Photo: Adam Coglianese
Patsy C. Symons’ talented but touchy Gitchee Goomie, who, in the words of her trainer Rick Violette, is “a very, very nice filly” with “a big temper,” put in a terrific performance in the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park on Derby Day, finishing second to the formidable German rival Daveron in the 1 1/16-mile contest on the Inner turf course.
A bay four-year-old daughter of City Zip, Gitchee Goomie flashed enormous talent last year, but also grappled with some obstacles of her own making. Occasionally fractious at the gate, she had to be scratched once at post time Saratoga and a second time prior to her final sophomore start, the Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs last November. Trainer Rick Violette said of his filly, “Sometimes she picks a fight with the gate and the gate wins, but when she gets by that, she’s very consistent and she’s stepped up the ladder considerably.”
When on form, Gitchee Goomie is impressive. She only broke through for her first stakes victory when she won the Topicount Stakes at Belmont Park last October by a nose, but over the course of the year had to settle for several tough beats. She ran second three times – by three-quarters of a length, a neck, and a nose – in first level allowance state-bred competition between June and September. She then jumped up for her best performance of the year, finishing third in Belmont’s Grade 1 Garden City Stakes last September 18 at odds of 21-1. After leading in the stretch, she succumbed only grudgingly to two extremely accomplished foes – Check the Label (on her way to a fourth straight graded win), and multiple graded stakes-placed Snow Top Mountain.
Gitchee Goomie’s four-year-old campaign started auspiciously on April 2 with a victory in an open second-level allowance at Gulfstream Park and it looked like all systems were go for the Beaugay provided she could get herself into and out of the gate in good order. On paper, the main competition in the short field of five would come from Daveron, a European import trained by Graham Motion, who was making her seasonal debut after finishing second in the Grade 3 Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct last November. Daveron was tabbed as post time favorite at odds of 1.75-to-1 and Gitchee Goomie, ridden for the first time by Alex Solis, was the close second choice at 1.90-to-1.
Following a happily uneventful gate experience for Gitchee Goomie, the well-bet third choice Comic Marvel took the initiative after the break, with longshot Ainamaa a assuming a stalking position a couple lengths behind. Daveron raced just outside of Bet On the Blue behind the front two, and Gitchee Goomie, typically a closer, sat well-held and well-reserved on the hedge, running five lengths off the lead.
As the field of five approached the far turn after moderate fractions of 25.12 and 49.87, they became more closely bunched, but their relative positions remained unchanged. Rounding the far turn Daveron made a three-wide move and joined the front two, putting all three of them on even terms at the top of the stretch. Gitchee Goomie, moving out widest of all coming out of the turn for a clear run, accelerated rapidly when she reached the three-sixteenths pole. As Daveron spurted ahead of the original leaders, Gitchee Goomie continued to make up ground, but by the time they hit the wire and stopped the clock at 1:42.99, still had a neck to make up on her determined rival.
Gitchee Goomie’s second graded stakes placing and third on-the-board stakes performance improved her lifetime record to 3-4-1 from nine career starts and increased her purse earnings to a tidy $166,554.
Bred by Barry R. Ostrager and foaled at Dutchess Views Farm in Pine Plains, Gitchee Goomie is one of two winners from three foals to start out of black-type placed Riotous Miss ($382,310), a daughter of Brief Ruckus all of whose 13 victories came on turf. Gitchee Goomie’s older half-sister Miss Rapture (Gulch) has five wins to her credit and has earned $114,290. Riotous Miss has an unplaced three-year-old colt by Roaring Fever (Sonnyandpally), an unraced two-year-old full brother to Gitchee Goomie and a yearling filly by King Cugat, all New York-breds. She was bred back to City Zip last year with no reported foal to date.
