Mutamakina catches Candy Flower in Long Island in racing career finale
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With a potent closing kick, Mutamakina closed out her career with her third consecutive stakes victory, running down the pacesetting longshot Candy Flower to win Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Long Island Stakes by a half-length at Aqueduct.
Mutamakina added the Long Island to victories in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor and Grade 2 Dance Smartly at Woodbine in her previous two starts. It was also the second straight year Mutamakina won the Long Island.
She ends her career with six wins from 17 starts and earnings of $854,066 for owner Al Shira’aa Farms. She will be bred next year to top European stallion Dubawi.
“She really had a good year, it’s great closure - E.P. Taylor, Long Island,” said Mutamakina’s trainer Christophe Clement, who won his fourth Long Island. “I know it’s a Grade 3, but very soon this race will probably be a Grade 2. It should be a Grade 2. It used to be a Grade 2.”
Mutamakina won last year’s Long Island when it was run at 1 3/8 miles. On Saturday, the Long Island was run at 1 1/2 miles.
In a race void of speed, Candy Flower made the pace under Kendrick Carmouche, setting splits of 24.20 seconds for the quarter, 50.02 for the half and 1:15.00 for six furlongs. Mutamakina, under Dylan Davis, was fifth about five lengths off the pace.
Turning for home, Davis maneuvered Mutamakina into the clear and, though Candy Flower still maintained a clear advantage inside the eighth pole, Davis said he was confident his mare would wear that filly down, something she did about three jumps from the wire.
“I know it might have been a touch close, but I knew she was going to get there,” Davis said. “She was really determined for that one.”
Saturday’s Long Island very much resembled last year’s Long Island, when Carmouche tried to steal the race on Traipsing, a 26-1 shot trained by Clement, who lost by three-quarters of a length to Mutamakina.
“If you leave Kendrick alone on the lead, he can be very dangerous, as we all know,” Clement said. “It took a good filly to get her. It’s not because Kendrick’s filly stopped, they were really finishing well.”
Mutamakina, a 5-year-old daughter of Nathaniel, covered the 1 1/2 miles in 2:28.08 and returned $6.60 as the favorite.
Candy Flower finished 2 1/4 lengths clear of La Dragontea, also trained by Clement. Lucky Money was fourth, followed by Sorrel - Clement’s third runner in the race - Harakuju, and Orglandes. Summer in Saratoga, the Grade 2 Dowager winner, was a late scratch after she flipped in the paddock.
For Clement, the victory was his 104th of the year, equaling his career-best, which he accomplished in 2016. His total purse earnings increased to $9,520,793, which eclipsed his best single season of $9,226,437 achieved in 2015.