In a spirited stretch run, Melnyk Racing Stables’ POOL LAND (Silver Deputy)
prevailed by a length over Josh’s Madelyn (Quiet American) in Friday’s $200,000
Allaire duPont Breeders’ Cup Distaff H. (G3) at Pimlico. Sent off as the 3-2
favorite, the Todd Pletcher trainee set a new stakes record of 1:42 3/5 for the
1 1/16-mile contest on a fast track.
With Garrett Gomez aboard, Pool Land stalked in second through the early
going, a comfortable two lengths behind the leading Princess Pelona (El Prado
[Ire]) through splits of :23 4/5 and :47 4/5. Josh’s Madelyn made an early move,
rushing up from eighth to range alongside Pool Land on the far turn. Gomez then
gunned Pool Land to the front by a head over Josh’s Madelyn through six furlongs
in 1:11 4/5 as the early pacesetter backpedaled.
Into the stretch, Pool Land
kicked clear of her rival by 1 1/2 lengths, getting a mile in 1:36 1/5, but
Josh’s Madelyn would not be shaken off and resolutely pressed on, narrowing the
gap. Pool Land kept finding more under pressure to keep her victory safe, while
the ultra-game Josh’s Madelyn was 3 1/4 lengths clear of the third-place
finisher In the Gold (Golden Missile). It was another 3 1/4 lengths back to Friel’s for Real (Sword Dance [Ire]) in fourth.
“I thought she would rate,” Pletcher said, referring to the fact that his
filly either set, or aggressively pressed, the pace in her four previous
victories. “She has done everything right her whole life. We thought she was
capable of picking up a graded win.”
Pool Land returned $5, $2.80 and $2.40. The nearly 5-1 Josh’s Madelyn gave
back $4.40 and $3.60, rounding out the $24.20 exacta. In the Gold yielded $4.20
at odds of nearly 9-1, ending the $117.40 trifecta. With the 5-1 Friel’s for
Real in fourth, the 8-9-3-1 superfecta ($1) was worth $154.10.
Promenade Girl (Carson City) was fifth, followed by Dance Fee (Menifee),
Princess Pelona, Silmaril (Diamond) and Plata (Skip Away).
Bred by Kings Way Farm and Windfield Farm in Kentucky, the winner was sold to
her current owner for $475,000 as a yearling at the 2003 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga
sale. The four-year-old chestnut is the second registered foal from the unraced
Slew City Slicker (Slew City Slew), who has also produced an unnamed yearling
filly by Grand Slam. Slew City Slicker is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1
queen Very Subtle (Hoist the Silver), who captured the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Sprint
(G1).
With this first graded stakes success, Pool Land improved her scorecard to
6-5-0-0 with $276,976 in earnings. The only blemish on her record came in her
previous graded stakes attempt in the Shirley Jones Breeders’ Cup H. (G2), when
she was sixth after breaking slowly. Most recently a 12-length winner of
Keeneland’s Doubledogdare S., Pool Land notched her first stakes win in the
Summer Colony S. at Aqueduct in January. Ironically, Summer Colony (Summer
Squall) had held the
previous stakes mark in this race, 1:42 4/5, established in 2002 when it was run
as the Pimlico Breeders’ Cup Distaff H. (G3).