Pass the Champagne bubbles to the top in Ruffian
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Pass the Champagne became a stakes winner Saturday when she shuttled to a 5 1/2-length victory over Idiomatic in the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian at Belmont Park.
It was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third to Gerrymander.
Kathleen O., the favorite who was cutting back to one turn, finished fifth.
The Ruffian was a mile race for fillies and mares. It shared a card with the Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Marcy won by Ottoman Fleet ($4) and the $150,000 Elusive Quality captured by Anaconda ($5.50).
Pass the Champagne ($17) settled off Gerrymander, who took the field through fractions of 23.51 seconds for the opening quarter, 47.01 for the half-mile and 1:11.41 for six furlongs. Pass the Champagne moved to the fore in the stretch and went on to cover the mile on a fast track in 1:36.13 and getting a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.
Feargal Lynch was aboard the winner for trainer George Weaver.
“I had a great trip, just like we planned it with George,” Lynch told the publicity department for the New York Racing Association. “We felt like when she’s up there on the pace, she’s just doing a little too much and can’t finish it off. She’s got a closing kick for an eighth of a mile and you just have to hold on to it as long as possible.”
Pass the Champagne is a daughter of Flatter who races for the partnership of R A Hill Stable, Black Type Thoroughbreds, Rock Ridge Racing and Black Ridge Stables.
Pass the Champagne, who is 5, came into the Ruffian off a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Heavenly Cause, a one-mile race at Laurel. She has now won 3 of 9 starts for earnings of $315,070.
*** Trainer Rick Dutrow won the sixth race, a first-level allowance, with Prince of Pharoahs ($8.20). It was his first starter after being reinstated following a 10-year suspension, according to a tweet from David Aragona of Daily Racing Form. Dutrow's last win came on Jan. 16, 2013, at Aqueduct, according to records from DRF.
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