On Rainbow Bridge rides rail to win in Lady Angela

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – On Rainbow Bridge captured her third career stakes victory in Saturday’s $125,000 Lady Angela Stakes with a rail-skimming trip under jockey Skye Chernetz.

“She had a perfect trip,” said winning trainer Dave Cotey. “It got a little tight, and Skye had to move a little quicker than she wanted to, but it went perfect.”

On Rainbow Bridge was making her first start since September in the Lady Angela, but fitness wasn’t Cotey’s biggest concern coming into the race.

“I was more worried about how she’d perform at seven-eighths,” he said. “She’s been working with an older mare, and she handled her very easily, so I was quite confident she’d run a good race.”

Cotey had originally planned to run On Rainbow Bridge in the Star Shoot Stakes on April 19, but an accident during training forced her to miss that race. After getting loose, On Rainbow Bridge fell in the tunnel from the backstretch to the main track. She found herself caught underneath fencing that separates horses going on and off the track but escaped serious injury.

“She came out of it with some scrapes and some bruises,” Cotey said. “Nothing terribly serious, but you have to take your time with her. We’ve been biding our time and brought her along slowly, but she went into the race real well.”

Cotey did not have a next race picked out for On Rainbow Bridge on Sunday but said he would like to run her back in about a month.