You takes Adirondack by a neck
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There was something about You that struck Bobby Frankel's fancy when she finished second behind Cashier's Dream in a June allowance race. What Frankel saw was on display for all to see in Monday's Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga.
After chasing 3-5 favorite Cashier's Dream for more than six furlongs, You ran that rival down in the final 50 yards to win the $150,000 Adirondack by a neck before 19,653 at Saratoga. It was 15 1/4 lengths back to Magic Storm.
Frankel purchased You privately for Edmund Gann following that allowance race for an undisclosed sum. Frankel liked the way You performed in her first two starts and he also trained the filly's sire, You and I.
In the 54 days since that June 20 race, Cashier's Dream set a track record winning the Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs, while You stayed in the barn.
"I wasn't sure she was really that fit because we didn't do that much with her," said Frankel, who is now 5 for 10 at the meet. "She showed she's a quality filly."
Cashier's Dream, the 122-pound highweight, broke alertly from the rail under Donnie Meche and carved out fractions of 21.65 and 44.62 seconds while maintaining a half-length advantage over You, under Edgar Prado. When You challenged turning for home, Cashier's Dream spurted away and completed six furlongs in 1:08.71. But You, who was getting seven pounds from Cashier's Dream, responded to the constant left-handed urging from Prado to get up.
You's final time of 1:15.16 was a stakes record for the distance, which was changed to 6 1/2 furlongs in 1994. She returned $13 to win.
"Definitely, the weight helped," Frankel said. "Seven-pound spread? I would think that cost the winner."
Neither Meche nor trainer Steve Asmussen offered any excuses for Cashier's Dream, who lost for the first time in four starts.
"If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing," Meche said. "She was up there easy, she's got her ears straight forward. She's real, real relaxed, exploded at the head of the lane, and actually drew away from the other one. But the other one kept inching her down, inching her down and ran the best race of her life. No excuse."
A rematch could be in store in the Grade 1 Spinaway here on Aug. 31.