Blamed Leads All the Way in Aqueduct's Comely Stakes
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher
Blamed wins the Comely Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack
Cleber Massey's Blamed ran to her 6-5 odds Nov. 23 in the $200,000 Comely Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack, where she led the field through easy fractions, pulled away in the stretch, and won by three-quarters of a length.
The 3-year-old daughter of Blame trained by Bill Mott bumped her record to six wins in eight starts, with a runner-up finish in her debut and another in the Oct. 20 Lexus Raven Run Stakes (G2) at Keeneland in her most recent effort her only losses.
The 1 1/8-mile Comely drew a field of eight 3-year-old fillies, including the Brad Cox trained Remedy, who finished a fast-closing second after a poor start.
Blamed shot out of the gate and straight for the lead. She took the field through six furlongs in splits of :24.96, :49.01, and 1:13.14, while pressed on her outside by Alberobello. Remedy was not as lucky at the break, lost her footing, and was second to last early, about 10 lengths behind the leader.
At the top of the turn Split Time, who had rated in third, made a move for the lead, while Remedy managed to move into fourth and then third as Alberobello dropped back. As Split Time reached the leader's flank, jockey Julien Leparoux asked Blamed for more and the filly easily opened a 4 1/2-length lead. Remedy was full of run, however, and cut into that lead in the final furlong.
"She's fast—naturally fast. She broke fast," Leparoux said. "We could have slowed down a little bit, but she was very comfortable, and she did it very nicely. She was going easy the whole way, and when I asked her, she really kicked in very nice for me. I think we had a little bit more left in the tank at the wire, so that's nice."
The winner finished the distance in a final time of 1:51.98 over a fast track. Indy Union got up for third, another 10 lengths behind Remedy,. Blamed paid $4.40, $3, and $2.40 across the board.
"We looked around the country for 3-year-old races that were left for her, and this was one of the only options we had," Mott said. "Of course I think it will tell us something about her going forward into next year. It will give us an indication of what her possibilities might be."
Bred by Sagamore Farm in Maryland, Blamed is out of the Giant's Causeway mare Salsa Star.
Video: Comely S. (G3)
Two races prior to the Comely, Bal Harbour finished 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Life's a Parlay in the $150,000 Gio Ponti Stakes. With the 1 1/16-mile race moved off the turf and changed to one mile over the main track, the field was scratched down to three starters. Roaming Union finished 4 3/4 lengths behind the runner-up.
"It seems like the freshening and castrating have made a big difference," trainer Todd Pletcher said of his charge, Bal Harbour. "His two starts since then have been very impressive. I thought today's race—even though it was a short field and the track has been pretty slow—for them to run 1:37.21 off of pretty moderate fractions was a strong effort."
Video: Gio Ponti S. (BT)
In the $100,000 Key Cents Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, Sassy Agnes added a third straight stakes victory to her résumé. The Central Banker filly trained by Linda Rice led throughout, set fractions of :21.98 and :45.39 through a half-mile, and completed the six furlongs in 1:11.79.
Video: Key Cents S. (BT)
In the last stakes of the day, 5-year-old Bombshell put it all together to win the $150,000 Forever Together Stakes, earning her first black-type win for trainer Arnaud Delacour and Team Valor International.
The Forever Together for fillies and mares was originally slated as a 1 1/16-mile race on the outer turf, but was moved to one mile on the main track.