Daring Kathy by a nose in Perfect Sting

ELMONT, N.Y. – New barn, same result for Daring Kathy.

A four-time stakes winner as a 3-year-old when trained by David Fawkes, Daring Kathy made a successful 4-year-old debut for trainer Chad Brown on Friday at Belmont Park, taking the $100,000 Perfect Sting Stakes by a nose over a late-running Marbre Rose at Belmont Park. It was a half-length back to Photo Call in third.

Despite not having run since Nov. 22 and having to deal with pace pressure from a hard-to-handle Miss Frost, Daring Kathy, under Javier Castellano, held on to record her seventh win from 10 career starts for owners John and Kathy Eaton and Steve Laymon.

Daring Kathy is a granddaughter of Ginny Dare, the first horse the Eatons ever purchased, so “it means the world to us,” Kathy Eaton, for whom Daring Kathy is named, said in the winner’s circle.

Daring Kathy was transferred to Brown because the owners wanted her with a New York-based trainer and they had previously had horses with Brown. Brown selected this spot for Daring Kathy’s seasonal debut because he thought the one-mile distance and the timing would set her up well for the Saratoga meet.

Daring Kathy had shown herself as a front-runner last year, and Brown was not about to change that style despite the presence of other speed in this field. Castellano put Daring Kathy on the lead and held his inside position even when a headstrong Miss Frost went up to challenge through a half-mile in 47.22 seconds.

It wasn’t until upper stretch that Castellano asked his filly to run, and she opened up a 1 1/2-length lead at the eighth pole and was able to hold off the 3-1 favorite, Marbre Rose.

Daring Kathy, a daughter of Wildcat Heir, covered the mile in 1:33.85 and returned $13.60 to win.

“We took the approach when we drew inside that we’re going to commit and go. Whoever goes is going to go, and whoever doesn’t, doesn’t,” Brown said. “She hadn’t run in a while, and those other horses have, and I think she’s going to get something out of this race and be much better next time.”

Next time will be at Saratoga. Races like the Grade 1 Diana at 1 1/8 miles on July 25 or the listed De La Rose at a mile Aug. 8 would be under consideration.