Freudie Anne prevails in Statue of Liberty

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When the best horse in the field is able to dictate his own terms on the lead, that horse usually wins.

Such was the case in Thursday’s $100,000 Statue of Liberty division of the New York Stallion Stakes, where Freudie Anne, under Jose Ortiz, cleared the field entering the first turn and was never seriously challenged on her way to a 1 1/4-length victory over Loon River.

It was 2 3/4 lengths farther back to a slow-starting Psychiatry, who finished 1 1/2 lengths clear of Amazing Anne, who was running back three days after she finished second in Monday’s Cab Calloway division of the Stallion Stakes. The top four finishers were all by the New York stallion Freud, who also sired the sixth- and eighth-place finishers.

For Freudie Anne, it was her fifth win from nine career starts and her third in as many starts on turf. She had twice won on dirt, including a 9 3/4-length victory in the East View Stakes at Aqueduct last December.

“She’s good on the dirt, but she’s better on the grass,” trainer Eddie Kenneally said.

She’s also better when things go her own way. With the speedy Psychiatry breaking awkwardly from the rail, Ortiz saw the opportunity to hustle his filly to the front and secure the rail position after breaking from post 3.

John Velazquez, on Dreamboat Annie, and Julien Leparoux, on Arietta, also showed speed out of the gate but backed off entering the first turn. That enabled Freudie Anne to set fractions of 23.19 seconds for the quarter, 47.12 for the half, 1:11.51 for six furlongs and come home a final quarter in 24.05 seconds to cover the mile in 1:35.56. She returned $6.40 as the 2-1 favorite.

“I broke well. Plan A was going to the lead, plan B was to sit back, so plan A worked great,” said Ortiz, who won three races on the card to give him 14 for the meet. “We set pretty decent fractions, and I think I rode the best filly today.”

Kenneally said he would have been fine had Freudie Anne had to come from slightly off the pace but was happy when he saw the 47.12-second half-mile.

“She broke running today, they kind of backed off her going down the backside, they gave her the opportunity to coast on the lead, and she had plenty left in reserve,” Kenneally said.