Poolside With Slim completes stakes double for Arnold in Valley View
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One was not enough for Rusty Arnold on Friday at Keeneland.
A half-hour after training the winner of the $200,000 Myrtlewood, Echo Sound, Arnold sent out Poolside With Slim to win the Grade 2, $350,000 Valley View Stakes, who came up the rail under Frankie Dettori and proved 1 1/4 lengths best in a one-mile grass race for 3-year-old fillies.
Arnold had gone six meets at Keeneland, his home track, without winning a stakes race before his memorable Friday, which also included a 30-1 upset in a maiden turf race.
“I’m having a very good day,” Arnold deadpanned.
Poolside With Slim had finished fifth after setting the pace in the Appalachian Stakes this past April at Keeneland and performs better with a target than as the target. She won the Penn Oaks in May but appeared to hang, Arnold said, finishing fourth in two subsequent stakes after making an outside move. Arnold told Dettori to sit behind horses Friday, and that is what he did.
Poolside With Slim broke on top from post 2 but by the time she hit the first turn quicker horses, led by Pharoah’s Wine, had crossed and cleared. Pharoah’s Wine had acted up in the gate but got away well and led Simply in Front through slow splits of 23.89 and 48.51 over a very dry, quick-playing course. Dettori held the pocket, dropping a couple lengths behind the leaders down the backstretch, but creeping forward at the half-mile pole to prevent Buttercream Babe, who raced just in front of him, from taking his spot.
Poolside With Slim cornered for home and Dettori either attempted or feinted a move between horses, but finding nothing, steered down to the fence. Simply in Front stayed on decently inside Buttercream Babe, resurgent after an awkward move into the far turn, but it was 25-1 shot Pharoah’s Wine offering the stiffest resistance. Poolside With Slim collared her, Pharoah’s Wine countered and got her head back in front, but Dettori had more horse, and his mount pulled clear in the final 50 yards.
“We were tight, and she was very brave, and once she got through there, she ran to the wire,” Dettori said.
Pharoah’s Wine held second by a nose over Buttercream Babe, Simply in Front a neck back in fourth in a race that strongly shaped slow early, fast late, the winner going her final quarter mile in 22.94 after an opening quarter in 24.16. Les Reys, the 2-1 favorite, stalked the pace and tried in vain to follow Poolside With Slim’s move, checking in fifth.
Les Reys had held much stronger favoritism until the horses entered the starting gate, whereupon Poolside With Slim’s price dropped to 9-2, then all the way to 5-2 after the final batch of money entered the pools. She paid $7.94, a good winner with a lousy return.
Poolside With Slim campaigns for Glenn Bromagen II, Patrick Lewis, and Sandra Bromagen. By Churchill out of Kissepaul, by Epaulet, she was bred in Ireland by Kilweelran, ridden to victory by a native of Italy, and trained by a Kentuckian who had a very good day.
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