Danse Macabre's final furlong overpowers Glen Cove rivals

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A little farther back earlier on than her connections expected, Danse Macabre came with a furious late run under Adam Beschizza to win Thursday’s $125,000 Glen Cove Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct.

Dontlookbackatall, who made the lead in midstretch, held second by a neck over Love Appeals as trainer Christophe Clement runners finished second and third.

For Danse Macabre, the win was her fifth from nine starts and fourth in a stakes race. Danse Macabre is a 3-year-old daughter of Army Mule owned by NBS Stable and Elemente Racing and trained by Kelsey Danner. Danse Macabre has now earned $927,090.

Danse Macabre had typically been a stalker in her races, but Thursday found herself in seventh, about seven lengths off the pace as Determined Jester and Future Is Now opened up a sizeable advantage through a quarter in 22.20 seconds and a half-mile in 44.92 over an outer turf course labeled good.

Still seventh at the three-sixteenths, Danse Macabre split horses in midstretch and was able to run down Dontlookbackatall who drifted out a path or two in the stretch under Jose Ortiz.

The turf was labeled good, but Beschizza said there was plenty of cut in it, which wasn’t in his filly’s favor.

“She’s a fast ground filly,” Beschizza told the New York Racing Association publicity department. “When it’s fast, I can usually sit there on the bridle close to the speed. I’d say it was the soft side of good today and I was just wheel-spinning and scrambling early. . . . The class shined through and she got up.”

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Danner said she was concerned when she saw Danse Macabre that far off the pace, deducing she wasn’t loving the soft ground.

“She’s just a nice filly,” Danner told NYRA. “She knows what she’s doing and she does it. She has a lot of heart.”

Danse Macabre covered the six furlongs in 1:09.34 and returned $4.80 as the favorite.

The Glen Cove was originally scheduled for Sunday, but postponed until Thursday when rain prompted the New York Racing Association not to card the race for that day.

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