She's Country musters rally near wire to win Key Cents by a head
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Kendrick Carmouche and Cosmic Candy Girl rallied outside of Javier Castellano and She’s Country in deep stretch of Thursday’s $125,000 Key Cents Stakes for New York-bred 2-year-old fillies on Aqueduct's inner turf course, Castellano thought he was going to finish second.
Seemingly emboldened by the challenge, however, She’s Country battled back on the inside of Cosmic Candy Girl – and on the outside of a stubborn pacesetter Fancy Lights – and came out on the right side of a bob to win the one-mile Key Cents by a head. Cosmic Candy Girl finished second by a half-length over the late-running Boomington, who got third by a nose over Fancy Lights. George Weaver trained the winner, as well as the third- and fourth-place finishers.
Castellano had just lost the seventh race by a head on Grammy Girl. He knew he lost that one. When She’s Country and Cosmic Girl duked out in deep stretch of the Key Cents, he was less sure.
“If you asked me the same question the race before, I’d say I knew I got beat,” Castellano said. “It can go either way, and this race in particular, it went my way.”
She’s Country hopped at the start. Castellano, who might have been on the lead with a better break, wound up keeping his inside position in third while Fancy Lights set the pace, stalked by Sacred Goddess.
In the middle of the far turn, Castellano got She’s Country to the outside of Fancy Lights, ridden by Flavien Prat. Inside the eighth pole, She’s Country was still trying to get by Fancy Lights when Cosmic Candy Girl came past her on the outside, but She’s Country found more and struck her down at the wire when it mattered.
“When that horse blew by outside, I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to finish second,’ but my filly, she came back again,” Castellano said. “She fought and the bob could have gone either way, but it seemed to me my filly put her head all the way [down] and I said, ‘I think I got lucky this time.’ “
Carmouche said he didn’t think his filly hung late.
“My filly got me there and kept running. [She was] just second best. They got the bob,” Carmouche said.
She’s Country, owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, James Politano, and LVD Racing, won for the second time from three starts. She beat New York-breds by six lengths at Saratoga in August before finishing fourth in the Selima Stakes at Laurel in September.
She’s Country, a daughter of Combatant, covered the mile in 1:38.70 and returned $9.70 as the second choice. Her stablemate, Boomington, was favored by just $205 in the win pool over She’s Country.
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