Getmotherarose Makes the Grade in Honey Fox

Getmotherarose lived up to her connections' expectations Feb. 29 at Gulfstream Park, scoring a come-from-behind victory in the $150,000 Honey Fox Stakes (G3T) over one mile on the turf.

"We thought the filly was coming into the race about as good as we've ever had her," trainer Tom Bush said.

The 4-year-old daughter of Get Stormy  broke last in Saturday's test, jostled by Miss Munnings and Conquest Hardcandy as the field left the gate. Under the steady hand of Junior Alvarado, the filly was able to right herself quickly and settled near the back of the pack in eighth. 

Silver Kitten and jockey Flavien Prat took command at the start, leading the field through fractions of :23.07, :46.79, and 1:11.58 for six furlongs. Valedictorian tracked the pace in second and slowly chipped away at Silver Kitten's lead.

Negotiating her way through traffic on the backstretch, Getmotherarose gained ground and was up in fifth by the six-furlong mark. Once a path opened up, Alvarado angled his mount out into the three path and the pair made their run at the leader coming off the turn. Valedictorian came within a head of Silver Kitten at the top of the stretch before weakening and dropping back, allowing Getmotherarose a clear chance to catch Silver Kitten.

Getmotherarose seized the opportunity on the outside and kicked home. Silver Kitten could not turn back her competition and faded to second as Getmotherarose crossed the wire 1 1/2 lengths clear. The final time for the Honey Fox was 1:34.73 on turf rated firm.

"I had a dream trip the entire way around," said Alvarado. "Every time I wanted to get a good spot she was there for me. By the three-eighths pole I knew we were going to be fine and as soon as we turned for home, I found a clear spot, put her outside and she gave me a hell of a trip."

Silver Kitten took second followed by Sister Hanan in third. Getmotherarose returned $24.80, $11.20, and $10.80 on a $2 wager. 

Racing for the Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust, Getmotherarose entered the Honey Fox off a fourth-placed effort in the listed South Beach Stakes Jan. 25 at Gulfstream. The filly broke her maiden in June of 2019 at Belmont Park and claimed three additional victories in allowance company throughout her sophomore season. 

"She hadn't run in a couple of month when she ran in the South Beach," Bush said. "She had a pretty wide trip in that race and she probably did get a little tired. The race probably helped her and she's really thrived the last month. We were real confident she would run well, but she got a great trip from Junior Alvarado and it paid off. We wanted to get to where we thought she could run a little further than we were running her as a nice filly. Now that we see that she's stretching out nicely, we'll have to sit down and figure things out."

Getmotherarose was bred in Kentucky by Mary Sullivan out of the Cherokee Run mare Run Rosie. In April of 2019, the mare foaled a full sister to Getmotherarose named Get By. Getmotherarose improved her record to 5-2-2- from 14 starts with earnings of $276,623. 

Elizabeth Way Upsets The Very One with Gate-To-Wire Score

While the $150,000 The Very One Stakes (G3T) may have been only the second stateside start for John McCormack's Elizabeth Way, the 4-year-old Frankel filly looked every bit the seasoned professional when she wired the field to score by 1 1/4 lengths under Paco Lopez.

Despite a bumpy start from the break that saw her make contact with Empressof the Nile, Elizabeth Way took quick control of the 12-horse field in Saturday's 1 3/16-mile turf test for older fillies and mares. Breaking from post 9, Lopez quickly guided Elizabeth Way toward the rail for an inside trip. The pair were up by a half-length as the first quarter-mile went in :23.76. 

Elizabeth Way's lead was briefly threatened at the half-mile point when English Affair and Julien Leparoux came within a head of the front runner. Despite her efforts, English Affair was unable to maintain her stalking position for long and was pushed out by Romantic Pursuit who moved up to issue a challenge of her own as they reached the top of the stretch in 1:13.45. 

With Romantic Pursuit hot on her heels, Elizabeth Way picked up the pace from her position just off the rail and threw all of her effort into the drive home. Romantic Pursuit proved less of a threat than originally thought and Elizabeth Way was able to sail clear across the wire in a final time of 1:54.26. Romantic Pursuit took second followed by La Signare in third. 

"The last time I rode this filly I had to ride her very hard and ended up towards the back of the field," said Lopez, who was aboard Elizabeth Way for her first win in a Jan. 19 maiden special weight at Gulfstream. "Today she broke very sharp and wanted to make the lead. I was waiting for someone to make the lead, but I didn't see anyone. I thought we were going pretty slow, but then I saw the time—:23—which for me is a little fast, but she wanted to make the lead and made it look easy. I know in the second and third quarter I went pretty slow. I'm very comfortable with her and she did great today."

Bred in Ireland by Godolphin, Elizabeth Way made her first five starts in Europe for her breeder and previous trainer Michael Halford. With no victories to her name, the filly was entered by Godolphin to the 2019 Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale where she was purchased by John McCormack Bloodstock for $64,220.

"The plan was to just let her run her race; it was as simple as that," said trainer Roger Attfield who took over the filly's conditioning when she was transferred to the United States. "The gentleman that owns the horse (McCormack) was really keen to do this and I still think that she's going to be better as she goes farther. When she popped out of there, we were just hoping that maybe she could get some black type. She's been training super well the last 10 days, so it didn't really surprise me that she'd run really well, but I didn't think she'd do it all the way on the lead."

Elizabeth Way is a daughter of the Giant's Causeway mare Maids Causeway, a multiple stakes winner in Europe who took the Coronation Stakes (G1) at York at 3. From five foals out of Maids Causeway to race, Elizabeth Way is the mare's only stakes winner and holds a 2-2-0 record from seven starts and $118,039 in earnings. 

Video: Honey Fox S. (G3T)

Video: The Very One S. (G3T)