Great Intentions blossoms in Gallant Bloom

After finishing second to Win McCool in the Grade 3 Floral Park Handicap, Great Intentions exacted some revenge on that rival by rolling to a four-length victory in Sunday's Grade 2, $150,000 at Belmont Park.

Annika Lass rallied for second by a nose over Getcozywithkaylee. Win McCool faded to fourth after dueling with the winner. Swap Fliparoo and Nothing But Fun completed the order of finish.

Great Intentions, a daughter of Cat Thief, stumbled in the Floral Park and Win McCool won a pace battle with Pretty Imposing en route to a 1 1/2-length victory over Great Intentions.

Sunday, Great Intentions broke running under Javier Castellano and dueled inside of Win McCool through splits of 22.37 seconds and 45.08. Great Intentions began to pull away in upper stretch and drew clear for the victory. She covered 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.13 and returned $4.80 as part of the favored entry along with Nothing But Fun.

It was the sixth victory in 14 career starts for Great Intentions, owned by Barry Schwartz and trained by Mike Hushion.

"We gave Javier the option if nobody else was going to seize it or if Win McCool broke a half step slow or something like that he had freedom to go if he wanted and that's what he did,'' Hushion said.

Hushion said he had no excuse for Nothing But Fun's performance. "I was concerned it might be a soundness issue with her because she's never run a flat race like this before, but she seems fine this morning,'' Hushion said Monday.