Late-charging sprinter Derrynane tries longer distance in Soaring Softly
ELMONT, N.Y. – Derrynane has used an explosive turn of foot to win one stakes and come close in two others in races run at 5 1/2 furlongs or shorter. Saturday, trainer Christophe Clement will see if Derrynane can demonstrate a similar late kick going seven furlongs when she runs in the Grade 3, $100,000 Soaring Softly Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf at Belmont Park.
Derrynane went 2 for 4 as a 2-year-old, winning a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race at Saratoga and the five-furlong Woodbine Cares Stakes. She came with a late run to just miss by a length when fourth against males in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar last Nov. 5.
In her 3-year-old debut in the Limestone Stakes at Keeneland, Derrynane finished a fast-closing second, a neck short of the front-running winner Ruthin.
“She was very unlucky in the Breeders’ Cup and she was very unlucky at Keeneland,” Clement said. “She can really run, she’s really top class.”
Clement said he would only run Derrynane on firmer-type ground. He is hoping that forecasted rain Friday night into Saturday morning – a forecast that is trending toward less precipitation – doesn’t soften up the ground. If Clement deems the turf too soft, he may scratch and would run Breeze Easy and Anadora instead.
p>Breeze Easy and Anadora would both be making their U.S. debuts. Breeze Easy went 1 for 8 as a 2-year-old, but for Clement “she’s trained very well. I like her,” he said. Anadora went 2 for 9 but did finish third to Cachet last year at Newmarket. Cachet won the English 1000 Guineas. She also finished a close second in the French 1000 Guineas.
Chardy Party was a visually impressive debut winner going 5 1/2 furlongs for Wesley Ward at Keeneland on April 27. She demonstrated a late turn of foot that enabled her to make up 4 1/2 lengths in the final furlong to win by a half-length.
“She’s a got big, long stride, so I don’t think seven-eighths will be a problem,” Ward said. “She has to improve to win a graded stakes at Belmont. Hopefully, she does.”
Chardy Party is drawn in post 12.
Sail By returns to Belmont where she went 2 for 2 last year, including a maiden victory in June and the Grade 2 Miss Grillo in October. She didn’t handle the tighter Del Mar course when finishing 13th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar. She did run a respectable third behind Consumer Spending and Pizza Bianca in the Memories of Silver Stakes at Aqueduct on April 24.
“I don’t think she needed a race, I think she was ready to roll,” trainer Leah Gyarmati said. “It would have been nice to have a little speed up in front of her for her to sit and make that run, but it didn’t happen that way.”
While many are stretching out in distance, Haughty, third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, would be cutting back from mile and 1 1/16-mile races.
Lost My Sock won an Aqueduct maiden race last December at 51-1 and was beaten only 1 1/4 lengths when fourth in the Limestone at 53-1.
Champagne Poetry, Ouraika, Snow Loves a Fight, Wish You Well, and Wonka complete the field on turf. Baby Man is entered to run only if the race is rained off to the dirt.