Egyptian Mau parlays rail trip into Belmont Turf Sprint Stakes upset
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ELMONT, N.Y. – Neither a layoff nor facing males proved a deterrent for the South African-bred mare Egyptian Mau who, under Antonio Fresu, rode the rail to a neck victory over the game Waralo in Thursday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Stakes at Belmont Park.
Breaking better than she typically has, Egyptian Mau was within three lengths of a contested pace. Placed right on the rail by Fresu, Egyptian Mau tracked the field and then burst through an opening when Chasing Liberty came off the fence in midstretch. She was able to wear down pace-prompter Waralo in the final strides. Waralo outfinished Chasing Liberty to get second by a head. Chasing Liberty finished a length in front of Alogon.
Fresu was riding Egyptian Mau for the first time and said he thought he’d be coming from further back.
“Usually, she’s very slow” to break, Fresu said. “Today, she broke better, I dropped her in on the rail, and I said ‘Okay, I’ll try,’ save some ground. She’s not favored, so you ride her a little bit more conservative and try to get what you can. When everything was opening, I took it, but the filly, she was very game. That was the main thing.”
Egyptian Mau, owned by Team Valor International and trained by Neil Drysdale, covered the six furlongs on the inner turf in 1:08.85 and returned $64.10. It was Egyptian Mau’s fourth win from 15 starts. She hadn’t run since finishing fifth at 43-1 in the Giant’s Causeway Stakes at Keeneland in April.
John O’Donoghue, the assistant to Drysdale, said Egyptian Mau had three hard races from January to April, which is why she got a freshening. She had been training at Belmont since mid-August as part of a six-horse string the Southern California-based outfit has in New York this fall.
“Very game,” O’Donoghue said. “I thought she might get a little tired the last part because she’s been off for quite a while, but she fought right to the end.”
Waralo also fought to the end. Under Jose Lezcano, Waralo stalked the pacesetting Jean Valjean with Chasing Liberty there as well. In the stretch, Waralo, under Jose Lezcano, and Chasing Liberty, ridden by Kendrick Carmouche, were stride-for-stride before Egyptian Mau caught them both at the wire.
“He ran his race,” Lezcano said of Waralo. “The last sixteenth, I felt he hung a little bit. But the other horse was running too.”
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