Valadorna an Easy Winner in Tiffany Lass

Stonestreet Stables' homebred Valadorna coasted home an easy winner in the $50,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots Dec. 26. The win was the first stakes victory for the 3-year-old daughter of Curlin , who is grade 1-placed. 

In Tuesday's one-mile, 70-yard event for fillies and mares, Valadorna and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. stalked the pace set by Sky Flower while racing three-wide before they made their move. As Sky Flower took the field of 11 through fractions of :24.47, :48.50, and 1:12.95 for six furlongs, Valadorna raced in third for the first quarter and then inched forward to second as Promise of Spring moved up to third.

Challenging Sky Flower around the second turn, Valadorna came four-wide into the stretch and drew away from her competition to a 3 1/2-length victory. The Mark Casse trainee completed the distance in 1:42.11 on a fast main track.

Sky Flower held for second, with Promise of Spring 1 1/4 lengths back in third. Champagne Problems finished fourth and Mannerly rounded out the top five. Mannerly defeated Valadorna in a Churchill Downs allowance race Nov. 1, which was Valadorna's first race in eight months.

"I was fortunate enough to be on the best horse," Hernandez said. "She proved it for us the whole way around. I just kind of sat up there and she made our job easy and made us look good. That day (Nov. 1) she hadn't run in so long and (Mannerly) had a few of races under her belt. Coming off of that race, it just improved her. (Assistant trainer) David (Carroll) and the team have done just such a good job with her that she keeps getting better and better."

The winner returned $4.80, $3.80, and $3.20 across the board.

"She ran an awesome race," said Casse's assistant, Allen Hardy. "She had been training real well leading up to the race, and Brian did a great job and found a great spot. She's a good racehorse."

After closing out 2016 with a runner-up effort to Champagne Room in the 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Valadorna won an optional-claiming allowance at Fair Grounds in January and then finished third in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) in February. Not seen again until November, she then ran second to Mannerly and won last time out at Fair Grounds Dec. 8. 

Bred in Kentucky, out of the unraced Yes It's True mare Goldfield, Valadorna now has a record of 4-3-1, with earnings of $498,920.