Mother of Dragons overcomes traffic in Camilla Urso Stakes

Mother of Dragons ($10) maintained her perfect record at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday as she rallied in the stretch to win the $54,650 Camilla Urso.

Mother of Dragons, who won a pair of allowance races here last fall, sat back in traffic down the backstretch in the six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares as Cash Prize, who broke sharply from the rail, set the pace.

Mother of Dragons moved up on the turn and then was guided five wide to an open lane by Julien Couton as the field turned for home.

Favored Alliford Bay began to pressure Cash Prize in the stretch, with Mother of Dragons making a strong move with her. Mother of Dragons won the stretch battle as Cash Prize held gamely to take second, with comebacking Alliford Bay third. Mother of Dragons won by a half-length in 1:09.58, with another half-length separating Cash Prize and Alliford Bay.

Cash Prize, who won her debut at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 11 after racing in Southern California, broke down after the race and was vanned off. She later had to be euthanized according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Larry Stumes.

Her jockey Rocco Bowen was thrown to the track and rolled under the rail. He was taken to Highland Hospital for examination of possible fractures to his back and rib cage.

Bowen complained of neck and chest pain after the fall but did not require an overnight stay.

Jockeys Pedro Terrero and Silvio Amador were also unseated after the wire, but were not injured.

Mother of Dragons’ first stakes victory was worth $30,450 to lift her career earnings to $84,915 for owner-trainer Andreas Psarras. Mother of Dragons, a 4-year-old daughter of First Dude, is 4-0-1 from 6 career starts.