Surge of Pride takes Maid of the Mist in first start on dirt

Surge of Pride, whose only two previous starts had come sprinting over the turf, stretched out to a mile on the main track and finished with a flourish to register an impressive 1 1/4-length victory over Elegant Zip in Saturday’s $250,000 Maid of the Mist for juvenile fillies Saturday at Belmont Park.

Surge of Pride won her career debut going 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass at Saratoga for trainer Linda Rice before finishing a disappointing fourth stretching out an additional eighth of a mile over a yielding course four weeks later in the Selima at Laurel. On Saturday, she proved racing on the dirt and a little more ground may be what she really wants, overcoming trouble into the stretch when forced to take up and alter course to the center of the track before finishing full of run to win going away under jockey Junior Alvarado.

Elegant Zip, in striking position throughout, overtook the tiring Kept True in late stretch but was no match for the winner’s final surge. Kept True won an early battle for the lead with 5-2 favorite Cartwheelin LuLu but weakened late to finish third.

Surge of Pride, a daughter of Kantharos, is trained by Linda Rice for her breeders Chester and Mary Broman, who own the filly in partnership with Grey Fox Stable. She returned $33.20 after covering the distance in 1:38.05 over a fast track.

“She had trained pretty well on the dirt, but there were things that made me think she might want to run on the grass. So, I breezed her on the turf and she breezed dynamite,” said Rice. “She won her maiden impressively on the turf in a maiden race then she ran so-so at Laurel, I was a little disappointed in her effort. I then told Chester, ‘We don't know if she can run on the dirt, but for $250,000, let's find out.’ And Junior rode a beautiful race."