Yorkiepoo Princess prevails in Autumn Days Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Yorkiepoo Princess.

Seemingly reinvigorated by the cooler weather, Yorkiepoo Princess won her second race in three weeks, taking Sunday’s off-the-turf, $125,000 Autumn Days Stakes by 5 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct. Under Dylan Davis, Yorkiepoo Princes dueled outside of Jean Elizabeth and pulled away in the final furlong to record her sixth win in 19 career starts.

Three of those wins have come in the month of November. She also won two stakes during the winter months at Aqueduct in her 3-year-old season. Before an allowance win at Parx on Nov. 5, Yorkiepoo Princess had lost 10 consecutive races.

“She’s nowhere near as aggressive as she is right now,” trainer Ed Barker said. “She’s been touting herself since that [Parx] race. She loves the cold weather. I think that has a lot to do with it.”

She also seems to run better when she’s into the race early. Third early, Yorkiepoo Princess then took up a stalking position outside of Jean Elizabeth, who had run an opening quarter in 22.86 seconds. Yorkiepoo Princess was basically on even terms with Jean Elizabeth through a half-mile in 46.23 before edging clear in the final furlong.

Yorkiepoo Princess, a 4-year-old daughter of Kantharos owned by Danny Chen, covered the six furlongs in 1:11.41 over a “good” main track and returned $14.60 to win.

Davis, who also rode Yorkiepoo Princess to victory at Parx, said his filly was eager to get into the race.

“I just wanted a nice, clean break. From then on, she was laying second, and then she was really dragging me pretty good,” Davis said. “She wanted to make the lead early. I tried to keep her together. At the three-eighths pole, I felt like she was too much, so I just let her inch her way up and let her do her thing.”

Jean Elizabeth finished second by 1 1/2 lengths over Fear No Evil. She was followed by Friend of Liberty, Bloody Point, Jc’s Shooting Star, Lezendary, and Sounds Delicious, the 8-5 favorite.

Purchased for $8,000, Yorkiepoo Princess has now earned $435,627.

The win was Barker’s 20th of the year and pushed his purse earnings to $1,044,472, both single-year bests for Barker.

Had the Autumn Days not come off the turf, Yorkiepoo Princess would have run in the $100,000 Garland of Roses here on Dec. 8. It is possible she could still run back in that race if her connections so choose.

Velazquez, Pletcher win two stakes

Jockey John Velazquez moved to within one victory of the 6,000-win plateau by winning a pair of stakes for 2-year-olds Sunday at Aqueduct. Fittingly, both were for trainer Todd Pletcher, for whom he has won 1,749 races.

Velazquez and Pletcher combined to win the $100,000 Notebook Stakes with La Fuerza. A few races later, they hooked up again to win the off-the-turf Tepin Stakes with South of France.

In the Notebook, for New York-bred juveniles, La Fuerza stalked the pacesetting tandem of Kosciuszko and Analyzethisandthat through a quarter of 22.92 seconds. La Fuerza seemed to get further engaged when Thorny Tale came to his outside.

In the stretch, as 46-1 Analyzethisandthat took the lead, La Fuerza closed three to four wide to win going away.

It was the fourth win from seven starts for La Fuerza, who previously this year won the Rockville Centre Stakes at Belmont and the Aspirant at Finger Lakes but ran disappointingly in the New York Breeders’ Futurity and Sleepy Hollow Stakes.

Velazquez had ridden La Fuerza only two previous times, which happened to be his two worst performances.

“The two times I rode him before, he didn’t seem like he wanted to run,” Velazquez said. “Today, he broke well, he dropped the bit, the horse outside of him made him run a little bit on the turn, and after that, he came running.”

La Fuerza, a son of Flatter owned and bred by Barry Schwartz, covered the six furlongs 1:12.28 and returned $10.60 to win.

“We had high expectations for him early on,” Pletcher said. “It seemed like he got a little inconsistent on us. I really liked his last breeze; he acted like he was coming into this well. He left there with good intentions today. I thought that was his best performance to date.”

Following Analyzethisandthat, the order of finish was Kosciuszko, Thorny Tale, Bustin Hoffman, and Bustin to Be Loved.

The Tepin, originally scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf, was run at a mile on dirt. South of France cruised to a five-length win in a race where two of the five runners were compromised at the break.

No More Fast Women swerved so sharply after breaking from the rail that she unseated Jose Lezcano. Guacamole stumbled badly leaving the gate, basically taking her out of the race.

That left South of France to spar with Hollywood Glory through pedestrian fractions of 25.39, 50.07, and 1:15.37 before taking command in upper stretch.

South of France, a daughter of Quality Road owned by Mathis Stable, covered the mile in 1:41.17 and returned $3.60 to win.

Hollywood Glory was second by 11 3/4 lengths over Slieve Mish. Guacamole finished last of four.

“We were going so slow, I went to the middle of the track to make sure whoever wants to go inside, let them in there,” Velazquez said. “I let her look around. By the three-eighths pole, I put a little pressure on the horse inside of me. It was pretty easy though. I like those kind of easy races.”

Velazquez has one mount Wednesday at Aqueduct.

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