Lady's Island starts fast and never slows down in Musical Romance Stakes

The question of whether Lady’s Island could stay seven furlongs was answered Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the 1:22.86 it took the speedy mare to cover that distance en route to a decisive victory over even-money favorite Wildwood’s Beauty in the $100,000 Musical Romance Stakes.

Lady’s Island had only been as far as seven furlongs once before, in the 2019 Musical Romance, when she finished a tiring second behind Stormy Embrace. She had won seven of eight starts since, with her only setback over the past year a second-place finish against males in the Sunshine Millions Sprint.

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With Emisael Jaramillo aboard, Lady’s Island set a lively pace in the Musical Romance, completing the opening quarter- and half-mile in 22.17 and 44.24. But despite such demanding fractions and drifting out past the middle of the track in the stretch, the 5-year-old daughter of Greatness had more than enough left to maintain a comfortable 3 ¾-length advantage at the wire.

Wildwood’s Beauty, runner-up in both the Grade 2 Inside Information and Grade 3 Hurricane Beauty in her previous two starts, angled well outside commencing her bid turning for home but could not make up any appreciable ground on the winner while holding off Bellera for the place. Wildwood’s Beauty finished second in a stakes for the fourth consecutive race.

Bellera, whose four wins came at a mile and one-sixteenth or a mile and one-eighth, dropped well off the pace making her first start since winning the Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct four months earlier. She rallied mildly near the inside to finish third, a length and one-quarter behind Wildwood’s Beauty.

Owned by Averill Racing and Matties Racing and trained by Georgina Baxter, Ladies Island returned $8.80.

“We knew she was fine at six furlongs,” said Baxter. “Seven furlongs was the question, but she proved otherwise. Everyone has seen her improve and improve with another year under her belt. She keeps getting better and stronger and just keeps amazing us all.”