Emery and Gaffalione wear down Mystic Lake to take Victory Ride; Prat has five-win holiday

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Emery needed almost every inch of the Aqueduct stretch to run down Mystic Lake, but run her down she did to win Thursday’s Grade 3, $162,750 Victory Ride Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

After Mystic Lake put away pace challenger Halina’s Forte, it appeared as though she was going to get to the wire first and give jockey Flavien Prat his sixth win on the card. But Emery, who had sat third under Tyler Gaffalione, persevered to the wire and got up by three-quarters of a length.

Mystic Lake finished 5 3/4 lengths clear of Halina’s Forte. Autumn Evening was fourth. Golden Degree scratched to await a better spot, according to trainer Linda Rice.

Emery won for the fourth time in five tries and third in as many races this year. She was coming off a demonstrative victory in the Leslie’s Lady Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 9. All four of her wins have come with Gaffalione aboard.

“I love the progression she’s made from her first start,” Gaffalione said. “She’s been able to take dirt, sitting back, relaxing beautifully, and showing a really nice turn of foot.”

Gaffalione had Emery in a stalking third position, but had to go a little wide in the lane while Mystic Lake kicked away for a few strides while racing on the inside.

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“When I got to the turn, I just let my filly out a little bit and she kept building off of that,” Gaffalione said. “The filly on the inside kicked home nicely but my filly really dug in and finished the job well.”

Emery, a daughter of More Than Ready owned by Stonestreet Stables and trained by Brad Cox, covered the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.44 and returned $3.20 as the odds-on choice.

Emery was running back 24 days after her victory in the Leslie’s Lady at Churchill.

“We probably had to ask her a little more today than we did in her two prior starts this year, but she ran down a really good filly on the lead and it was a big win for her,” Cox told NYRA publicity. “She’s got a nice pedigree and now she’s a graded stakes winner. She came back off short rest, but I feel like she did it the right way at Churchill and I gave her plenty of time from her race at Keeneland to the Churchill race.”

Cox indicated Emery would be heading to Saratoga with the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 3 a consideration.

Prat said the 6 1/2 furlong distance is probably as far as Mystic Lake wants to run.

Prior to the Victory Ride, Prat had won with five of his first six mounts on the card, including races 4 through 7. He finished second in the finale as well to complete the day with a 5-2-1 record from eight mounts.

“Very grateful, it’s been a great day, horses have been running well so I’m very happy,” Prat said.

Coincidentally, Prat won five races last year on July Fourth at Belmont Park.

“Fun fact,” he said.

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