Summersault ends victory drought with Soaring Softly

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Summersault benefitted from a perfectly judged ride by John Velazquez, running down Empressof the Nile nearing the wire to register a 1 1/2-length victory in Friday’s $75,000 Soaring Softly Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Summersault, a 6-year-old daughter of Rock Hard Ten, brought an eight-race winless streak into the 1 3/8-mile Soaring Softly dating back to her victory in the Grade 3 Orchid one year ago. The veteran rated kindly under Velazquez near the rear of the five-horse field for more than a mile, advanced readily on the final bend, tipped out to continue her bid before overtaking Empressof the Nile at the end.

Empressof the Nile made a quick move to seize control of the race on settling down the backstretch the final time, settled into the stretch with a seemingly comfortable advantage but could not contain the winner while easily second-best, finishing 3 1/2 lengths in front of Shezaprado.

Taralena, who was bet down to the 7-5 favorite, came up empty after a mile, finishing a disappointing fifth in a field of six older fillies and mares.

Summersault is trained by Mark Hennig for her breeders William Parsons Jr. and David Howe. She completed the distance over a firm course in 2:13.05 seconds and paid $8.40.

“I love this filly,” Hennig said with a smile in the winner’s circle immediately after the race.

“I was glad to see her get back on the board, especially here because she likes it here. It seems to have taken her a little longer to come around down here this year. I actually pulled the book out to see the stakes schedule going forward here because she’s just turned the corner here. Hopefully we have a dry summer in New York and we can get some more done up there.”

Hennig said the hard turf course locally is a big plus for Summersault, who has now won four of her nine starts at Gulfstream Park.

“The firm turf helps her a ton,” Hennig said. “I thought possibly earlier this winter she might have lost a step. I ran her in that last spot (Grade 3 The Very One on March 3) and probably shouldn’t have because I breezed her a lot closer to the race than I usually do. The race came up light and I made a last-minute decision to put her in, which obviously wasn’t the right thing to do. I just trained her lightly coming into this, her gallops every day kept getting better and better, and she was just giving us a good indication.”

Hennig also praised the efforts of Velazquez, who was aboard Summersault for the first time since her 3-year-old season.

“He’s so smart, those jocks who come to the paddock so well prepared make things so much easier,” Hennig said.

“He’s watched her races, he knows how she’s warmed up in the past, he knows everything. I didn’t even need to talk to him about the race because he already had it sorted out in his mind.”