Istanford defeats males in Arlington Classic

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Istanford might have been a filly facing males in the Arlington Classic, but the two females to beat her on turf this year, Testa Rossi and A Little Bit Sassy, might be as formidable as anything she met Saturday at Arlington Park. And left alone on an easy lead under James Graham, Istanford beat the boys, leading nearly from start to finish in the Grade 3, $150,000 Classic.

Istanford does all her best work on the front end, and on paper, she appeared likely to lock horns early in the race with rail-drawn Solitary Ranger, but when Solitary Ranger ceded the early lead, Istanford wound up getting a great trip. She set modest splits of 24.36 seconds for her first quarter-mile and 49.21 for the opening half, and had plenty left to open an insurmountable lead in upper stretch.

“She’s absolutely beautiful to ride,” said Graham. “She showed today if they give her a breather, they won’t catch her. We were going to lay off [Solitary Ranger] if he really wanted it, but evidently he didn’t.”

Solitary Ranger faded out of contention, finishing seventh, as stalking Long on Value came home decently for second, one length behind Istanford. Afortable, the 9-5 favorite, closed fastest of all, but racing near the back of the pack much of the race he was left with far too much to do in the homestretch and finished third, three-quarters of a length behind Long on Value.

Fillies rarely have tried the Arlington Classic, the first leg of the loosely linked Mid-America Triple, a 3-year-old turf series culminating in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes, but Istanford’s trainer, Mike Stidham, has won the race twice and started horses in it several other times. Stidham had no obvious sex-restricted spot for Istanford, and, knowing the performance level that typically wins the race, decided to take a shot. The risk was well worth the reward, with Istanford winning her first stakes race and automatically enhancing her residual value as a bloodstock prospect.

Istanford, by Istan, was a mere $25,000 auction buy as a yearling, and pushed her bankroll past $200,000 with Saturday’s score. She ran 1 1/16 miles on good turf in 1:43.60 and paid $12.20 to win.