Virginia Joy Sails to Easy Victory in Sheepshead Bay

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Virginia Joy Sails to Easy Victory in Sheepshead Bay
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
Virginia Joy wins the Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park

Neither wind nor rain nor a soaked turf course could stop Virginia Joy  from delivering as an odds-on favorite as the Soldier Hollow  mare splashed to a lopsided, geared down 14 1/4-length victory in the $186,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T) May 7 at Belmont Park.

Owned by Peter Brant and trained by Chad Brown, Virginia Joy ($2.90) was ridden with supreme confidence by Trevor McCarthy, who quickly put the 5-year-old mare on the lead.


After fending off a mild bid from Lovely Lucky , Virginia Joy extended to a 1 1/2-length lead after a mile over the soggy going and then sailed home from there, extending to a 12-length lead in mid-stretch. She covered the about 1 3/8-mile distance in 2:30.88 over a course labeled yielding after day-long rain to give Brown his fifth Sheepshead Bay win.

"This might be the second sloppiest turf I've been on," McCarthy said. "I had a pretty bad day at Laurel Park once."

In her four previous races for Brown and Brant since shifting from her native Germany to the United States last year, Virginia Joy's two losses came on courses that were less than firm. Yet even if it was not the mare's preferred going, she had more than enough talent and speed to outclass her three rivals.

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"I don't think it's her truly best footing that she would love, but she was best in here. She handled it OK before and I thought she was the best horse in here and that if she handled it a little bit she would win easy."

Catherine Wills' Luck Money , a daughter of Lookin At Lucky   trained by Arnaud Delacour, was a very distant second, 6 1/2 lengths ahead of Elizabeth Mateo's Lovely Lucky, another daughter of Lookin At Lucky trained by Tom Albertrani.

A group 3 winner in Germany, Virginia joy was coming off a March 5 victory in The Very One Stakes (G3T) on firm turf at Gulfstream Park, her initial graded stakes win in the United States. A winner of five of 11 career starts, she has earned $435,557.

Bred by Gestut Auenquelle, she was bought for $1,142,388 by Oceanic Bloodstock at the 2020 Arqana Saint-Cloud Sale. She is the first of three foals by the Doyen  mare Virginia Sun and a full sister to the group 3-placed 4-year-old colt Virginia Storm . A 3-year-old full sister has yet to race.

Since the rails for the race were out by 35-feet, it was considered an "about" 1 3/8 mile distance and a course record since there was not a previous race at that extended distance. The course record for 1 3/8 miles on the inner turf under normal conditions stands at 2:10 1/5.


Entries: Sheepshead Bay S. (G2T)

Belmont Park, Saturday, May 07, 2022, Race 3

  • Grade II
  • 1 3/8m
  • Inner turf
  • $200,000
  • 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
  • 1:33 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Luck Money (KY) Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr. 118 Arnaud Delacour 5/2
2 2Mia Martina (FL)Keeneland Sales Graduate Junior Alvarado 118 H. Graham Motion 10/1
3 3Sister Otoole (FL) Javier Castellano 118 H. Graham Motion 9/2
4 4Lovely Lucky (KY) Dylan Davis 118 Thomas Albertrani 10/1
5 5Virginia Joy (GER) Trevor McCarthy 120 Chad C. Brown 3/5