Uncle Southern skips over mud to win Union Avenue

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Uncle Southern parlayed a very alert start, a pace advantage, and her affinity for a wet track into a game three-quarter-length victory over Sunny Desert in the $100,000 Union Avenue Stakes on a soggy Thursday afternoon at Saratoga.

Uncle Southern left the gate in full stride and led throughout, holding off a late try from Sunny Desert, who rallied up the rail but could not get past the game winner. Make the Moment rallied from last to finish another 1 3/4 lengths back in third.

Risky Rachel, the even-money favorite, prompted the early pace but had little left once settling into the stretch and finished last in a scratch-reduced field of five New York-bred fillies and mares.

Uncle Southern is a 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Camio out of the Dixie Brass mare Southern Statement. She is trained by Linda Rice for J and M Racing Stables and was ridden to victory by Luis Saez. Uncle Southern paid $16.80 despite having won an allowance race in convincing fashion over a similarly sloppy track earlier in the meet.

“I thought we might have a little bit of a pace advantage in here,” Rice said. “There didn’t look like a lot of speed, only Risky Rachel, and it was questionable whether she really liked the mud. It looked like the closers were winning earlier, and that concerned me a bit, so I was just hoping they’d leave us unattended on the pace and maybe that would work for us. I think the Dixie Brasses excel in the mud, and that was a big plus for her, as is the fact she just seems to be coming into her best form now as a 4-year-old.”