Split Time finds enough room late to win Maddie May Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Split Time had parlayed easy trips into blowout victories in her two most recent outings. On Saturday, she showed she could be successful with a less-than-ideal trip.

Bottled up on the inside down the backside and stuck behind a trio of horses in upper stretch, Split Time was extricated off the rail by Junior Alvarado near the eighth pole and put in the 4 path. Split Time then rallied to run down Our Super Nova and win the $100,000 Maddie May Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct by a half-length.

It was 3 1/2 lengths farther back to Cause We Are Loyal in third. Under Suspicion and Breezy Gal completed the order of finish.

The win was the third from four starts for Split Time, a daughter of Take Charge Indy owned by the Tic Stables of Andrew Richards, Jon Clay, and Ian Highet and trained by Linda Rice. She was purchased for $62,000 at last August’s Fasig-Tipton auction at Saratoga.

Alvarado called the filly’s trip “complicated.”

Under Suspicion, under Manny Franco, set the pace, chased by Breezy Gal and Our Super Nova. Split Time was inside the latter two, racing a close-up fourth.

Coming to the quarter pole, Our Super Nova made a three-wide bid and went after Under Suspicion and Breezy Gal. Meanwhile, Alvarado was trying to find room to let Split Time run.

Near the furlong marker, while Our Super Nova was taking over from Under Suspicion, Alvarado got Split Time out into the clear, and she was able to outfinish Our Super Nova.

Split Time covered the mile in 1:38.50 and returned $4.30 to win as the favorite.

“It got more complicated than I would have liked, but she was just so much the best; she’s got the class and ended up winning the race,” Alvarado said.

Rice thought Split Time might have been where Breezy Gal was early, stalking Under Suspicion from second. She wasn’t sure how Split Time would react when confronted with traffic in upper stretch.

“She’s had some really great, easy trips in her two previous wins,” Rice said. “Today, I was pretty impressed with her grittiness – that she had a pretty difficult trip the entire race, was never in a comfortable spot, and managed to swing out and kick home.”

For Rice, it was her seventh victory of the winter meet in a stakes race restricted to fillies and mares.