Lady Shipman Easy Winner in Belmont Return
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Lady Shipman wins the License Fee Stakes at Belmont Park May 1.
Ranlo Investments' Lady Shipman bounced back strongly from her trip to Dubai with an impressive victory in the License Fee Stakes May 1 at Belmont Park.
The 4-year-old Midshipman filly, bred in Kentucky by Randall Lowe, made short work of three other challengers in the six-furlong stakes for fillies and mares. Under Irad Ortiz Jr., she broke from the outside post, dueled with Shrinking Violet for more than a half-mile, and pulled away to win comfortably in a quick 1:07.49 on a turf course rated good.
The fractions for the License Fee were :22.14 for a quarter-mile and :44.37 for a half-mile. Lady Shipman pulled away to win by 2 3/4 lengths over Zindaya, who was last of four early. Shrinking Violet was third and Vicki's Dancer fourth. Lady Shipman paid $3.10 to win as the heavy favorite.
"She was training great up to this race and ran great," said Joe Lee, assistant to rrainer Kiaran McLaughlin. "You never know how much a trip like that, shipping there (Dubai) and back, will impact a horse. But Kiaran's program had her settled and we worked her when she ready. She was a complete pro in the paddock and was so calm and cool.
"Irad rode her perfectly. Her rider knows her really well and he had an idea of what he wanted to do and how fast he was going."
Lady Shipman, now 10-for-15 lifetime, finished seventh of 13 in the Al Quoz Sprint (UAE-I) on grass March 26 for McLaughlin, who took over training of the filly for 2016. Under trainer Kathleen O'Connell, Lady Shipman established herself as one of the top filly or mare sprinters in the United States, and in her final start for O'Connell finished second, beaten a neck by Mongolian Saturday, in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) last year.