Judy the Beauty confirms fondness for Polytrack in Rancho Bernardo

DEL MAR, Calif. – Judy the Beauty has won on turf and on dirt, but it’s on Polytrack where she excels most, and she added yet another graded stakes victory on a synthetic surface to her ledger when capturing the Grade 3, $147,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for older female sprinters on Sunday at Del Mar.

Judy the Beauty ($4.60) had an ideal setup, sitting third behind two leaders who set off at a pace they could not maintain. She rallied outside those two, and then safely held off Madame Cactus to prevail by a comfortable 1 1/4 lengths under jockey Mike Smith. She covered 6 1/2 furlongs on Polytrack in 1:15.63.

Reneesgotzip finished another 2 3/4 lengths back in third, 1 1/4 lengths in front of Amaranth.

Only four went to the post for the Rancho Bernardo after the scratches of Fashion Plate and Sagebrush Queen. There was no show wagering.

The Rancho Bernardo was bet like a match race, with Judy the Beauty at 6-5 and Reneesgotzip, the defending race winner, favored at 4-5. But the complexion of the race changed at the start when Reneesgotzip stumbled, allowing Amaranth to beat her to the front and cross over, thus putting Judy the Beauty in an ideal spot as Amaranth sped through fractions of 21.96 seconds for the quarter and 44.78 for a half-mile.

“That certainly helped our chances,” Smith said. “I wanted to stay outside and make a run.”

The victory was the eighth in 17 lifetime starts for Judy the Beauty, 5, a daughter of Ghostzapper who is now 6 for 7 on synthetic surfaces. Earlier this year, she won the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland.

Judy the Beauty was second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint to Groupie Doll, and that is the main goal this fall, according to trainer Blake Heap, who saddled Judy the Beauty for Wesley Ward, the owner and trainer of Judy the Beauty.