Idiomatic narrowly turns away Soul of an Angel to take Molly Pitcher

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Idiomatic, champion older mare of 2023, towered over her four rivals in the Molly Pitcher Stakes. She broke slightly awkwardly from the gate, at odds of 1-10 and quickly established a clear lead, jogging through remarkably slow early splits of 25.57 and 50.27. The race looked over as the mare turned onto the backstretch. It most certainly was not.

Irad Ortiz Jr., aboard Soul of an Angel, wasn’t ceding anything to the champion. Ortiz launched an attack past the half-mile pole, taking the fight to Idiomatic and taking a narrow lead before Idiomatic and jockey Florent Geroux knew what had hit them. Idiomatic responded, but this is a long, tall mare who requires time to hit full stride. Soul of an Angel held a lead in upper stretch, Ortiz tightening things up on Idiomatic, and she held her advantage past the furlong grounds. Idiomatic pushed and pushed, got back on terms, and poked her nose back in front yards before the wire, winning the Grade 3, $500,000 Molly Pitcher by a head.

“Almost. She just got me the last two jumps,” Ortiz said.

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Instead, Idiomatic got her second win from three starts during her 5-year-old campaign, which began with a modest score in the Grade 1 La Troienne and a tough defeat at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. This is a mare who won two Grade 1s last year by four lengths and overcame a world of trouble capturing the Delaware Handicap. Brad Cox, who trains the Juddmonte homebred, quickly swatted away the notion Idiomatic has lost something off her fastball.

“Not at all,” Cox said.

“It was run like a turf race, bottom line, going the half in 50 [seconds], and it was a race from the half-mile pole to the wire. She took the pressure, responded well.”

The top two home had the finish all to themselves, with Frosty O Toole 9 1/2 lengths back in third, followed across the line by Miles of Smiles and Kathleen O. Misty Veil and Just Katherine were scratched. Th winning time, obviously tamped down by the pedestrian pace, was 1:44.53 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast track. Idiomatic, by Curlin out of Lockdown, by First Defense, paid $2.20 and was given a 97 Beyer Speed Figure.

One might have wanted to see Geroux use more of his mare’s speed and open up going down the backstretch. Geroux had a similar thought, but said it felt like Idiomatic “was running with the brakes on.”

“I tried a little bit to go, yeah. She was very content where she was, and she was waiting on the other fillies. There’s not much I can do,” Geroux said.

Soul of an Angel isn’t hapless. Two races ago she won the Grade 2 Ruffian over a one-turn Aqueduct mile by nearly five lengths, with runner-up Randomized returning to vanquish Idiomatic in the Phipps. Soul of an Angel finished a flat fifth in the Phipps before coming back to her best again Saturday.

“She ran like we thought she was going to run,” said Saffie Joseph Jr., who took over the mare’s training this spring. “We needed to see if she was as good at two turns, and now we know.”

Idiomatic leaves Monmouth on Sunday morning for Saratoga, where she’s set to start next month in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign. Soul of an Angel could show up there as well. At about this time last summer, Idiomatic found herself and began her championship run. The next few months will show whether she’s the same horse she was a year ago.

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