Mean Mary Cruises to Frontrunning Win in La Prevoyante
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Zoe Metz
Mean Mary wins the La Prevoyante Stakes at Gulfstream Park
Pace can definitely make the race, even in a 1 1/2-mile turf stakes.
Allowed to get away with a clear, comfortable lead while running an opening mile in a dawdling 1:42.59 under jockey Luis Saez, Alex Campbell's homebred Mean Mary produced nothing but smiles for her connections as she cruised to a five-length victory in the $200,000 La Prevoyante Stakes Presented by Tito's Handmade Vodka (G3T) for fillies and mares.
"The plan was take the lead and slow it down," Saez said after the Jan. 25 stakes. "I looked behind at the three-eighths pole, and I felt comfortable because I had a lot of horse and I knew she would take off. She switched leads and made it look easy."
Easy, indeed, which made sense considering Mean Mary circled Gulfstream Park one and a half times in her stakes debut through fractions of :25.48, :51.60, 1:17.34, and 1:42.59 before crossing the wire in 2:28.36 on firm turf, her third win in five starts for trainer Graham Motion.
"When I saw 1:17, I felt good. I told Luis he wouldn't have to push her. He'd find himself on the lead. There wasn't much speed in the race," Motion said. "Speed helps you, especially around here. That's why I decided to roll out the dice and run her here today. You can get away with so much more here (on the front end)."
Mean Mary, a 4-year-old Scat Daddy filly out of the Dynaformer mare Karlovy Vary, came into the La Prevoyante off a head victory in a Dec. 22 allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream. She broke her maiden two starts earlier at Keeneland Oct. 12.
"She hasn't done much wrong. When she won at Keeneland, that was pretty impressive. She's becoming a pretty serious filly. It's pretty exciting," said Motion, who was uncertain of future plans for his filly.
As for the connections of the horses futilely chasing Mean Mary, who paid $7.40 on a $2 win wager, the La Prevoyante was a frustrating two and a half minutes.
Favored Lady Paname, making her first start since November 2018, moved up from fifth to take aim at the frontrunner at the quarter pole, but the 6-5 choice could not match strides with the fresh and robust leader in the stretch.
"The other horse walked around there," trainer Chad Brown said. "It was nice to get my horse back to the races."
Owned by Madaket Stables, James Covello, Kent Spellman, and Doheny Racing Stable, the 6-year-old daughter of Soldier of Fortune was 1 1/4 lengths clear of third-place Touriga, a 5-year-old Put It Back mare owned by Kiyoshi Maekawa and trained by Motion.