Farrell seals the deal in Shuvee Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Her speed had carried Farrell in front to the eighth pole in each of her last two starts, but she couldn’t seal the deal in either the Grade 1 La Troienne or Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs.

On Sunday, in the Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga, Farrell again made it to the eighth pole with a clear advantage under Channing Hill. But attempting to chase her home were the undefeated Chilean-bred Wow Cat, the graded winner Ivy Bell, and the hard-trying Verve’s Tale.

This time, however, Farrell didn’t fold, fending off all comers to win the Shuvee Stakes by a neck over Wow Cat. It was another head back to Verve’s Tale in third.

The win was the eighth from 17 career starts and fifth graded success for Farrell, a 4-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon owned by the Coffeepot Stables of Bob Cummings and Annette Bacola. The $110,000 first-place purse pushed her career earnings to $1,064,777.

Trainer Wayne Catalano liked the Shuvee because he felt the Saratoga main track played to Farrell’s front-running style. When Frost Wise, the other speed horse in the field, was scratched at the gate by the track veterinarian, that made Catalano even happier.

“This track favors speed, when they scratched [Frost Wise] I felt pretty comfortable there,” Catalano said. “Now we had to get to the eighth pole and Channing had to do the rest.”

Farrell had a two-length advantage through splits of 24.35 seconds for the quarter, 48.31 for the half and 1:11.83 for six furlongs.

Wow Cat, making her first start since December and first in this country after going 8 for 8 in Chile, stalked Farrell from second under John Velazquez.

Inside the eighth pole, Wow Cat was trying to get to Farrell, but Farrell had something left and despite drifting out a path or two, she held on for the narrow victory.

“The biggest thing is to get her to finish from the eighth pole and today she really finished,” Hill said. “She loves this track; you know how Saratoga can be, you can either love it or you hate it. I’m glad she loved it.”

Regarding the drifting, Hill said, “every race she runs she tends to drift out. I’m glad Johnny’s horse got to us gradually instead of kind of rolling by us.”

Farrell covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.35 over a fast main track and returned $20.20 to win.

Velazquez said he was not impeded by Farrell’s drifting out and that “she got a little tired, that’s it.”

Verve’s tale, beaten a head for second, finished third by 1 3/4 lengths over Ivy Bell. Pacific Wind and Tiger Moth completed the order of finish.

Farrell is likely to remain in Saratoga and try for her first Grade 1 victory in the $700,000 Personal Ensign on Aug. 25.