Varenka and Regal Glory Dead-Heat in Lake Placid

Favored Varenka and second choice Regal Glory threw it down Aug. 17 in the $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course, and no one could separate them at the wire after a thrilling stretch duel.

The 3-year-old fillies, both homebreds, dead-heated in the 1 1/16-mile turf test—and their finish was even more impressive given the slow fractions they closed into.

Blowout led the field through crawling fractions of :26.36 and :51.10, with three-quarters going in 1:15.39 over an inner turf course rated good. Chad Brown-trained Regal Glory tracked in fourth under Luis Saez, and Varenka raced fifth with Javier Castellano in the irons for trainer Graham Motion.

Saez made the first move aboard Regal Glory heading into the turn, tipping the daughter of Animal Kingdom  to the outside in the three path from fourth as Amandrea ranged up to challenge the pacesetter. Following along, however, were Varenka and Castellano, who went even wider from fifth to trigger a contentious stretch run among the four.

Blowout grimly held onto the lead on the inside and Amandrea stayed in the mix until the final yards, but the top two surged to the front with inches to spare in the photo finish. The final time was 1:43.68.

Both fillies were walked in a circle outside the winner's circle for several minutes as rain began to fall while racing officials reviewed the photo before posting the "dead heat" sign.

"I'm speechless, to be honest," said Motion, who won the Lake Placid in 2009 with Shared Account. "I had another one of these up here in the Amsterdam (with Secret Firm in 1998, who dead-heated with Mint) when I first started training. I just can't believe she got there, because they went so slow. That was a crazy performance.

"I thought we had (it won) right before the wire and right after the wire, but I wasn't sure on the line. All credit to Javier. He said he was going to be patient with her, and he was patient."

"You have to be lucky," said Castellano. "Those bobs can go either way. It was a very exciting race, and those two horses showed up and I rode to win. In the moment, I thought I had won the race, but after watching the replay, I thought it could go either way."

It was the second straight victory and first in a stakes for Augustin Stable's Varenka, who won an optional claimer earlier in the meet. The daughter of Ghostzapper  has a 3-2-2 record from eight starts, with her only off-the-board effort coming when fifth in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T). Her earnings stand at $278,100.

Varenka was bred in Kentucky out of the stakes-winning Dynaformer mare Dynamic Cat, also the dam of grade 3 winner Dynamic Holiday. All of the mare's eight foals to race have been winners, five of them black type. Dynamic Cat's last reported cover was to Oscar Performance  for 2020.

The Lake Placid was the second graded stakes win for Paul Pompa Jr.'s Regal Glory, who took the July 19 Lake George Stakes (G3T) at the Spa. She has never been worse than second in seven starts, with five victories that include the Penn Oaks at Penn National this year and the Stewart Manor Stakes last fall at Aqueduct Racetrack. She has earnings of $431,750.

Regal Glory was bred in Kentucky out of the grade 2-winning More Than Ready  mare Mary's Follies and is a half sister to grade 3 winner Night Prowler. The mare produced an American Pharoah  colt in 2017 who was acquired for $475,000 by Narvick International from Eddie Woods' consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. She foaled a son of Uncle Mo  in 2018 and a Candy Ride  colt April 8 and was bred to Connect  for 2020.

Blowout, also trained by Brown, held on to finish third, a neck back, with Amandrea another half-length behind in fourth. Vow to Recover checked in fifth, with Feel Glorious sixth.

"Both horses finished great to run into a slow pace like that," said Brown, who won last year's Lake Placid with Rushing Fall. "I thought Luis did a great job."

Video: Lake Placid S. (G2T)