Foggy Night Rolls to 14-1 Upset in Delaware Oaks
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Photo: Hoofprints, Inc.
Foggy Night wins the Delaware Oaks at Delaware Park
Picked up for only $20,000 as a 2-year-old at the Ocala Breeders' Sale Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training, Foggy Night has earned her humble price tag tenfold with her latest victory in the July 1 Delaware Oaks (G3) at Delaware Park.
Stakes-placed as a juvenile, Foggy Night stepped back into the stakes arena following a resounding score in a first-level allowance optional claimer at Parx Racing June 5. In capturing her biggest prize yet in the $300,000 Delaware Oaks, Foggy Night also provided her owner, Pine Brook Farm, with their first-ever graded stakes winner.
Sent to post as a 14-1 outsider in the field of nine sophomore fillies, Foggy Night tucked into third position early behind opening fractions of :24.14 and :47.98. Into the run for home, the stalking Miracle , second choice on the morning line, pounced and appeared to run by the pacesetting Opus Forty Two just as Foggy Night launched her bid from the middle of the track. Sweeping by Miracle, who was re-engaged by a tenacious Opus Forty Two down the lane, Foggy Night surged clear to a 1 3/4 length triumph.
Florida-bred Foggy Night ($30.40), a daughter of Khozan , clocked the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.07 on a main track rated fast.
Opus Forty Two eked out runner-up honors by a nose over Miracle. Favored New York-shipper Fireline finished fourth.
Trained by Robert Reid Jr., Foggy Night improved her record to 4-3-0 from eight trips to the post for a bankroll of $278,550.
Video: Delaware Oaks (G3)
Sopran Basilea Takes Rail Ride to Victory
Making just her second start in North America, the Italian graded stakes winner Sopran Basilea benefited from a masterful rail-skimming ride under Jorge Ruiz to clinch the $250,000 Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3T).
Sopran Basilea takes the Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park
The 5-year-old daughter of Night Of Thunder joined trainer Graham Motion's stable this past winter after dropping the hammer for $316,225 at the 2022 Arqana Breeding Stock Sale. Unveiled by Motion in the May 20 Gallorette Stakes (G3T) on the Black-Eyed Susan undercard at Pimlico Race Course, Sopran Basilea performed admirably for her new connections, closing from the back of the pack to get up for second to Whitebeam .
Trailing the seven-horse field again early in the Dick Memorial, Ruiz kept Sopran Basilea in a snug hold as the frontrunning Ever Summer crawled through splits of :25.91, 52.21, and 1:18.12 over the rain-drenched turf course. In a daring move up the fence rounding the far turn, Sopran Basilea slipped past rivals and drove to the wire, prevailing by a neck over Ever Summer with her stablemate Parnac back in third.
Sopran Basilea ($9), running for the colors of Madaket Stables and Bill Strauss, raced the 1 3/8 miles over a soft turf course in a final time of 2:20.27.
The Dick Memorial win was the second group or graded stakes tally for Irish-bred Sopran Basilea, and boosted her earnings past the $500,000 mark.
Motion netted a record ninth win in the Robert G. Dick Memorial.