Lion Lake, Ground Support win divisions of Glen Cove
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There is a belief among some handicappers that what happens at Kentucky Downs stays at Kentucky Downs. Such was not the case when it came to the Grade 3 Glen Cove Stakes for 3-year-old turf fillies at Belmont Park.
Lion Lake and Ground Support, separated by a head when a narrowly beaten second and third, respectively, behind Somerset West in the Grade 2 Music City Stakes at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 5, came to New York on Sunday to win split divisions of the Grade 3, $200,000 Glen Cove Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf.
In the second division, Lion Lake, under Manny Franco, rallied from last to run by previously undefeated Life’s Dynamic to win by a neck. It was 1 1/3 lengths back to Hark Theangelssing in third.
Despite blinkers that last time put Lion Lake in closer attendance to the pace, Sunday she was last of 10 - after R Slew of Cash stumbled, unseating jockey Dylan Davis - down the backside. R Slew of Cash was vanned off after being caught by the outrider. Davis rode his next mount.
Franco let Lion Lake gradually move toward the group behind a pace that was a modest 45.12 seconds for the opening half and set by Life’s Dynamic. Lion Lake came five wide into the lane and was able reel in Life’s Dynamic, who wasn’t stopping under Mychel Sanchez.
"Going from the half-mile to the quarter-pole, I felt like a winner,” Franco said in a post-race interview with NYRA publicity. “I just stayed out of trouble and let my filly do the rest. A lot of credit to the one [Life's Dynamic], she was tough to go by and made it very difficult."
Lion Lake, a daughter of Dark Angel owned by Emcee Stable and trained by Brendan Walsh, covered the seven furlongs in 1:20.58.
“I’m delighted with the filly,” Walsh told NYRA publicity. “She ran super. She’s had some year. To win that and cap off the year is fantastic. She was a little farther back than ideal when they turned for home, but she handled it well and got up when it mattered.”
Lion Lake was competing in her eighth race of the year, and seventh consecutive graded stakes this year. She won two by a head or a neck and she lost two each by a neck.
In the first division, Ground Support overcame some of her typical rambunctious ways to work out a sweet trip under Adam Beschizza and power home a 3 3/4-length victory. Snappy Comeback rallied from off the pace to get second by three-quarters of a length over New Rose.
Trainer Kelsey Danner said that Ground Support can be a handful in the paddock and Beschizza noted that she was restless in the gate. Beschizza also said he found himself a little closer to the pace than he anticipated, but once he found room in upper stretch, Ground Support just motored past the pacesetting Paris Carver and was a handy winner.
“I thought there would be a lot more speed. I found myself a little close,” Beschizza told the NYRA publicity department. “Even though she got a little worked up in the gate, she’s got the ability to overcome being highly strung. Sometimes, a lot of fillies lose it when they’re that way inclined, but maybe that’s just her nature. She definitely had the class above these today. The seven furlongs hit her on the head. She does stay a mile well, but she also has speed.”
Ground Support, daughter of Army Mule owned by John Ballantyne's NBS Stable, covered the seven furlongs in 1:20.22 and returned $6.22. Ground Support has now won three of seven starts, two of those victories coming in New York, including last year’s Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at Aqueduct.
“I think she likes the middle-ground distance and apparently likes New York as well,” Danner said.
Danner plans to keep Ground Support in New York and point to the Grade 3, $200,000 Pebbles Stakes going one mile on Nov. 21.
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