La Crete Re-Rallies to Silverbulletday Triumph
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Amanda Hodges Weir
La Crete (inside) outduels Fannie and Freddie to win the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course
Stonestreet Thoroughbreds' homebred La Crete continued to live up to her lofty pedigree with a gallant victory in the Jan. 22 $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
The 3-year-old Medaglia d'Oro filly out of grade 1 winner Cavorting entered the six-horse Silverbulletday off a sparkling debut effort Nov. 20 for trainer Steve Asmussen at Churchill Downs, in which she galloped home a geared-down winner of a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight. While La Crete hails from the same barn as the brilliant Echo Zulu , the likely 2-year-old filly champion and favorite for the 2022 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), she earned her first 10 points towards her own slot in the Oaks starting gate with her Silverbulletday performance.
La Crete broke on top under Joel Rosario Saturday and cleared the field in the opening strides, racing comfortably on a loose rein through a first quarter in :24.50 and half-mile in :48.79. At the half-mile pole, the stalking Fannie and Freddie , runner-up in the Dec. 26 Untapable Stakes last time out, inched up to La Crete's outside and applied pressure on the leader as they turned for home. With the nearest rival four lengths behind the top at the top of the stretch after six furlongs in 1:13.47, La Crete and Fannie and Freddie dueled to the wire, with the latter gaining the advantage halfway down the lane before La Crete re-rallied gamely in the final sixteenth, besting her foe by a length at the wire.
"It was all up to her, she's a special horse," said Rosario after the race. "It was unbelievable, it looked like the outside horse was going to beat me, but then she came back."
Sent off as the even-money favorite in the Silverbulletday, La Crete ($4.20) was timed in 1:43.93 for the 1 1/16-miles on a fast track. Fannie and Freddie finished 2 1/2-lengths ahead of Bernabreezy in third.
The Feb. 19 Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2), won last year by La Crete's half sister Clairiere (Curlin ), would be the logical next step for La Crete, but Asmussen assistant Scott Blasi indicated there wasn't a specific target picked out yet with Echo Zulu also in the barn.
"We're going to let Echo Zulu do her thing and let this filly continue to develop," said Blasi. "It was a big step forward here today. We're very proud of her."
La Crete is the second stakes winner produced by Cavorting, a daughter of Bernardini. The aforementioned Clairiere, also campaigned by Stonestreet and trained by Asmussen, was a prominent contender last season in the sophomore filly division, capturing the Cotillion Stakes (G1) in addition to placing in the Alabama Stakes (G1) and Mother Goose Stakes (G1). Cavorting has an unraced 2-year-old full brother to Clairiere named Judge Miller and was bred to Into Mischief for 2022.