Sentiero Italia impresses in Lake Placid Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin wasn’t sure how the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga would be run, so he gave jockey Joel Rosario easy instructions on how to ride Sentiero Italia.

“I told Joel whatever decision he made when the gates opened was the correct one,” McLaughlin said. “If he was on the lead, second, or last, I know she will kick strong.”

Rosario had Sentiero Italia fourth for the opening seven furlongs of the 1 1/8-mile race, and when he asked her to close in the stretch, Sentiero Italia did indeed kick strong, outfinishing Miss Temple City to win the $300,000 Lake Placid Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths.

Miss Temple City, one of three fillies to attend the pace, finished second by 3 1/2 lengths over Strict Compliance. Heath and Consumer Credit, the other two fillies on the pace, finished fourth and fifth.

The win was the third from five career starts for Sentiero Italia, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro and a half-sister to the Grade 1 winner Ashkal Way owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing.

Sentiero Italia was coming off a dead heat for fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational, 3 1/2 lengths behind Lady Eli, the undefeated filly who is sidelined due to laminitis.

“She was wide, and she ran very well; she was the only one who ran further than Lady Eli,” said McLaughlin, who wished Lady Eli a speedy recovery “because she is a star.”

In the Lake Placid, Heath, under Jose Lezcano, took the initiative, with Consumer Credit to her outside and Miss Temple City three wide. Fractions weren’t posted on the board, but the pace appeared to be tepid. The race was hand-timed, and the early fractions were 25.10 seconds for the quarter, 49.25 for the half, and 1:12.54 for six furlongs.

Rosario had Sentiero Italia within 2 1/2 lengths of the leaders before swinging her to the outside turning for home.

Miss Temple City, in her first start since running fourth in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, spurted away from Heath and Consumer Credit in midstretch, but she could not hold off Sentiero Italia, who forged to the lead inside the sixteenth pole.

Sentiero Italia covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.25 over firm turf and returned $5.30 as the favorite.

“I ended up being a little farther back, but she was happy where she was,” Rosario said. ‘’When I turned for home, she had a good turn of foot, and it looked like she kept on going after that.”

McLaughlin mentioned the Grade 1, $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland on Oct. 11 as a potential target.