Grannys Connection avenges loss with Union Ave. victory

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Grannys Connection avenged the only blemish on her record this season and did so fairly convincingly, turning the tables on Kant Hurry Love with a 1 1/2-length victory in Friday’s $125,000 Union Ave. Handicap at Saratoga.

Grannys Connection had dominated all challengers in the first four starts of her 2023 campaign, winning those races by a combined 27 1/4 lengths. But in her stakes debut, the six-furlong Dancing Renee at Belmont Park on June 25, the speedy Grannys Connections led every step but the one that counted most, the final one, when run down in the closing stride by the 12-1 Kant Hurry Love.

But there was no denying Grannys Connection in the rematch, again at six furlongs, in the Union Ave. With Javier Castellano replacing the injured Eric Cancel, Grannys Connection broke a step slow from her inside post but used her abundant speed to wrest command from Kant Hurry Love in the opening sixteenth of a mile. The odds-on favorite controlled the pace thereafter, turning back a mild bid from Kant Hurry Love on the final bend before holding sway under steady urging while kept well out in the middle of the track in the run down the stretch.

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Kant Hurry Love, the starting highweight under 122 pounds, broke very alertly before conceding the lead shortly after the start. She was set down by jockey Trevor McCarthy to go after Grannys Connection on the final turn but could not make up any ground at that point while holding on willingly through the final furlong to easily best the others.

Bank On Anna finished another 2 1/2 lengths farther behind Kant Hurry Love to be third with Valleluhah and Tempermental fourth and fifth respectively while never serious factors at any point in the race.

Grannys Connection is trained by Tom Morley for the partnership of Orpen Horses, LLC, Jack Hardin Jr., and Alan Griffin. She covered the distance over a fast track in 1:11.09 seconds and paid $2.80.

“Dave’s filly ran her eyeballs out and I was tremendously nervous watching the race. You always are when you’re odds-on in a stakes,” said Morley.

“She’s very, very fast. Six furlongs is her trip and I’m very thrilled to get a stakes win with her. I think last time she probably learned an awful lot because she kept winning by six and eight and 10 lengths. She never had to run all the way to the wire and last time was the first time she actually had to fight it out. Today she stuck her head out at the sixteenth pole and we were all just praying she’d be able to hold on.”

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