Spirit and Glory takes early lead, keeps it in Plenty of Grace

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. was hoping that cutting Spirit and Glory slightly back in distance, to a mile, she would find herself in a race with more speed to set up her late kick.

Instead, in a scratch-reduced field of four, Spirit and Glory found herself in front early and, more importantly, in front late as she recorded a front-running, five-length victory in Sunday’s $139,500 Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct.

Midnight Mile finished second, five lengths in front of stablemate Marvelous Maude. Sunset Louise, in her first turf try. finished last. Tass and Silver Skillet were scratched.

The win was the sixth from 18 starts for Spirit and Glory, a 5-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Cotai Glory owned by Michael Dubb, Beast Mode Racing, John Rochford and Falcone.

:: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets.

Spirit and Glory was ridden to victory by Jose Lezcano, the jockey’s third consecutive win on the card.

Lezcano was prepared for one of the other three horses to go forward, but when no one went, he took the initiative. Spirit and Glory, who Falcone thought was too keen in her last start, appeared to relax nicely after establishing a two-length advantage after an opening quarter in 24.49 seconds over the firm turf.

Spirit and Glory maintained a clear advantage through a half-mile in 48.91 seconds and, just before the quarter pole, Lezcano asked her to run and she immediately opened up. Spirit and Glory finished full of run and covered the mile in 1:34.92. She returned $6.30 as the second choice.

“She was very comfortable the whole way around,” said Lezcano, whose 18 wins at the meet are three behind meet leader Manny Franco. “She [went] very easy for the first half and when I got to the five-sixteenths, I tried to sprint home, this way she could get in full stride. She did everything right.”

Spirit and Glory didn’t do everything right in the Tom Benson Memorial at Fair Grounds last out, when she got hot in the paddock and was too keen in the early stages of the race and finished eighth.

Falcone noted that Spirit and Glory was much better behaved in the paddock Sunday before the Plenty of Grace.

Falcone said he was comfortable with how relaxed Spirit and Glory looked racing on the lead early in Sunday’s race. He was just curious how she would react when she came into the stretch on the lead.

“She was never on the lead obviously, so you hope they don’t get lost,” Falcone said. “Closing every single race for her whole life and then all of a sudden she finds herself turning for home with no one around her and you start to wonder if she’s going to start flicking her ears and waiting or is she going to kick on? She kicked on.”

Chad Brown trained the second- and third-place finishers. Brown had gone into the Plenty of Grace having won the last seven races he had been in on the New York Racing Association circuit. The NYRA circuit record is believed to be eight shared by John Parisella, Angel Penna Sr., Oscar Barrera and Edward Kelly.

Ironically, Brown won the next race on the card with Risk Tolerance.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.