Harmonize Prevails in a Tight Glens Falls Finish

More than a year since winning her last graded stakes, 7-2 second-choice Harmonize prevailed by an extended head bob over Grateful to take the $200,000 Glens Falls Stakes (G3T) Sept. 2 at Saratoga Race Course. 

Larkin Armstrong's 4-year-old daughter of the late Scat Daddy got a patient ride from Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who kept Harmonize within striking distance of the pacesetting Grateful. Grateful, a 3-year-old filly by Hard Spun  and owned by brothers Gerald and Ron Frankel, took to the lead early and led the field through opening fractions of :25.53, :51.13, and 1:16.83. Argentina-bred Estrechada tracked Grateful thorough much of the 1 3/8-mile contest.

Harmonize didn't engage Grateful until the top of the stretch when it became a two-horse race. They each gained and lost the lead with every stride until right before the wire when Harmonize gained the advantage on the head bob as she eased ahead. She stopped the timer in 2:15.59 officially a neck in front of Grateful over a course rated firm.

"She's been lacking a little closing turn-of-foot; we just thought she's been grinding a little bit more than she has in the past," said Harmonize's Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. "I started her at a mile and she closed but not with enough energy, I guess. Lady Eli outclassed her in the (grade 1) Diana and we had an option to go to California but I thought let's try the mile and three(-eighths) and we'll get firm ground. We stayed at home and it worked out for her."

Mott said he was not pleased with her wide trip and concerned about her position early on.

"You hate to be three turns and be three-wide. Everybody in the race probably ran less ground than she did. I'm glad she wasn't three-and-a-half wide or she wouldn't have won by that nose. I have to say, Johnny Velazquez is tough in a photo. He beat me in a photo last week and then he won a photo for us. When it comes down to the inches, he's tough."

Manny Franco, who was aboard Grateful, and trainer Todd Pletcher both said their filly ran the trip they expected.

"I wanted to wait in front and that's what we did. He (John Velazquez) just nailed me at the wire," Franco said. 

Bred in Kentucky by Jack Swain III, Harmonize came into the Glens Falls off two fourth-place finishes in grade 1 company against the likes of Lady Eli, Antonoe, Dickinson, and Roca Rojo. She had not placed in a graded stakes since last year's Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2T) Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs. Harmonize had not won a graded stakes since the Del Mar Oaks Presented by The Jockey Club (G1T) in August of 2016.

She has now improved her record to five wins and five additional placings out of 16 starts. The first and only stakes winner out of Mesa Fresca has earned $827,860 to date.

Harmonize paid $9.40, $4.70, and $3.20. Grateful paid $7.20 and $4.10, while War Flag who finished third paid $3.20. The $1 exacta paid $39.75, and the $1 trifecta paid $173.74.