Fluffy Socks rallies for neck victory in Sands Point
ELMONT, N.Y. - Though they had run well all year, Fluffy Socks and Higher Truth were a combined 0 for 7 in stakes races in 2021.
While Higher Truth gave her usual gritty effort Saturday, it was Fluffy Socks who broke through to win her first graded race of the year by rallying past Higher Truth and Runaway Rumor to win Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Sands Point for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park.
Fluffy Socks, under Joel Rosario, got up by a neck over Runaway Rumor, who was a half-length better than Higher Truth. Our Flash Drive was fourth, followed by Plum Ali, Third Draft, and Harajuku. Jordan’s Leo was scratched.
The victory was the fourth in the last five runnings of the Sands Point for trainer Chad Brown, who also won his seventh graded stakes of the Belmont fall meet. For Rosario, the win was his 46th in a graded stakes and 55th stakes win overall in 2021. Jerry Bailey holds the single-year record for graded stakes wins (55 in 2003) while Garrett Gomez owns the record for most stakes wins in a year (76 in 2003).
Brown credited Rosario with keeping Fluffy Socks a bit closer to the pace than she typically is in the Sands Point and waiting to make his move turning for home. When he found room to split horses, Rosario did so in the stretch and rallied Fluffy Socks to victory. Fluffy Socks covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.48 and returned $10.20 as the third choice.
“Joel took the initiative to put her closer than she usually is, he didn’t get bothered by an early move down the backside by the eventual runner-up and he found a seam and at the right time he made the right decision,” Brown said. “He’s making pretty much all the right decisions this season. He’s having a career year and happy to be in the winner’s circle with another graded stakes as he chases that record.”
Fluffy Socks won the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante last November. In four stakes starts she had two seconds and a third, the latter coming in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 21. Higher Truth, who set the pace in the Sands Point, had run second in the Jockey Club Oaks and Saratoga Oaks and third in the Belmont Oaks. She was the only 3-year-old filly to run in all three legs of NYRA’s Turf Triple series.
“For one of them to break through in this season and get a graded win in Fluffy Socks is very rewarding,” Brown said. “Look, Higher Truth, she’s bred to get better as she gets older. She’s had a fantastic season, she’s overachieved from where we thought we were early in the spring, very proud of her.”
Fluffy Socks, a daughter of 2015 Grade 1 Manhattan winner Slumber, is owned and bred by Sol Kumin’s Head of Plains Partners. Slumber, who stood at Calumet a few years ago, was bought back by Kumin and now stands at Rockridge Stud in New York.
Kumin said he has bred about a dozen mares to Slumber and they will all be New York-breds, expected to be foaled in 2022.
Meanwhile, Brown said Fluffy Socks would likely be pointed to the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 while Higher Truth, who has run seven times since March, will get a break and be pointed to a 4-year-old campaign.