Lady Alexandra wins License Fee Stakes like a graded stakes horse

ELMONT, N.Y. – Lady Alexandra made an auspicious 4-year-old debut on Sunday at Belmont Park, finding a new gear in the stretch of the $100,000 License Fee Stakes and pulling away to score by 3 1/2 lengths.

The start was her first since July and her first for trainer Graham Motion. The daughter of More Than Ready is Motion’s first starter for Scott Heider and the Heider Family Stables.

“That was exciting,” Motion said by phone from Maryland. “She did that very well.”

Touch of Bling sprinted off to an uncontested lead in the License Fee, a six-furlong turf race for fillies and mares, while being tracked by Nisha and Lady Alexandra.

Lady Alexandra and jockey Jose Ortiz moved up outside 12-1 Touch of Bling after a half-mile in 45.97 and then took command in upper stretch, quickly leaving her six rivals well behind.

“I was just a passenger today,” Ortiz said. “She broke well and put me into a good position. I thought she was doing it pretty easy when she was laying second. When I asked her to go, she exploded. She really gave me a good kick.”

Lady Alexandra ($18.80) was timed over “good” ground in 1:08.29. She covered her final furlong in 11.28 seconds.

“I’m tickled with the way she switched off for Jose,” Motion said. “Everything is very easy for her in the mornings, the biggest thing is to get her to settle. If she’ll do that, I think she will be able to go farther.”

The License Fee was Lady Alexandra’s first stakes score. She has now won half of her eight starts and is likely to test deeper waters. There are two turf races at Belmont Park in early June that might fit Lady Alexandra. The Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental at seven furlongs is June 7. The Grade 1 Just a Game, a $700,000 race at a mile, is two days later on the Belmont Stakes card.

“I’m not in a hurry to run her back,” Motion said. “The Just a Game is a wonderful race, and I’ll have that in the back of my mind for her.”

Stormy Victoria, the 4-5 License Fee favorite, raced in last early. She angled wide into the stretch and rallied to finish second. It was a nose farther back to Jennifer Lynnette in third.

Jc’s Shooting Star, second to last early, slipped through along the inside entering the stretch and finished with a determined run to be fourth, a nose farther back.