Mean Mary posts professional victory in Orchid Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Graham Motion admitted he was a little nervous going into Saturday’s $100,000 Orchid Stakes at Gulfstream Park with Mean Mary, citing the fact she’d had such an easy time on the lead en route to her impressive victory in the Grade 3 La Prevoyante Stakes earlier in the meet. It certainly didn’t do those nerves any good watching Mean Mary run up on a couple of geese in her path lounging on the turf course a little more than a half-mile into the Grade 3 Orchid.

Fortunately, Mean Mary was able to readily overcome not only the wayward geese but her 11 rivals as well in the 1 3/8-mile Orchid. She registered a popular one-length decision over Gentle Ruler for her fourth victory in five starts since Motion switched her to the grass last fall at Keeneland. Elizabeth Way finished third, another length farther back.

With regular rider Luis Saez aboard, Mean Mary broke alertly and quickly sprinted clear to set the pace. The only time she really ran into any serious trouble was when running up on those geese entering the clubhouse turn. Neither horse or rider panicked at that point, continuing to confidently control the pace before turning back a bid from Gentle Ruler once set down for the drive.

Gentle Ruler, sidelined since winning the Grade 3 Dowager at Keeneland five months ago, raced well placed from the outset while saving ground to the stretch and eased out to try the winner once turning for home but proved no match in the end.

Mean Mary is a 4-year-old homebred daughter of Scat Daddy owned by Alex Campbell Jr. She completed 11 furlongs in 2:11.73 and paid $4.

“I was a little nervous because she had such an easy go of it on the lead last time,” said Motion, who practiced social distancing by watching the Orchid on television from his home in Maryland. “She just seems to have enough class to handle everything. She just gallops them into the ground. I think this was a tougher test for her today and she handled it really well. I thought she handled the incident on the turn remarkably well, she could have easily propped in that situation.”

Motion said the Orchid was not his first choice for Mean Mary but that he had to amend her schedule due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

“I had planned to run her at Keeneland next, maybe in the Jenny Wiley, but I’m glad at least I was able to get this race in today,” said Motion. “Who knows when we’re going to be able to run her back now. To go to plan B and be able to win like that was great.”

La Signare holds off stablemate in Sand Springs

On paper, Zofelle was clearly the stronger half of trainer Brendan Walsh’s uncoupled entry in the $100,000 Sand Springs. In the end, it was the 9-5 favorite’s lesser-regarded stablemate La Signare who came out on top, holding off a frantic final rally from the unlucky Zofelle to register a three-quarter-length upset in the one-mile turf fixture for older fillies and mares.

La Signare, who finished third in the Grade 3 The Very One Stakes in her previous start, was reserved near the rear of the scratch-reduced field during the early stages of the Sand Springs with Valedictorian setting an honest pace up front. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione gave La Signare her cue leaving the backstretch, angling her six wide while rallying on the final turn. The 5-year-old French-bred mare finished full of run down the center of the course to readily overtake the leader a sixteenth out before withstanding her stablemate at the end.

Zofelle won her first three starts in the U.S. before finishing a troubled fifth in the Al Stall Memorial at the Fair Grounds in her previous outing. She raced well placed while saving ground during the opening five furlongs and moved to closer contention on the rail approaching the stretch. Steadied along awaiting clearance until midstretch, she slipped inside Picara to finally find room to launch her bid at that point but could not quite reach the winner with her belated final surge. It was another three lengths farther back to the tiring Valedictorian.

Newspaperofrecord, expected to make her first start since the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational last July, was scratched.

The victory was the third in 11 career starts for La Signare, who captured the Grade 3 Wonder Again during the fall of her 3-year-old campaign but had gone winless in six subsequent outings prior to the Sand Springs. Campaigned by Madaket Stables, Tim and Anna Cambron, and Bradley Thoroughbreds, she completed the distance Saturday in 1:33.12 over a firm course and returned $13.40.