Live Oak Plantation’s MY TYPHOON (Ire) (Giant’s Causeway) enjoyed a perfect
set-up in Saturday’s $200,000
Ballston Spa H. (G2), carving out soft splits on an uncontested lead on her
preferred firm turf, and the classy Bill Mott trainee took full advantage to
post a wire-to-wire victory at Saratoga.
The blueblood broke alertly beneath new rider
Garrett Gomez, and when no one else was particularly eager to act as the
pacesetter, she strode to the front and posted fractions of :24 3/5, :48 4/5 and
1:12 4/5 while maintaining a comfortable 1 1/2-length advantage. Into the
stretch, My Typhoon delivered a lethal burst of speed to spurt away from the
field by three lengths, getting the mile in 1:35 3/5. The only danger was the
late closing Karen’s Caper (War Chant), but the winner had enough in reserve to
keep her at bay by three-quarters of a length at the wire. By finishing 1 1/16
miles on the inner turf in 1:41 3/5, My Typhoon added another handsome feather
to her family’s already well plumed cap.
“There was no plan to go to the lead,” Gomez said. “We didn’t see a whole lot
of speed in there, so I just took it. She’s a real nice filly. When she made the
front so easy, I wasn’t going to hold her back. From there, she did the rest.
She won pretty easily.”
Karen’s Caper had rated kindly in fourth in the early going, and once asked
for effort, the bay displayed a fine turn of foot to make the stretch run
interesting without giving the winner a real scare. It was another 1 1/2 lengths
back to Asi Siempre (El Prado [Ire]), who rallied to secure third by a neck from
6-5 favorite Sweet Talker (Stormin Fever). Sixty Rocketts (Belong to Me), Ozone
Bere (Fr) (Verglas [Ire]) and Art Fan (Lear Fan) completed the order of finish.
Stella Blue (Fr) (Anabaa), the expected pacesetter, was scratched.
As the 3-1 second choice, My Typhoon paid $8.10, $4.60 and $3.20. The 9-2
Karen’s Caper returned $5.80 and $5.40, and Asi Siempre gave back $4.10 at odds
of 5-1. The exotics were worth $52 (exacta) and $173.50 (7-3-1 trifecta).
My Typhoon improved her mark to 13-6-2-2 with a bankroll totaling $629,361.
This was her fifth career stakes success, following victories in the Mint Julep
H. (G3), Mrs. Revere S. (G2), Virginia Oaks and Hilltop Breeders’
Cup S. She has also placed in four stakes, chief among them the 2005
Garden City Breeders’ Cup S. (G1). Last time out, she didn’t relish the yielding
turf when she wound up a close fourth in the Diana H. (G1).
Bred by Sunderland Holdings in Ireland, the winner is out of 1993 French
highweight older mare Urban Sea (Miswaki), who captured that year’s edition of
the famed Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1). Urban Sea has excelled herself as a
broodmare as well, producing 2001 European champion three-year-old colt Galileo
(Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), now a promising young sire; 2002 Italian highweight
Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler’s Wells); Group 3 winner Urban Ocean (Bering [GB]), a
highweight at three in Ireland in 1999; English Group 3 winner and
classic-placed All Too Beautiful (Sadler’s Wells); and English stakes winner and
dual classic-placed Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra). She has an unraced juvenile filly
named Cherry Hinton (Green Desert). Urban Sea is a half-sister to King’s Best (Kingmambo),
winner of the English Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) in 2000.