Espresso Shot runs away from Love and Love in Biogio's Rose

Espresso Shot became a stakes winner for the fourth consecutive calendar year by reeling in pacesetting Love and Love to win Sunday’s $100,000 Biogio’s Rose Stakes for New York-bred females by two lengths at Aqueduct.

Love and Love was second by 11 lengths over Critical Value. Firenze Freedom was fourth, followed by Wasp, a somewhat surprising 6-5 favorite. Lucky Move, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, was scratched due to a foot abscess, according to her owner Marshall Gramm.

Espresso Shot added the Biogio’s Rose to a victory last November in the Staten Island division of the New York Stallion Series. Espresso Shot also won the Busher Invitational in 2019 and the East View for New York-breds in 2018. All four of those wins have come at Aqueduct.

“She’s now a stakes winner at 2, 3, 4 and 5, so that’s very special for the partnership,” said Daniel Zanatta, co-founder of NY Final Furlong Racing Stable, which owns Espresso Shot along with Maspeth Stables and Parkland Thoroughbreds. “We turned her back to one turn, that’s kind of her secret sauce. Six-and-a-half furlongs to a flat mile seems to be what she wants to do.”

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Following a third-place finish in the La Verdad Stakes on Jan. 3, Espresso Shot was shipped to Florida to trainer Jorge Abreu’s string at Palm Meadows. With an uninterrupted training pattern, Espresso Shot shipped back to New York two weeks ago and was obviously ready to run.

Under Eric Cancel, Espresso Shot took up a stalking position, a length off of Love and Love, who, under Dylan Davis, set fractions of 24.28 seconds for the quarter and 47.94 for the half-mile.

Espresso Shot crept closer to Love and Love, the latter putting up a fight until inside the sixteenth pole, when Espresso Shot edged away.

Espresso Shot, a daughter of Mission Impazible, covered the one mile in 1:39.10 and returned $5.20 as the second choice.

“Dylan went to the lead and we just had to follow,” Cancel said. “Once we got to the quarter pole, I had to ask her for everything and she started running little by little.”

Espresso Shot will seek more New York-bred stakes success this year with the $200,000 Critical Eye on May 31 at Belmont a major target.