Velazquez guides And One More Time to front-running win in De La Rose
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − The only anxious moments for the connections of And One More Time in Friday’s $150,000 De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga came after the race.
Under John Velazquez, And One More Time scored a front-running, 1 1/4-length victory in the De La Rose but shortly after the race, the stewards’ inquiry light went up on the infield board. The letters INQ went up alongside #3 And One More Time and the #4 Sandtrap, who had finished third, and their numbers were blinking.
The drone shots of the race were replayed on the board for nearly five minutes while several riders spoke to the stewards from the phone just outside the scale. The riders, including Velazquez, seemed as confused as the betting public.
“I got on the phone and I was like ‘What are you guys looking at because whatever happened [happened] behind me, it can’t be me,” Velazquez said.
Mark Casse, the trainer of And One More Time, was not only confused but starting to get upset.
“What are they looking at?” Casse asked. “Unless they’re thinking about disqualifying somebody else.”
Moments later, the numbers stopped blinking and the result was left as is. Casse exhaled.
“I’m a pretty cool, calm guy, I might have got a little upset” Casse said had his filly been disqualified.
The stewards later said that the inquiry focused on Deep Satin having to take up in deep stretch and if the actions of Flavien Prat on Sandtrap − with whom Deep Satin had bumped with at the eighth pole − caused that to happen. They decided it didn’t. Sandtrap finished third while Deep Satin was sixth.
Casse came into the De La Rose confident And One More Time was going to win. She had won the Plenty of Grace at Aqueduct in April and Casse thought she had a tough trip when fifth in the Grade 1 Just a Game here last month. And One More Time didn’t make the lead in the Just a Game, but she did in the De La Rose.
Under Velazquez, And One More Time easily made the front and took some pressure from a surprisingly close Deep Satin − who had broken through the starting gate prior to the official start of the race before being reloaded. And One More Time went a half-mile in 48.13 seconds and six furlongs in 1:10.95.
And One More Time opened up a two-length lead in the lane and though Hang the Moon rallied along the inside under Irad Ortiz Jr., she never threatened the winner, while getting second by a nose over Sandtrap.
“She had a tough trip last time, it wasn’t her fault, she was wide both turns,” Casse said. “Looking at the horses that beat her before, she could beat them. I told my wife and I told johnny I think we win this thing.”
And One More Time, a 4-year-old daughter of Omaha Beach owned by Live Oaks Plantation, covered mile over the inner turf in 1:38.16. Favored by $1,635 over Sandtrap, And One more time returned $7.08 to win.
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