JR Ranch, Marquee Bloodstock and High Step Racing\u2019s Luna Louska defeated elders to secure her fourth consecutive frontrunning win in Saturday\u2019s $150,000 Floral Park, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Belmont at the Big A.<\/p>\n
Trained by Gustavo Delgado, the Complexity bay was the lone sophomore in the field, but she showed that was no problem with a pacesetting score under Kendrick Carmouche. After two misfires on dirt to begin her career, Luna Louska graduated third-out in May sprinting five furlongs over the Gulfstream Park synthetic.<\/p>\n
Luna Louska exited her graduation to wire a turf sprint optional claimer in June at Gulfstream ahead of a last-out 2 3\/4-length pacesetting score versus elders in the Clarksville Handicap on July 4 at Horseshoe Indianapolis – both at five furlongs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the speedy filly capitalized in her highly anticipated return after having to scratch from the Listed Galway in August at Saratoga Race Course due to a superficial scrape on her hip sustained while shipping up to the Spa. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we do it – to get a good one like this makes it worth the wait,\u201d said Ramiro Restrepo, of Marquee Bloodstock. \u201cEven her two initial starts [on dirt] she tried to flash speed and when we switched her over to synthetic and turf, that’s been her game. She likes to go to the front. I’m really relieved she got the extra furlong. You never know until they do it. We knew five furlongs was her bag up until now.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, the whole plan comes together and it did so today. The good thing is that every time we\u2019ve stepped her up the ladder, she\u2019s been there for us,\u201d added Restrepo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luna Louska exited post 1 sharply and was hustled to the front to take command while stalked by Risk Threshold with the Miguel Clement-trained trio of Bandonarun, the slow-starting Love Appeals and Dontlookbackatall not far behind through an opening quarter-mile in 21.44 seconds over the firm turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was moving good. I didn\u2019t take it away from her, I just let her rock and roll. Around the turn, I slowed her down a little because she was just gliding. I mean, she wasn\u2019t even touching the grass,\u201d said Carmouche, who won four races on the 11-race card.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luna Louska extended her advantage over Risk Threshold slightly into the turn and Love Appeals settled into a ground-saving third position along the rail under Ricardo Santana, Jr. At the top of the lane, Luna Louska held her largest lead yet with a 2 1\/2-length cushion through the half-mile in 43.22, but Love Appeals tipped out from the rail and emerged as the main danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Love Appeals had her sights set on the frontrunner at the stretch call with five furlongs down in 55.36 and still 2 1\/2 lengths to make up, but Luna Louska responded well to hold sway for a 1 3\/4-length victory in a final time of 1:08.13.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen she turned at the top of the lane, she rebroke again and I was like, \u2018well, I don\u2019t hear nobody coming,\u2019\u201d said Carmouche, aboard for the first time in the afternoon. \u201cSeemed like she put them away right away. Wow. Speedy \u2013 real speedy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mrs. Gambolini closed for third three lengths back, with Quiet Confidence completing the superfecta. Dontlookbackatall, Patricia Ann, Rileys Redemption, Risk Threshold and Bandonarun rounded out the order of finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Main track-only entrant All Class was scratched.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s been a long summer for her, but I think it was worth the wait,\u201d said Gustavo Delgado, Jr., son of and assistant to Delgado. \u201cThe only thing I was concerned about was shipping for the first time to Aqueduct, but I was watching the [pre-race] on television, and she seemed very relaxed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that, it was seeing how the race developed and that was fun to watch – she’s fast, and she keeps going,\u201d Delgado, Jr. added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Delgado, Jr. indicated the connections will discuss a variety of potential next races. A local turf sprint option for sophomore fillies is the Grade 3 Glen Cove on October 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Santana, Jr. said the Clement-trained Love Appeals was game in defeat off a one-length score in the Incredible Revenge on August 3 at Monmouth Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe ran a good race. She was second best. She broke good, the other one was just too fast,\u201d Santana Jr. said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luna Louska, a $140,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase is out of the Grade 1-placed Latent Heat mare Jamaican Smoke. Her third dam Rose Ransom \u2013 a half-sister to dual Grade 1-winner Stop Traffic \u2013 produced Shekky Shebaz, who captured the Spa\u2019s 2019 Lucky Coin en route to a third-place finish in that year\u2019s Grade 1 Breeders\u2019 Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita Park<\/p>\n
Luna Louska banked $82,500 in victory while improving her record to 6-4-0-0 and returning $11.94 for a $2 win bet.<\/p>\n
Live racing resumes Sunday at Belmont at the Big A with a nine-race card, featuring the Listed Athenia in Race 4. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n
America\u2019s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https:\/\/www.nyra.com\/aqueduct\/racing\/tv-schedule\/.<\/p>\n
NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont at the Big A, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JR Ranch, Marquee Bloodstock and High Step Racing\u2019s Luna Louska defeated elders to secure her fourth consecutive frontrunning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-422380","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\/115199799715690152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422380","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=422380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}