Yorkiepoo Princess Scores Again at Aqueduct

Danny Chen's Yorkiepoo Princess won her third straight stakes race at Aqueduct Racetrack Feb. 25 with another a clear score in the $150,000 Busher Stakes. 

After a 2 3/4-length win in the Furlough Nov. 24 and a 7 1/2-length victory in the Ruthless Jan. 14—both at six furlongs—the Florida-bred daughter of Kantharos   had no issues handling two turns Saturday and even showed some versatility.

The Edward Barker-trained filly, unlike her forwardly placed stakes wins previously, found herself 5 1/4 lengths back in seventh after the first quarter in :23.75 set by longshot Tiz Rae Anna. Yorkiepoo Princess improved to fourth—3 1/2 lengths back—under Irad Ortiz Jr. after a half in :48.14 and continued to cut into the margin through six furlongs in 1:13.42.

Angled out wide for the stretch run by Ortiz, she passed eventual second-place finisher Full House with ease and hit the wire 1 3/4 lengths ahead to finish off the 1 1/16 miles in 1:47.60 on Aqueduct's inner track.

"I wanted to break out of there and I could see myself sitting first (or) second, not too far off (the lead)," Ortiz said. "But (Barker) told me, 'I've been working her, don't worry if she gets behind horses, because I've been working her like that.' So I was able to put my hands down, relax, save ground—everything worked out good with her. She makes the lead and she waits on horses all the time. That's just her. She handled it perfect. She did everything right."

Full House finished a clear second, 3 1/4 lengths ahead of Tiz Rae Anna in third. The win earned Yorkiepoo Princess 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

"She ran the race basically like we trained her—to rate a little bit and try to come off of the pace, and she was able to do it," Barker said. "We actually changed the training on her. I've been breezing her from the finish line seven-eighths of a mile, three-quarters of a mile so that we could take the speed away from her going into the first turn and that's exactly what happened."

Bred in Florida by A. Francis Vanlangendonck and Barbara Vanlangendonckout of the Unreal Zeal mare Kickapoo Princess, Yorkiepoo Princess now has four wins from seven starts and earnings of $244,811. Other than her stakes trifecta, her only win is a 12 1/4-length score in a mile maiden claiming race on the dirt at Belmont Park in October. She was an $8,000 purchase by Chen from Niall Brennan Stables' consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s 2016 spring sale of 2-year-olds in training.