Street Band Earns First Grade 1 in Cotillion at Parx
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Photo: Taylor Ejdys/EQUI-PHOTO
Street Band comes running late to capture the Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing
Larry Jones has long held the reputation as a skilled trainer of 3-year-old fillies due to winning the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) three times with Proud Spell in 2008, Believe You Can in 2012, and Lovely Maria in 2015.
Yet bettors at Parx Racing seemed to overlook the trainer Sept. 21, allowing his sophomore filly Street Band to start at 7-1 odds in the $1,090,000 Cotillion Stakes (G1). And then Street Band went out and delivered like Jones-trained fillies tend to do, registering a 2 1/4-length upset over Guarana in a race that shared top billing with the Pennsylvania Derby (G1).
Farther behind than usual in the Cotillion, Street Band did not look like a winner early in the race, ahead of just one rival when 10th after a quarter mile. But when a fast pace unfolded in front of her—with Jaywalk and Bellafina throwing down fractions of :22.75, :46.27, and 1:11.19— the positioning provided a benefit rather than a hindrance.
With plenty in reserve under Sophie Doyle, she passed one foe down the backstretch to move into ninth and then steadily began picking off those in front of her. She advanced to sixth by the six-furlong marker, caught Guarana at the eighth pole, and pulled clear. Strongest of the 11 fillies at the wire, she completed 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:44.20.
"We knew some horses in here were coming out of some sprinter races, and they were fast and were going to keep it honest," Jones said in a television interview on TVG. "But I has hoping some of them would start backing up and give this horse the confidence needed to think, 'I'm passing horses and here I go.'"
The race provided the filly with her first grade 1 triumph. Earlier in 2019, she won the Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and Indiana Oaks (G3) with Doyle aboard. She paid $17.40.
Jones credited the rapport Doyle has with Street Band for their achievements this year. "She's got that European style and it does good, and this filly loves her," he said.
Favored Guarana, who stalked the pace in the Cotillion before taking the lead at the top of the stretch, lost for the first time in four starts in finishing a clear second. Horologist was 3 3/4 lengths back in third, and Bellafina was fourth.
Among other grade 1 winners, Kentucky Oaks winner Seregenti Empress was sixth, and Jaywalk, the champion 2-year-old filly last year, ran seventh.
The Cotillion, a "Win and You're In" Breeders' Cup prep, earned Street Band an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Nov. 2 Longines Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita Park.
She is owned by Jones and his wife, Cindy, and partners Ray Francis, Medallion Racing, and MyRaceHorse Stable. Bred in Kentucky by the Joneses and Francis, she is by Istan out of the Street Cry mare Street Minstrel, whom Jones also trained.
Street Band improved her record to 5-0-3 from 12 starts and increased her earnings to $1,106,425.