Duopoly takes early lead en route to Winter Memories win

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Duopoly bounced back from her fifth-place finish as the favorite in the Grade 3 Valley View Stakes at Keeneland last month with a front-running, three-quarter-length victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Winter Memories Stakes at Aqueduct.

Sent to the front soon after the start by Irad Ortiz Jr., Duopoly maintained a measured one-length advantage over pursuers Vigilantes Way and High Opinion through splits of 24.75 seconds for the quarter and 50.15 for the half-mile. Vigilantes Way moved to Duopoly’s throat-latch around the far turn, but Duopoly had something left for the stretch run and was able to secure the victory.

High Opinion, at 25-1 the longest shot in the seven-horse field, outfinished Vigilantes Way by a half-length for second. Speaktomeofsummer, the 2-1 favorite, was fourth followed by Selflessly, Crystalle, and Faccio Io.

The win was the third from five starts for Duopoly, a 3-year-old daughter of Animal Kingdom trained by Chad Brown for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables. All three of Duopoly’s wins have come when she was able to secure the early lead.

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“It looked like she was potentially the lone speed in the race, I think Irad took advantage of it,” Brown said. “Now she’s undefeated when she makes the lead. She seems to have really good early speed and she’s able to carry it. The way these races are run in New York sometimes, speed is a valuable thing to have.”

Duopoly covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.80 and returned $7.90 as the third wagering choice.

Ortiz, who won three races on Sunday’s card including the $100,000 Key Cents Stakes with Vacay, noted that Duopoly has a tendency to try and get out in her races, but she was better about that on Sunday.

“When we hit the backside she started probably getting out a little bit, but I didn’t panic because I know she’s going to keep going,” Ortiz said. “I just rode her with patience and try not to fight her too much. When we turned for home, I asked her and she had plenty in the tank.”

With Brown losing some top-quality turf fillies and mares to retirement, he hopes Duopoly can fill part of the void in 2021.

“I think she can run farther than this, I really do, so we’ll see,” he said.