Ekati's Phaeton Wins First Stakes in Old Hat
Image:
Description:
By Jerry Bossert
Ekati's Phaeton wouldn't be denied in her bid for a first stakes victory, holding off R Sassy Lass through the stretch to take the $100,000 Old Hat (gr. III) at Gulfstream Park by a half length Jan. 3 .
It was the third win from five career starts for owner Phaedrus Flights' 3-year-old filly and also provided her sire, Tale of Ekati , with his first stakes score.
"I'm just thrilled with her," said winning trainer Bill Kaplan. "She's such a class act to train. She's a super filly with a lot of talent."
Fashion Alert, sent off as the 2-5 choice in the seven-horse field of sophomore fillies, broke inward at the break and had to check in the early stages before lasting to be third, 6 1/4 lengths behind runner-up R Sassy Lass.
Longshot Concealedwithakiss broke on top in the six-furlong contest with Ekati's Phaeton, ridden for the first time by Luis Saez, pressing in second through an opening quarter-mile in :22.72. Fashion Alert squeezed between the top two on the far turn and the three raced together covering the half-mile in :45.09.
Ekati's Phaeton began to edge away from her rivals but was quickly joined at the top of the stretch by R Sassy Lass, who made her bid from fourth behind the battling leaders. Those two slugged it out through the lane with Ekati's Phaeton digging in to prevail by a half length under a vigorous drive by Saez.
"I left it up to Luis," Kaplan said. "I told him there was speed in the race and he said he was going to go with what the break is. I said you just do whatever you want to do. She broke good and then the favorite (Fashion Alert) got stuck in between. He let the favorite come inside of him and I was a little upset at the time, but I think we maybe intimidated that horse out of there, so maybe it was a good factor."
In her previous start, Ekati's Phaeton was caught late in the House Party Stakes at Gulfstream Park West (Calder Race Course) Nov. 29, settling for second best in her first defeat on the dirt.
Ekati's Phaeton was a $50,000 purchase by her owners at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. 2013 August yearling sale. She was bred in Kentucky by Haymarket Farm and Machmer Hall out of the dam Seventh Veil, by Capote.
She is undefeated in three tries over Gulfstream's main track, scoring in the first two starts of her career when breaking her maiden Aug. 9 before taking an allowance heat Sept. 7.
"She's a game mare and she's got a tremendous amount of talent," Kaplan said. "You haven't seen her speed yet. She's really got some speed. It's fantastic for this owner and this filly. She's going to be special. She's got all the tools and you see she's a real stout, big filly. She's got the mind and she's got the talent, and she's got the soundness. What else can you use?"
Ekati's Phaeton returned $17.20 to win, $7.20 to place, and $3.20 to show, while timed in 1:10.05 over Gulfstream's main track that was labeled fast.
"We had a perfect trip," Saez said. "My filly broke good. It looked like she could have taken the lead, but I didn't want to do that. I saw a replay of her last race and she looked like she waited for horses. Today, I wanted to come from behind. When we came to the stretch, I had to let her run. When she saw (R Sassy Lass) passing her, she started running again."
R Sassy Lass returned $8 to place and $3.40 to show, while Fashion Alert returned $2.10 to show.
Second-choice Temper Mint Patty finished fourth and was followed out by Jamie's Dancer, Concealedwithakiss, and Slava. Little Miss Julia scratched.