Meadowlands: Senorita Rita bursts home to get Goldsmith Maid win

Senorita Rita pulled to the outside first-over on the far turn and chased down loose leader Sister Sledge in the last jump to get the win in the $475,100 Goldsmith Maid for rookie trotting fillies on Saturday night at the Meadowlands. Senorita Rita, who won the Kindergarten Classic Series final at The Big M earlier this month, lowered her lifetime mark to 1:53 flat.

Queen Of The Hill (Dexter Dunn) left out quickly from post five, but Sister Sledge (Yannick Gingras) vacated the pocket on the opening bend and took the lead before the 28 second opening quarter. They continued in straight alignment in the backstretch, and Sister Sledge went on to the half in 56 4/5.

On the final turn Gingras tried to get some separation on the field with Sister Sledge, and he was able to do so, getting a 2 3/4 length advantage on Queen Of The Hill and 3 1/2 lengths on Senorita Rita, who was on the rim first-up at three-quarters. Sister Sledge continued to show the way in the lane and still had a comfortable margin with an eighth to go, but Senorita Rita just kept coming with every stride and got up in time, prevailing by a head. Hall Of AM (Tim Tetrick) and Common Sense (Ake Svanstedt), a pair of Swedish-bred fillies, were third and fourth, respectively, and Queen Of The Hill ended up fifth.

"She got a great jump on me at that three-quarter pole," Zeron said about Sister Sledge. "It felt like a little bit of an insurmountable deficit to make up, but when I straightened up and my filly corrected, I pulled the plugs and she went into orbit. It just a matter of where's that wire cause I had to maintain her speed. As long as I did that, I thought I'd get up.

"We did take our time with her. Kenny (owner Ken Jacobs) did a good job of being reserved with her. We went to Kentucky, went in a soft overnight, just all learning steps to build up to races like this. Having a fresh horse at the end of the year, to me it's a much easier job on me and my horse, so it worked out well."

Linda Toscano trains Senorita Rita, a daughter of Chapter Seven, for Jacobs. Senorita Rita, who was bred by Our Horse Cents Stables and was purchased for $285,000 at the 2018 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, has won six of her eight chances, and she has now put away $421,985. The even-money favorite, Senorita Rita paid $4.20 to win.

Senorita Rita is out of the unraced Donato Hanover mare Lindy's Head Nurse, a half-sister to two six-figure earners in Paging Doctorlindy and Jack Rules.

"I usually do a lot of homework, x-ray the horses, and then do my due diligence on their conformation. She was just beautiful, so I really wanted to get her," Jacobs remarked about what attracted him to Senorita Rita at the sale. "They pushed me a little bit on the price, but that's okay. I figure we're even now."

Senorita Rita, who is named after Jacobs's wire, qualified twice in June at the Meadowlands and won her first pari-mutuel start in the New York Sire Stakes at Tioga on July 4, but then took some time off, something Jacobs noted was by design.

"I kind of went soft on her, let her get feet underneath her, and then brought her back slow because we were looking for these races," he stated. "I didn't want to go in the Breeders Crown and all that, so I said let's pick the later races and we'll get our piece there. That's what we did. It's nice to have a fresh filly in this time of the year. Scott brought her along super. He didn't push her. He just said he's going to be a very good filly. I give all the credit to him and to Linda."