Artie's Princess Holds On to Win Bessarabian
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Photo: Michael Burns
Artie's Princess (inside) wins the Bessarabian Stakes at Woodbine
Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred Artie's Princess collected her second consecutive stakes score Nov. 21 at Woodbine, holding off late-running Boardroom to take the CA$197,750 (US$151,038) Bessarabian Stakes (G2) for fillies and mares racing seven furlongs on the Tapeta.
Artie's Princess, the 5-2 favorite, scored by a head under jockey Kazushi Kimura. The 3-year-old filly now has five wins and a second in seven starts for trainer Wesley Ward, including a victory in the Sept. 12 Ruling Angel Stakes last out at the Toronto track. She crossed the wire fourth in the July 31 Coronation Cup Stakes on turf at Saratoga Race Course—her only race outside Woodbine—but was disqualified to last for interference with multiple horses. Her earnings stand at $257,366.
Jakarta showed the way early and set fractions of :22.31 and :44.41 through the first half-mile, followed by Souper Escape and Artie's Princess. The latter was up into second at the three-eighths pole before taking over in the stretch.
"Basically, if I could go to the front, I wanted to go to the front. But I knew that just the two horses wanted to go to the front, and it looked a little bit fast. That's why I was just patient, watched from behind," Kimura said. "She was just so comfortable today."
Artie's Princess opened by two lengths to run six furlongs in 1:08.63 but found herself under pressure from Boardroom, who rallied from last, in the last eighth of a mile. She held on late to narrowly reach the wire first in 1:20.90 on the fast track.
"I felt (jockey Luis Contreras and Boardroom coming), but she wasn't that tired and kept going," Kimura said of his mount. "I felt I could win."
Behind Boardroom, it was another 3 1/2 lengths back to Our Secret Agent in third. Amalfi Coast was fourth. Painting, Jakarta, and Souper Escape completed the order of finish.
From the first crop of the Ramsey runner We Miss Artie , Artie's Princess was bred in Ontario and is the second foal and winner out of the Stormy Atlantic mare Stormkeeper. The dam produced a Maclean's Music filly in 2019 and a full brother to Artie's Princess this year. She was reported bred back to We Miss Artie.
We Miss Artie's biggest victory came in the 2013 Dixiana Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland, but he also earned black type at Woodbine when taking the 2014 Plate Trial Stakes. He stood his first two seasons at stud in Ontario before moving to the Ramseys' farm in Kentucky. He was sold to William Nicks for $6,500 Wednesday at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.