Photo: Adam Coglianese
Sanford Bacon’s homebred Risky Rachel translated her strong 2011 allowance form into a first black type victory as she kicked off the stakes portion of the Showcase Day Card by overtaking Lovely Lil in the final furlong to win the the seven-furlong, $125,000 Friendly Island Iroquois for fillies and mares.
A relatively lightly-raced four-year-old daughter of Limehouse, Risky Rachel was seeking her third win in four starts this year for trainer H. James Bond. In her prior race on August 31, she demolished a field of second-level allowance/optional claiming state-bred sprinters, romping by 10 lengths and besting, among others, Funky Munky Mama, second last weekend in the Tax Free Shopping Distaff at Delaware Park.
Debra Roma Photography
Drawn in post four with Javier Castellano in the irons for the first time, Risky Rachel was second choice in the betting at odds of 2.75-1 and carried 117 pounds.
Breaking just to Risky Rachel’s inside, with pilot Ramon Dominguez aboard, was 6-5 favorite Lovely Lil, the 124-pound highweight. Winner of the Union Avenue at Saratoga on August 22, in her most recent start on September 24 she finished third in Belmont’s Grade 2 Gallant Bloom H. Multiple stakes-winner Spa City Princess was third choice in the field of field of nine at odds of 5-1.
After the break, a speed duel developed during the first quarter mile between Lovely Lil and longshot Those Lion Eyes. As Lovely Lil clocked solid fractions of 23.08 and 46.37 racing in the two path, Risky Rachel tracked right behind her in fourth position two lengths from lead, with Sentimental Lass to her inside.
When Those Lion Eyes began to fade as they came out of the turn, Risky Rachel – who had moved up a spot – was on tap to challenge Lovely Lil on the outside. Lovely Lil dug in, but Risky Rachel, edged up and past around the furlong marker and then opened up to a 2 1/4-length victory. Spa City Princess finished third another 2 1/2 lengths back. After three quarters of a mile clocked in 1:10.58, the final time for the seven furlongs over the fast Belmont main track was 1:23.14. [VIDEO]
Winning trainer H. James Bond, who took this race in 2003 with Princess Dixie, said of Risky Rachel, “She’s a talented filly. The wet track is not her game; that was her only bad race this year. I think the weight advantage, 124 to 117 pounds, might have helped. She just sat there, and when Javier asked her, she finished on. Mr. [Sanford] Bacon is a new client in the barn this year; he had always told me he’d give me a horse one day. He gave me a pretty nice horse.”
Jockey Javier Castellano was very upbeat after the victory. “It was a perfect trip. She broke on top, but I took a nice hold and Ramon [Dominguez] decided to go to the lead [with Lovely Lil],” Castellano said. “It worked out great for me. I just put her behind Ramon, who was my target, and turning for home I had plenty of horse. I just let her go and have fun and she had a good kick. That was the first time I had been on her, and I got along with her and I really liked the way she did it today.”
Photo: Adam Coglianese
Risky Rachel’s first stakes victory makes it three wins of four starts this year and improves her career record to 4-2-1 from nine starts with $179,000 in purse earnings.
Risky Rachel, who was foaled at Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater, is one of five winners – and the first foal to earn black type – out of Dancin Renee, a New York-bred daughter of Distinctive Pro also bred and campaigned by Sanford Bacon. New York Horse of the Year, Champion Sprinter and Older Female in 1997, Dancin Renee is a half to dual New York Horse of the Year (2000, 2001) and multiple New York Champion Say Florida Sandy, both out of two-time New York Champion Broodmare Lolli Lucka Lolli. Dancin Renee won seven stakes races, including the Grade 3 Honorable Miss at Saratoga, and earned $490,258. Her most recent foal is a two-year-old daughter of Purge, Len’s Lucky Lenise, who has not yet started.
