Regal Glory, Varenka dead heat for Lake Placid victory

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Shortly after the results of a memorable and somewhat controversial renewal of the $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes had finally been made official, trainers Graham Motion and Chad Brown shook hands and congratulated one another underneath the Saratoga grandstand. Several minutes earlier, the pair stood in the winner’s circle, surrounded by lightning and pelted by rain, waiting out a photo finish that ultimately resulted in a dead heat between Motion’s Varenka and Brown’s Regal Glory in the Grade 2 turf fixture for 3-year-old fillies.

“Thanks for letting me share one with you,” Motion quipped, alluding to the fact he’d finished second to Brown in numerous stakes races here over the last several years, including photo finishes on three separate occasions in the Grade 1 Diana.

“I think you got lucky,” Brown replied to Motion with a smile. “I thought we got the bob. But you just can’t tell.”

Brown’s assessment of the photo finish and the decision by the judges to finally call a dead heat after a six-minute deliberation was an accurate one, as NYRA steward Braulio Baeza explained a short while later.

“The photo was poor quality because of the darkness,” said Baeza. “And as a result it was inconclusive. Without ripping off the public, the fairest thing to do was declare a dead heat.”

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With a potentially dangerous storm fast approaching, the six-horse field for the Lake Placid went right from paddock to post. Blowout, who formed a potent one-two punch with Regal Glory for Brown in the Lake Placid, was ultimately allowed to set a leisurely pace posting early splits of 26.36 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 51.10 seconds for the half over an inner course rated as good, with weather conditions deteriorating as the race progressed.

Regal Glory, under Luis Saez, had first run over Varenka turning for home while holding a narrow advantage over that rival through much of the stretch rallying between horses. Varenka, ridden by Javier Castellano, came widest off the final turn and finished resolutely outside horses down the center of the course. Blowout dug in gamely along the inside, with Regal Glory and Varenka arriving at the wire simultaneously and Blowout finishing a game third, another neck behind.

Amandrea, Vow to Recover, and Feel Glorious rounded out the complete order of finish.

Augustin Stable owns Varenka, a daughter of Ghostzapper. Regal Glory is a Paul Pompa Jr. homebred by Animal Kingdom. Varenka paid $2.90 as the 8-5 favorite while Regal Glory returned $3.10 to win as the 2-1 second choice. Final time for 1 1/16 miles was 1:43.68.

“It was a weirdly run race,” said Brown. “I thought [Amandrea] would go to the front, but [Gaffalione] just took back and we kind of inherited the lead with Blowout. I thought both horses ran very well to finish like they did into the very slow pace. I thought we won the bob. But the picture was very dark and it was hard to tell. And if that’s the case, you have to do it that way [call a dead heat]. I can understand that.”

As for Blowout, Brown said her rider, Jose Ortiz, felt the weather might have cost his horse the race.

“Jose’s comment was that by being on the lead with no cover, when the wind began to kick up it really bothered her. On the final turn, Jose said he had trouble steering her going into the wind and that it probably cost her a couple of lengths.”

Motion’s initial comment after finding cover from the rain inside the grandstand was “I’m speechless, to be honest. It was about the craziest thing I’ve ever been involved in. I had another one of these up here in the Amsterdam when I first started training.”

Motion was referring to the 1998 Amsterdam, which his Secret Firm won in a dead heat with Mint.

“I just cannot believe [Varenka] got there because they went so slow. I just cannot believe it,” said Motion. “That was a crazy performance. And Animal Kingdom has had three winners today, so you have to make a big deal about that.”

– additional reporting by David Grening