Grass will have to wait as Half Is Enough easily takes off-the turf Glen Cove
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Mike Trombetta will give Half Is Enough another opportunity on turf at some point, but it may have to wait until next year.
Half Is Enough, who won her first three starts - all on dirt - became a stakes winner Friday at Aqueduct winning the $120,000 Glen Cove Stakes by three lengths.
The Glen Cove was originally scheduled for six furlongs on the turf. But after over an inch of rain fell here Thursday night, the New York Racing Association moved all four of Friday’s scheduled turf races to the dirt. The Glen Cove was the last of those four to be moved, after consultation with the jockeys.
“We talked to the jockeys and they thought it was going to be a little too soft to go,” said Frank Gabriel, senior vice president of racing operations. “We were going to give it a shot, but after we all observed it, we felt it best not to go.”
Trombetta ran Half Is Enough on turf in the Galway Stakes at Saratoga, but the filly finished seventh, in a race where Trombetta felt she got too far back early on.
“She had a lot of bad luck. I thought she handled the grass okay I wanted to revisit it one more time before we don’t have it,” Trombetta said. “This was the very next best thing that could have happened.”
In addition to three wins on dirt, Half Is Enough finished second behind Hot Peppers in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont Park in July.
Trevor McCarthy, riding Half Is Enough for the first time, got her away from the gate in good order and had her within a half-length of Everyoneloveslinda through a quarter in 22.81 seconds and a half-mile in 46.06. Half Is Enough overtook Everyoneloveslinda inside the three-sixteenths pole and she drew off for the facile victory.
Sail By overtook Everyoneloveslinda for second by three-quarters of a length. Gal in a Rush was fourth followed by Wonka and Music Amore. Poppy Flower, Girl With a Dream, Zelda, and Tasweya scratched.
Half Is Enough, a daughter of Frosted owned by Ironhorse Racing Stable, covered the six furlongs over a fast track in 1:11.28 and returned $6.10 as the favorite.
McCarthy felt the track was speed-favoring and he was cognizant of being close to the pace.
“Speed’s been really good all day on the fence, I just wanted to get a good break and be forward and if I couldn’t get the rail then I wanted to be close,” McCarthy said. “It paid off.”
In lieu of a stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf somewhere next month, Trombetta mentioned the $100,000 Safely Kept Stakes, a seven-furlong dirt stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Laurel Park on Nov. 26, as a potential next start.
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