Glass Ceiling surges late in Garland of Roses
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After struggling with being on the inside and with getting mud kicked at early on, Glass Ceiling was switched to the outside by Dylan Davis around the far turn and then came with a strong late run to win Saturday’s $100,000 Garland of Roses Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths at Aqueduct.
Call On Mischief finished second by 2 1/4 lengths over longshot Letmetakethiscall. Sadie Lady, the pacesetter, got fourth by a nose over Song River, who was followed in the order of finish by Starfront and Just Read It.
It was the third straight strong performance from Glass Ceiling, who won a first-level allowance at Belmont on Sept. 30 and then finished second to Lady Rocket, beaten just a head, in the faster of two divisions of the Pumpkin Pie Stakes on Oct. 31. Lady Rocket won last weekend’s Grade 3 Go for Wand by nine lengths.
On Saturday, Davis said he wanted to keep Glass Ceiling relatively close to the pace, but she was five lengths behind after the opening quarter-mile, not relishing the slop being kicked on chest. Around the turn, Davis gradually advanced Glass Ceiling to the outside and into the clear. Straightening for home, she started to kick, passing the pacesetting Sadie Lady as well as a rallying Call On Mischief outside the eighth pole and widening her advantage in the final sixteenth.
Glass Ceiling, a 4-year-old daughter of Constitution owned by Michael Foster as well as her trainer Charlton Baker, covered the six furlongs in 1:11.19 and returned $5.30 as the favorite.
“That kickback was really bothering her,” Davis said. “I was trying to keep her [close] and saving some ground, but she just wasn’t handling it. I just opted to come outside. I said ‘She’s way better than what she was doing down the backside.’ I sacrificed some ground for her to have some clean air. Once she came out, she came with a full run.”
Baker won this race in 2020 with Honor Way and in 2014 with Expression. Both were fillies Baker got through the claim box, as is Glass Ceiling, whom Baker took for $40,000 in May. Baker hopes to run Glass Ceiling in the $100,000 Interborough here on Jan. 15 and then potentially the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel on Feb. 19.
“She’s definitely on the improve and hopefully she’s got more in the tank to go forward,” Baker said.