Olorda wins The Very One as Brown sweeps trifecta

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Olorda led throughout, then withstood challenges from stablemates Dacita and Guapaza to give trainer Chad Brown a sweep of the first three spots in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Olorda’s final time of 1:51.54 for 1 3/16 miles over the firm turf course shattered the previous mark of 1:53.19 set here last winter.

Olorda showed surprising speed under jockey Julien Leparoux to wrest the early lead from expected pacesetter Quiet Kitten. Leparoux nursed the German-bred filly on the front end, turned back a bid from Quiet Kitten approaching the stretch, then dug in to register a neck decision over 3-5 Dacita.

Dacita took back and was eased outside during the opening furlong, rallied four wide into the stretch, continued willingly, but could not get to the winner. Guapaza finished with good energy down the center of the track to be third, three-quarters of a length behind Dacita.

Olorda, a Group 3 winner in France owned by Martin Schwartz, had finished off the board in her two previous U.S. starts, both races coming against Grade 1 competition during the fall of 2015. She paid $9.20 on Saturday.

“I thought [Quiet Kitten] would have been on the lead, but my filly broke well, and I let her do her thing,” said Leparoux. “She’s a grinder, and she just didn’t stop. It’s never easy to break a track record, but the turf is very fast, and we’re going to see some fast fractions all day.”