Emphatic aces two-turn test in Sorority
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Emphatic has now lived up to her name in two career starts for trainer Brendan Walsh, following up a commanding maiden victory with a similarly dominant 5 1/4-length romp in the $100,000 Sorority Stakes. The juvenile filly wasted little time in a stalking position and was never in trouble on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
“She couldn’t have been more impressive,” Walsh said. “I thought she had a great trip even though she got hung a little wide early on. But she had a nice smooth trip after that. I liked the way she cruised around there and then picked it up again in the stretch. It looks like she could be a pretty nice filly.”
Coming off a 6 3/4-length debut victory at Colonial Downs last month, bettors were well aware of the Pennsylvania-bred filly’s potential and made her the 3-2 favorite in her stakes debut. She crushed the tougher test in eerily similar fashion and paid $5 to win.
Slightly more patient in the two-turn mile race, jockey Edwin Gonzalez managed to keep Emphatic in a stalking position while Space for Grace and Witchy Vibes dueled for the early lead. The longshots vied through an opening quarter-mile in 23.90 seconds and came together again on the backstretch, completing the half-mile in 47.74.
“I think this will be a really nice filly,” Gonzalez said. “She was really impressive. I didn’t want to be that close early because I wanted to save ground around the first turn and we were a little wide, but the position was perfect. She broke running.”
The race did not remain competitive much longer, however, as Emphatic pulled Gonzalez into contention on the outside and exploded early on the far turn, taking over with ease and charging away from any potential challenger. She was four lengths clear at the top of the stretch and steadily advanced from there, completing the mile in 1:36.71.
Spectacular Sam and the first-time starter Revenge of the Sis made belated moves from the back of the pack to take minor prizes. Spectacular Sam, the 5-2 second choice trained by Robert Medina, rallied from seventh to take second, 1 1/2 lengths clear of the George Weaver-trained filly Revenge of the Sis.
The Sorority has typically served as an opportunity for trainers to give their juvenile fillies an early distance test around two turns, and Emphatic could not have handled it much better. The unbeaten Walsh trainee remains untested and has not yet found her ceiling in two starts.
“I think we have to try [graded stakes company next] with a 2-year-old that is 2 for 2 and has done it the way she has,” Walsh said. “You have to give her a chance. She’s a stakes winner now so the pressure is off to an extent. So we’ll probably take a graded stakes shot with her.”
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