Love Cervere stays perfect at six furlongs in Floral Park

ELMONT, N.Y. − Wagering on Love Cervere may not be for the faint of heart but those who did so in Saturday’s $175,000 Floral Park Stakes at Belmont Park were ultimately rewarded after the late-striding filly rallied from last at the eighth-pole to a 1 1/2-length victory over Leslie’s Humor in the six-furlong turf dash for older fillies and mares.

The win was the fifth in as many starts going six furlongs for Lord Cervere, a 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief trained by Miguel Clement, who captured the Grade 3 Glen Cove going the same distance nearly a year earlier at Aqueduct.

“Six furlongs is really her thing,” said Clement. “If you run her five or five and a half, she really just gets rolling at the wire and gallops out huge every time. The races at Saratoga were just too short for her. That extra half a furlong makes a big difference for her.”

Love Cervere broke well from her inside post but as per his instructions, jockey Joel Rosario took her back to last in the run down the backstretch. Love Cervere dropped about a dozen lengths behind the pace setting Highway Harmony entering the turn and was still last of nine after settling into the stretch.

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Rosario had plenty of horse underneath him when finally turning Love Cervere loose a furlong from the wire, as she finished full of run down the center of the course to overtake Leslie’s Humor in deep stretch and win going away.

Leslie’s Humor raced midpack around the bend, came wide for the drive, took command between calls near midstretch but proved no match for the winner. She finished another length in front of 5-2 favorite Movin’ On Up, winner of the Grade 2 Caress this summer at Saratoga, who ran a troubled third.

Love Cervere, a non-threatening ninth in the Grade 1 Lady’s Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs in her previous start, completed the distance over the firm course in 1:08.11 seconds and paid $8.94.

“You can say she loves six furlongs, she loves Belmont Park and she loved Aqueduct,” said Clement. “She did not like Kentucky Downs. I thought she was too forwardly placed there. I told Joel [Rosario] even if she breaks well to kind of dawdle and wait at the back, which is kind of his forte’. Joel loves doing that and has ice in his veins. He timed it perfectly. He waited until the eighth pole and even though she was still far back I wasn’t concerned because she has such an electric turn of foot.”

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