Mean Mary starts fast, holds on in New York Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. – Mean Mary’s fast start helped her hold off Thundering Nights’ fast finish to win Friday’s Grade 2, $750,000 New York Stakes by a nose at soggy Belmont Park.
It was the second consecutive year Mean Mary won the New York, though this year wasn’t as easy as last year’s 5 1/4-length gallop in the park over firm ground.
Thursday’s race was run over yielding turf, ground that became more saturated when four-tenths of an inch of rain started to fall fast and furious about an hour before post time of the New York. It delayed the running of the last four races on the card by 30 minutes.
Also, this year’s New York drew a stellar cast, though a trio of the original 12 horses scratched. The most important of those scratches may have been Antoinette, who looked like the only other filly who could run with Mean Mary early on.
It might not have mattered as Mean Mary, under Luis Saez beat the gate, opening up a clear lead three jumps into the race. Mean Mary maintained a length-plus advantage over longshot Traipsing through a quarter in 25.09 seconds, a half-mile in 50.31, and six furlongs in 1:15.83.
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Approaching the top of the lane, Traipsing dropped back, and My Sister Nat and Harvey’s Lil Goil moved into second and third, respectively. Meanwhile, John Velazquez on Thundering Nights was trying to get his filly out from behind horses and running.
In midstretch, Mean Mary spurted clear of My Sister Nat and Harvey’s Lil Goil and had just enough to hold off Thundering Nights by a nose.
“She always breaks pretty well, but today was better than ever and she controlled the pace,” Saez said. “The track was a little bit soft, she handled it all right. She tries hard all the time.”
Mean Mary, a 5-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy owned by Alex Campbell Jr. and trained by Graham Motion, covered the 1 1/4-miles in 2:04.68 and returned $7.40 as the slight favorite over Harvey’s Lil Goil.
My Sister Nat was third, followed by Virginia Joy, Harvey’s Lil Goil, Mutamakina, Magic Attitude, Civil Union, and Traipsing.
In addition to Antoinette, Micheline and Always Shopping scratched.
Mean Mary, who surpassed the $1 million mark in career earnings, was running back three weeks after she won the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico.
“I felt pretty good until I saw that filly coming pretty quick, then I got a little anxious,” Motion said. “It was a little bit of a gamble coming back in three weeks, but I felt she had such an easy go with it at Pimlico that it couldn’t have worked out any better to set her up for this.”
Velazquez had Thundering Nights in fifth position but was stuck behind horses turning into the stretch.
“It took me a long time to get her going,” Velazquez said. “Once she got loose, she took a long time to get going. Once she got going, she got running, but a little too late.”
Motion has said one of his goals for Mean Mary this year is the Grade 1 Beverly D. on Aug. 14 at Arlington Park.