Newstead Stables\u2019 Laurelin kept her perfect record intact with a rallying 1 3\/4-length score in Saturday\u2019s Grade 2, $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational, a 1 3\/16-mile Mellon turf route for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.<\/p>\n
Trained by Graham Motion, the Zarak chestnut is undefeated in five starts, beginning with a trio of wins over the Aqueduct Racetrack turf topped by scores in the Tepin in November and the Listed Memories of Silver to kick off her current campaign in April. Laurelin entered from a 1 1\/4-length score in the one-mile Penn Oaks over yielding turf in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to go 5-for-5 and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had a horse do that before,\u201d said Motion. \u201cA lot of things have to go right, and they have to be very good. I feel like we\u2019ve done right by her and tried to go step-by-step and this was a logical time to go into a graded race.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a surprise when a horse does what she\u2019s done, but we\u2019ve always thought she was that quality,\u201d Motion added. \u201cShe always acted like she was one of my best 2-year-olds last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Totally Justified was sent to the front by Manny Franco to overtake the sharp-starting Opulent Restraint, who exited the inside post under Flavien Prat and was angled off the rail approaching the turn as the opening quarter-mile went by in 23.48 seconds over the firm turf.<\/p>\n
Opulent Restraint continued to track the pacesetter down the backstretch with Laurelin stalking to the outside of Evershed in front of the European raider Go Go Boots as the half-mile elapsed in 47.60.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we got to the first turn, I already got my filly where I need to be sitting fourth, couple other horses behind me,\u201d Carmouche said. \u201cI thought the three horses that could have beat me were the two in front of me [Totally Justified and Opulent Restraint] and the one inside of me [Evershed].\u201d<\/p>\n
Laurelin advanced with purpose through the final turn, moving easily to the outside of Opulent Restraint as Jose Ortiz asked Go Go Boots to follow her run. Laurelin cruised beyond Opulent Restraint and Totally Justified once straightened away and powered home to a smart victory in a final time of 1:52.60.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept this filly in the clear because I didn\u2019t want nobody to come outside of me, she did everything on her own,\u201d Carmouche said. \u201cWhen I was ready to ask her at the top of the lane, she exploded herself. This horse is a Grade 1 horse, you can feel the confidence and the relaxedness in this horse – to become a good horse – that\u2019s what we look for in this industry and I think I really got one with this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dylan Davis-piloted Evershed rallied late to complete the exacta by three-quarter-lengths over Opulent Restraint with Go Go Boots, Totally Justified and Sigh No More completing the order of finish. Go Go Boots was pulled up in the gallop out and provided a ride back to the barn area in the equine ambulance for further evaluation per NYRA\u2019s Veterinary Department.<\/p>\n
Davis said the Arnaud Delacour-trained Evershed performed admirably in her stakes debut, entering from a rallying allowance score versus elders last month at Colonial Downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t really kick, but she was able to keep with the winner, and she ended up galloping out really well, too, so I think she\u2019s still learning,\u201d Davis said. \u201cShe\u2019s going in the right direction for sure. She ran great. I asked Arnaud if I could stay on her. She\u2019s got a lot of potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Motion praised the smart trip engineered by Carmouche.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe seemed like she was always traveling very comfortably, and I felt confident throughout the race,\u201d Motion said. \u201cI think Kendrick did, too, he just said it was a matter of when he asked her to go. I loved where she was and obviously it\u2019s easier in a smaller field, but Kendrick has a great rapport with this filly, and she puts him in a nice spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI must say, the only trouble is neither the owner nor myself have ever been there when she\u2019s ran, so I think we\u2019re both going to have to stay away from now on,\u201d added Motion, with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Motion indicated Laurelin could step up to top-flight company next in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on October 11 at Keeneland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to go to the QEII, that\u2019s the Grade 1 that everybody likes to win with 3-year-old fillies. How we get there, I don\u2019t know, but that\u2019s a race I would like to put a circle around,\u201d Motion said.<\/p>\n
Bred in Ireland by M. H. Dixon and Mount Coote Estates, Laurelin banked $275,000 in victory and ran her win streak to five. She returned $6.40 for a $2 win bet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the Grade 3, $175,000 Mahony in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saratoga Live\u00a0will present live coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit\u00a0nyra.com\/tv<\/a>.<\/p>\n NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at\u00a0NYRABets.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Newstead Stables\u2019 Laurelin kept her perfect record intact with a rallying 1 3\/4-length score in Saturday\u2019s Grade 2,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-331964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115001945174719039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}