the early leaders, advanced steadily outside rivals to gain command and edge clear in early stretch, but could not contain the winner at the end. It was another half-length back to third-place finisher English Breeze.

Ginseng, the pacesetting Apurate, Lively Kitten, and Lucky Jingle rounded out the complete order of finish.

A daughter of Palace Malice trained by John Kimmel, Crystalle is owned in partnership by Tobey Morton and Chuck Hovitz. Send postward at odds of 41-1 in her debut, she paid a mere $5.30 after earning her maiden win against stakes company in the P.G. Johnson.

“I’m watching her in the gate, and she’s not standing square, and they were trying to get her straightened out and I’m going ‘No, no, no,” said Kimmel. “And then they opened the latch and she misses the break. Going into it, I was worried she was going to be aggressive and end up contesting the pace. Like yesterday’s horse of George Weaver’s, Our Country, who got kind of aggressive after a slow start. The way it worked out, she was well behind the field, obviously had to go pretty wide to get around them, and at the eighth pole I didn’t think she had enough. She kind of stalled a little bit, then she got a second wind and managed to get up in time.”

Kimmel said the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf would be the main goal for Crystalle, with a race like the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont Park on Sept. 29 a likely stepping-stone.