English Affair rallies to take Cardinal Handicap
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A race after a troubled trip potentially cost English Affair a victory in the Oct. 21 Dowager at Keeneland, racing luck shifted in her favor in Thursday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs, in which she rallied to defeat Amboseli by a half-length.
Corey Lanerie, riding English Affair for the first time in her 12-race career, was able to tuck his mount into an inside position for much of the Cardinal, a 1 1/8-mile grass race, and the ground they saved proved valuable. Then after awaiting room on the second of two turns, she had adequate time to reel in the leaders down the long Churchill stretch with a decisive rally.
The Cardinal shaped up short of pace, with 37-1 longshot Unbridled Escape carving out the early fractions of 24.79 seconds for a quarter-mile, 50.62 for a half, and 1:16.91 for three quarters, but she and the other frontrunners were unable to capitalize on the slower tempo. They were no match for late-charging English Affair and Amboseli.
In contrast to the Dowager, when another rival, Beach Flower, tightened up an inside rally for English Affair, she had no such difficulties down the lane in the Cardinal. Third across the wire in the Dowager, she was elevated to the runner-up finish in that race after stewards ruled that Beach Flower impeded her.
“I thought she was going to win that race, actually,” winning trainer Rusty Arnold said. “But she made up for it today.”
A 4-year-old English Channel filly owned and bred by Calumet Farm, English Affair ($8) recorded her first stakes victory in the Cardinal. She raced 1 1/8 miles in 1:54.26 over yielding going, conditions that Lanerie said she enjoyed.
“Every time I called on her, she hit another gear,” he said. “I thought I might have gotten out a little late and maybe not get them, but with her turn of foot, she had them.”
Favored I Remember Mama ran third, 1 1/4 lengths behind runner-up Amboseli, after surging to take command in early stretch. A wide trip in the race may have also contributed to her loss, with Trakus statistics indicating she raced 61 more feet than the winner did.
