Glass Ceiling runs down game Jakarta to win Barbara Fritchie
Glass Ceiling broke through at the Grade 3 level Saturday, winning Laurel Park's $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs as the odds-on favorite.
Expected pacesetter Jakarta, fresh off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 29, cruised to the lead through an opening quarter of 23.08 seconds.
Sensing the moderate pace and realizing that Jakarta is very dangerous when allowed an easy lead, jockey Dylan Davis sent Glass Ceiling in between horses to push the leader. Jakarta and Glass Ceiling raced side by side through a half-mile in 46.21 and turned into the stretch on even terms.
Jakarta was brave, but Glass Ceiling had the momentum and surged late to prevail by a half-length. Jakarta held second by the same margin over Fille d'Esprit. Kaylasaurus finished fourth, followed by Prodigy Doll, Belle of the North, Regal Retort, and Bold Confection. Glass Ceiling polished off the distance in 1:23.82 and paid $3.80. She earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
Kaylasaurus's jockey, Julio Hernandez, claimed foul against third-place finisher Fille d'Esprit, but that objection was not allowed.
Glass Ceiling was claimed by Charlton Baker for $40,000 on May 21, 2021. The mare has now won four of her last five starts including the Garland of Roses Stakes at Aqueduct on Dec. 11.
In her final prep for the Barbara Fritchie, Glass Ceiling captured a "three-other-than" allowance with an $80,000 optional claiming condition at Aqueduct with a 94 Beyer.
"Sitting on the backside, it looked like he [Davis] was sitting real chilly," Baker said in a post-race interview broadcast by Laurel Park. "The 23 quarter was in favor of the speed horse."
"It was close," Baker continued. "She's a fighter, so I was confident."
Bred in Kentucky by Twin Creeks Farm, Glass Ceiling is a 5-year-old mare by Constitution. Owned by Baker in partnership with Michael Foster, she is out of the multiple stakes-placed broodmare Fighter Wing (by Empire Maker) and has won 7 of 25 starts with lifetime earnings of $531,012.