Royal Spa leads all the way in Locust Grove Stakes
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Royal Spa jogged back around the clubhouse turn toward the grandstand at Churchill Downs, and jockey Tyler Gaffalione turned her to face the cameras on the inside rail before proceeding to the winner's circle. Both are getting used to having their pictures taken at Churchill Downs.
Royal Spa led all the way to win the Grade 2, $400,000 Locust Grove Stakes for fillies and mares on Saturday at Churchill. The race, one of three stakes for older horses on the card, was her second graded score at the track this year. Meanwhile, it was the third win of the day for Gaffalione, who also won four races on Friday, which happened to be his 31st birthday.
Royal Spa ($4.62), who was graded-stakes-placed going a one-turn mile last year, has hit her best stride at age 5 for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, and has found relaxation, enabling her to improve her performance around two turns. The mare won the Grade 3 Shawnee Stakes in May beneath the twin spires, then was a creditable second to reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis. In her only start since, she was fourth in the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch while shipping out to California - but she shipped back to run at her favorite track this weekend.
Royal Spa and Gaffalione got away with comfortable early splits of 24.48 for the quarter and 48.42 for the half in this 1 1/16-mile race, while leading by an unpressured length. The mare opened a two-length lead approaching the top of the stretch, and easily had enough to hold sway by 1 1/4 at the wire over a hard-trying Alpine Princess.
The final time was 1:42.53.
“The plan was to just play the break,” Gaffalione said. “I saw not a whole lot of speed, so I just sent her to the lead and was able to do everything.”
Bentornato and Positano Sunset return as winners
Bentornato and Positano Sunset, both of whom have proven Grade 1 form, returned from layoffs of different lengths to win their respective comebacks in two sprint stakes for older horses at Churchill Downs.
Bentornato ($5.56) pulled clear for a 5 1/4-length win in the $300,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society. Bentornato, a Grade 2 winner last year, was making his first start since finishing second by half a length in last November's Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar. Trainer Jose D'Angelo said he will target that race again after Saturday's impressive comeback.
Bentornato and Irad Ortiz Jr. broke alertly and were briefly on top, but then ceded the lead to Skelly, who cleared the field from the outside and sizzled through splits of 21.90 and 44.24. Ortiz tipped Bentornato outside in the lane to come at Skelly. The leader put up a game fight, with the two brushing slightly in midstretch, but Bentornato had his measure and drew away in the final stages. Here Mi Song rallied to edge Skelly by a head for second.
"He broke on top and then I tried to give him [a breather] and save something for the end," Ortiz said. "The horse was there for me every step of the way."
Bentornato stopped the clock in 1:08.43 for the six furlongs.
Two races earlier, in the $300,000 Open Mind for fillies and mares, Positano Sunset ($3.88) wore down Mink's Palace for a neck victory. The mare had Julian Leparoux in the irons for trainer Ian Wilkes, and they finished the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.14.
"She really dug in late to get the job done," Leparoux said. "I'm really proud how she did that coming back off the layoff."
Positano Sunset won her first two starts of the year for Ian Wilkes, including the Grade 1 Madison in April at Keeneland. She caught a sloppy, sealed track in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs; last of 10 early, she made a belated run to be sixth. This was her first start since that outing on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
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