Despite differing trips, Brown's runners separated by only a nose in Lake George

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - As he weaved his way through the crowd between trips to and from the paddock Friday afternoon at Saratoga, trainer Chad Brown was often asked which of the fillies he had in the Grade 3, $175,000 Lake George - Dolce Zel and Eminent Victor - he preferred.

“I told them all the truth, it’s close,” Brown said. “It’s very, very close.”

It doesn’t get much closer.

Only a nose separated Dolce Zel and Eminent Victor, with the former squeezing through a narrow opening along the rail in mid-stretch under Irad Ortiz Jr. and outlasting the four-wide rallying Eminent Victor, the 8-5 favorite who overcame a bad stumble at the break under Flavien Prat to run a terrific second in the mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies.

“Unfortunately, there had to be a loser because both horses ran so good and we almost got a dead heat - I’ll get it one day, a dead heat at Saratoga,” Brown said.

The victory was the sixth in the Lake George in the last eight years for Brown, who in 2018 sent out the one-two-three finishers, the only runners who ran in the race.

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Dolce Zel was making her first start in 11 weeks, having warranted a freshening after a third in the Grade 2 Edgewood, her third race in eight weeks. Dolce Zel was the recipient of a ground-saving trip under Ortiz, who was then in search of running room from the quarter pole to mid-stretch.

Ortiz looked to split Al Qahira and Sister Lou Ann, but that hole closed. He then looked to slip through the rail, but that hole was narrow.

When Ortiz finally did get Dolce Zel through she thought her job was done and put her head up, Ortiz said. But she dug back in when confronted by Eminent Victor and came up on the right side of the photo.

“She’s tiny and that helps a little bit because there was not too much room, so I go for it,” Ortiz said. “She goes through and after she goes through she put her head up a little bit and then she fought with the other one. It worked out good honestly.”

Eminent Victor finished second by 1 3/4 lengths over Koala Princess. Al Qahira was fourth, followed by Skims, Sister Lou Ann, Spirit and Glory, and Heavenly Hellos. Republique was scratched.

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“Although she had trouble she had a ground-saving trip and reserved so much energy that when they reached for the wire she just had a little bit more there,” Brown said. “Eminent Victor stumbled at the start and had a wide run on the final turn and it might have taken a little bit of the fuel out of her that last 70 yards when she couldn’t accelerate past everybody.”

Dolce Zel, a French-bred daughter of Zelzal owned by Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Robert LaPenta, covered the mile in 1:35.64 and returned $8.60 as the second choice. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

Two of Brown’s previous three winners of the Lake George came back to win the Lake Placid. He said both of these fillies are likely headed to that Grade 2, $200,000 race at 1 1/16 miles here on Aug. 20.