Vigilantes Way has easy time in Eatontown
Vigilantes Way’s smart win Sunday at Monmouth Park in the Grade 3, $150,000 Eatontown Stakes made the betting public look clever.
The Eatontown past performances came packed with plausible players, but Vigilantes Way was surprisingly bet down to 7-2 favoritism and pleased her many backers with a 2 1/4-length win.
Breaking from post 12 under Paco Lopez, she was one of only two horses to go forward in a slow-paced race. The other was Valletta, a 43-1 shot who held on for second in the Eatontown, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for older fillies and mares. Counterparty Risk got a run up the rail and was in contention at the quarter-pole, but lacked the punch to go through while finishing in a dead heat for third with Crystal Cliffs, who turned in one of the better Eatontown performances rallying from 10th at a distance that might be shorter than her best.
Valletta waltzed through an opening quarter-mile in 24.70 seconds, a half in 48.70, a slow tempo on a quick-playing grass course. From there, the pace really quickened, the second half-mile going in 47.07 as Vigilantes Way tracked Valletta’s every move. Vigilantes Way took over at the furlong grounds and won with speed to spare.
“The post position is something I usually don’t like, but today it worked to our advantage,” Lopez said. “I was able to get out there and get in a good position ... It set up nicely for us. Shug [McGaughey] told me to do whatever I felt I needed to do. She is usually in the top three early and I knew she would finish. She has a strong kick.”
McGaughey trains Vigilantes Way for her breeder, the Phipps Stable. Winning for the fifth time in 12 starts, and capturing her first graded race, Vigilantes Way clocked 1:41.90 over firm going and paid $9.20. The 4-year-old filly, second by a half-length last out to the high-class Mean Mary, is by Medaglia d’Oro out of Salute, by Unbridled’s Song, making her a sister to three graded-stakes winners, including Grade 1 winner Mr Speaker. Her second dam is the great champion mare, Personal Ensign.
“It’s as good a pedigree as you can find,” McGaughey said.
Vigilantes Way has yet to race beyond 1 1/16 miles, but her trainer suggested she might get farther, and with a nice mix of tactical speed and a finishing kick, maybe Vigilantes Way also can rise higher.