Miss J McKay surges past Igloo in License Fee Stakes
Miss J McKay put a couple of troubled trips behind her with a beautiful trip Sunday, stalking the pacesetting Igloo for more than four furlongs before flying past her in midstretch en route to a 3 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 License Fee Stakes for female turf sprinters at Belmont Park.
Miss Majorette rallied from the back of the pack to get second by three-quarters of a length over Igloo. Alwayz Late was fourth, followed by Too Sexy, the 4-5 favorite, and Gogo Shoes. Assertive Style was scratched due to a cough, according to trainer Tom Morley.
Miss J McKay had finished her 4-year-old campaign with an allowance win at Aqueduct and a victory in the Abundantia Stakes at Gulfstream on Dec 31. In the Lady’s Turf Sprint on Feb. 12 at Gulfstream she had trouble early and rallied to finish fourth. The Captiva Island at Gulfstream on March 12 was rained off to the Tapeta track, which she didn’t appear to like.
On Sunday, back on firm turf, Miss J McKay, under Irad Ortiz Jr., took up a stalking position within a length of Igloo, who set fractions of 22.30 seconds for the quarter and 45.98 for the half-mile.
Miss J McKay overtook Igloo inside the three-sixteenths pole, lengthened her stride and galloped to her fifth victory from 15 career starts. Miss J McKay, a Maryland-bred daughter of Hangover Kid owned by Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, Tony Weintraub and Brandon Dalinka, covered the six furlongs in 1:07.94 and returned $7.80 to win.
“She was very unlucky in her last two races, she stumbled really badly at the start of one and she didn’t like the Tapeta in the other,” said winning trainer Christophe Clement, who won three races on Sunday’s card.
Ortiz said he was cognizant of the relative lack of speed in the race and wanted to make sure he got a good position behind Igloo.
“She was outside of me, I wanted to break good and whenever she cleared me I want to sit second, right beside her and take advantage of that,” Ortiz said. “She put me right there without using her too much and when I asked her to run, she responded really well.”
Clement also trained Too Sexy, who ran a bit below form as the 4-5 favorite. Clement said Too Sexy probably needed the race and should move forward where she runs next.
*** There was one winning ticket sold on Sunday’s pick, returning $297,303. There had been an $81,453 carryover entering the card and a couple of longshots Canisy ($33.80) and Tango Tango Tango ($29.60) kicked off the sequence. But logical horses won the last four legs and the three horses to which there were live tickets in the finale ran 1-2-3.