Dubai Escapade wires Madison

LEXINGTON, Ky. - With favored Dubai Escapade possessing sharp early speed, and with no other pace in the race, the decisions for jockey Edgar Prado, trainer Eoin Harty, and the 8,641 who came to Keeneland on Wednesday for the Grade 2, $200,000 were fairly obvious.

Dubai Escapade jumped immediately to the front and led from start to finish in the seven-furlong race, prevailing by 4 3/4 lengths to record the first stakes victory of her career.

"This was the perfect place to run her," Harty said. "Put her on the lead and put her on the rail, and you're pretty much home free."

The conditions at Keeneland were ideal for Dubai Escapade ($4.40), who was racing over a track that was kind to inside speed all day. When Flying Glitter, the only other serious speed in the race, was scratched early in the day, that made Dubai Escapade's assignment all the easier against her eight rivals.

She clicked off fractions of 21.97 seconds, 44.67, and 1:09.60 for the first six furlongs en route to a final time of 1:22.34 on the fast main track.

"I was a very, very, happy passenger," Prado said.

Josh's Madelyn rallied for second, 1 3/4 lengths in front of third-place Ever Elusive.

Dubai Escapade has now won all three of her starts this year. She captured a pair of allowance races at Gulfstream before the Madison, which was her stakes debut. Harty said that Dubai Escapade, a 4-year-old daughter of Awesome Again, will be pointed for for the Princess Rooney, a newly minted Grade 1 stakes, this summer at Calder.