Watchmaker: Sentiero Italia distinguishes self in Sands Point victory

It goes without saying that everyone in the game is thrilled with the great progress Lady Eli has made in her terribly unlucky bout with laminitis. Nevertheless, it remains impossible not to wonder what this brilliant, undefeated filly might have accomplished were it not for the random misfortune of stepping on an isolated nail. And that is because of what those Lady Eli crushed have gone on to do.

Lady Eli’s first start this year was a dominating score in the Appalachian Stakes. Left in her wake in that event were:

– Miss Temple City, the runner up, came back to win the Hilltop and finish an excellent fourth in the Group 1 Coronation at Royal Ascot, second in the Grade 2 Lake Placid, and third in the Grade 3 Sands Point at Belmont on Saturday.

– Sunset Glow, third, came back to finish second in the Wait a While and Grade 2 San Clemente and fourth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.

– Tiger Ride, fifth, subsequently won the Ta Wee, finished fourth in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, and won the Indiana Grand just last Wednesday.

– Mizz Money, sixth, later won the Grade 3 Pucker Up.

After overcoming an absurdly and unnecessarily tough trip to win the Wonder Again, Lady Eli made her last appearance in the Belmont Oaks, and the way she looped her field and ran away from 13 opponents was sensational, even by her lofty standards. Behind Lady Eli that day were:

– Strict Compliance, a dead-heat fourth, followed with a win in the Grade 3 Boiling Springs.

– Sharla Rae, seventh, came back to win the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks.

– Pine Needles, ninth, subsequently finished second in a division of the Little Silver and third in the Boiling Springs.

– Spanish Queen, 10th, has not started since the Belmont Oaks, but it’s worth noting she previously won the Grade 1 American Oaks and Grade 2 Honeymoon.

Oh yes, there is one other member of the beaten Belmont Oaks field I saved for last because she has gone on to flatter Lady Eli more than anyone else.

Sentiero Italia was the other part of the dead-heat fourth in the Belmont Oaks, and she ran well considering she was hung four wide on the far turn, though she obviously was no match for Lady Eli, who went even wider. But Sentiero Italia came back to win the Lake Placid and followed with a score in the Sands Point that was almost – almost – Lady Eli-like.

Yes, Sentiero Italia had an easy trip Saturday, prompting a tepid pace, but Sentiero Italia is the sort who makes her own good trips. She can deep close if the fractions are fast, or as she demonstrated in the Sands Point, she can be prominent from the outset if the pace is slow enough. That versatility is an asset, and horses like Sentiero Italia shouldn’t be automatically penalized just because they make their own luck.

In any case, good trip or not, Sentiero Italia made her field, a field everyone agreed was significantly above average in strength, including four just off the plane from Europe, look weak late. Sentiero Italia drew off in the final furlong to score by nearly four lengths, which, it bears repeating, is a chasm in turf racing.

The current plan for Sentiero Italia is to keep her with straight 3-year-olds and go for the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. But Lady Eli’s Belmont Oaks aside and with due respect to her elders, Sentiero Italia’s Sands Point was about as good a performance as we’ve seen from a female turf horse of any age this year.

Quick notes

** There were nine races Saturday richer than the Locust Grove, but few were more worthy of note. Frivolous’s ringing eight-length romp in the Locust Grove boosted the stock of Sheer Drama, winner of the Personal Ensign and Delaware Handicap (by two lengths over Frivolous), and improved Frivolous’s standing in the older filly and mare division.

** I was dead wrong about Cocked and Loaded in the Iroquois. It turns out he was not an early 2-year-old who had not progressed. That said, I never dreamt that as the only stakes winner and only multiple winner in the Iroquois, Cocked and Loaded would go off at over 9-1. As horseplayers know, odds have a big role in fashioning opinion, and I would have felt differently about Cocked and Loaded if I knew he’d go off at that absurd price.

** It would be premature just to downgrade New York’s 2-year-old fillies as a group after Adirondack winner Just Wicked failed at 1-2 in the Pocahontas. After all, she was stretching out to two turns, and maybe she’s just not a router right now. Still, Just Wicked’s loss certainly wasn’t an advertisement for New York’s juvenile fillies, and it does put that group on notice.