Beau Recall Earns Graded Victory in Royal Heroine
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Beau Recall flies late to score in the Royal Heroine at Santa Anita Park
In an unusual running of the $200,000 Royal Heroine Stakes (G2T) April 7, which saw favorite Enola Gray break slow, and a back-and-forth exchange of leaders, Beau Recall flew home from off the pace to score her first graded stakes victory.
Off at 2-1, Enola Grey left the gate last and went to the outside, while Madame Stripes took over on the lead in the one-mile turf race for older fillies and mares at Santa Anita Park.
Mongolian Shopper took her turn on the lead and got there just in time to set a quarter-mile fraction of :24.12, while Enola Gray moved up to third on the far outside. Enola Gray put her head in front as a half-mile went in :47.39.
With Madame Stripes still in the mix, the three battled on the lead through the turn, but in the stretch Mongolian Shopper fell back. Enola Gray and Madame Stripes fought on, as Beau Recall rounded the field to score by three-quarters of a length in a perfectly timed ride by jockey Joel Rosario.The final time for the mile was 1:34.52.
"For a second I had fallen back a bit, but she was happy where she was and I didn't want to pressure her if she didn't really want to go," Rosario said. "I was ready when she wanted to do it. She ran the way she wanted to, and really had a tremendous finish. I was waiting for her, because I wanted her to really follow the speed. By the three eighths pole I tapped her a little, worked her up a bit, and that's when she just took off really well."
At odds of 4-1 the winner paid $10.80, $5.20, and $3.20 across the board.
Thundering Sky, who rallied to get up for second in the last moments, returned $4.40 and $3.20, while Madame Stripes held onto third to pay $3.60. Enola Gray finished fourth.
Slam Dunk Racing and Medallion Racing's 4-year-old Beau Recall had been knocking on the door of a graded victory, with runner-up efforts last year in the Senorita (G3T) and Honeymoon (G2T) at Santa Anita, and in the grade 1 Del Mar Oaks Presented by The Jockey Club. She came into the Royal Heroine off a fourth place effort in the Jan. 20 Las Cienegas Stakes (G3T), her season debut.
"I was worried when they went pretty slow in front," said winning trainer Simon Callaghan. "We were hoping for some hot fractions, but she's just got such a turn of foot and a real big heart. She's small in physique, but she's such a tough filly. She deserved it. She had been running so many good races and just coming up short. She really deserved it today."
The Sir Prancealot filly began her career in her native Ireland, where she broke her maiden at Tipperary in her second start. In her North American debut Beau Recall won an optional-claiming allowance at one mile on the Santa Anita turf. The filly had not won since that start in January of 2017.