LIFE AT TEN (Malibu Moon) learned a valuable lesson from her last race, the
Personal Ensign S. (G1), after dueling throughout that 10-furlong Saratoga test
and fading in the stretch to be a distant third.
The Candy DeBartolo colorbearer settled into a stalking third in Saturday’s
$343,000
Beldame S. (G1) as Queen Martha (Rahy) did all the running on the front end,
rallied on the outside and prevailed on the wire by two lengths under jockey
John Velazquez. The Todd Pletcher trainee was the 7-5 second choice in the
five-distaffer field and paid $4.90, $2.90 and $2.10 for finishing up 1 1/8
fast-track miles in 1:49 1/5.
“Our filly was training better leading into this race and she really likes
Belmont,” Pletcher said. “She ran OK at Saratoga a couple of times, but I don’t
think that is her favorite surface. We made a tactical decision in her last race
and it kind of backfired. So this time we had a better plan in letting her fall
into a rhythm and hoped that the other two fillies would show some initiative
and it worked out well.”
“It worked out perfectly,” Velazquez agreed. “She broke well and got us in a
good position. When we passed the half-mile pole I put her in the clear and let
her get to that cruising speed that she has. She started going at a good,
comfortable speed and she was going well and I was just hoping that when I asked
her, she’d respond and she responded all the way.”
Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled’s Song), the 6-5 favorite, was easily best of the
rest, finishing 6 3/4 lengths in front of Personal Ensign winner Persistently
(Smoke Glacken). The Ogden Phipps H. (G1) and Ruffian Invitational H. (G1)
second completed a hat trick of Grade 1 runner-up finishes in this one, giving
back $2.50 and $2.10 while ending the $10 exacta. Persistently put in her run
after loping along in last, but was no match for the top two while easily
overtaking Queen Martha for third. The lightly-raced four-year-old was worth
$2.20 as the 5-2 third pick and finished the $14 trifecta.
Queen Martha set splits of :23 3/5, :47 4/5 and 1:12 1/5 but couldn’t
withstand the onslaught of the top three. She was followed under the wire by
Miss Match (Arg) (Indygo Shiner). Bonnie Blue Flag (Mineshaft) was scratched.
With this second Grade 1 win now under her girth, Pletcher is looking ahead
to Life at Ten’s next race.
“Hopefully we will be heading to Louisville (Kentucky for the November 5
Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic [G1]) if everything goes well,” he said.
Despite making all but one of her 2010 starts on the East Coast, Life at Ten
spent her first five races competing on the synthetics in California and
Kentucky, racking up a 5-1-3-1 mark on the all-weather surfaces. She posted a
pair of allowance runner-up efforts sprinting at Saratoga last season, then
suffered her only off-the-board placing to date when trying the turf at Belmont
Park. Upon her return to the main track, the chestnut racked up six straight
wins, starting with in an allowance and the Snit S. at Aqueduct to close out her
four-year-old campaign.
Life at Ten opened the year with a win in the Rare Treat S., then made her
graded bow in the Sixty Sails S. (G3) on April 17, posting a one-length score on
that day. Pletcher decided to give the five-year-old a shot in the Ogden Phipps
and that move paid dividends as she ran away to a 2 3/4-length victory. She
followed up with another easy win, this time in the Delaware H. (G2), but was
unable to sustain her momentum after dueling with recently retired Horse of the
Year Rachel Alexandra in the Personal Ensign last out.
The winner’s share from this one pushes Life at Ten’s earnings past the
million mark to $1,149,267, and she improved her career mark to 16-8-5-2.
Bred in Kentucky by Nickelback Farm, Life at Ten sold for $35,000 as a
Keeneland September yearling. She is out of the winning Rahrahsixboombah (Rahy)
and comes from the same female line as multiple Grade 2 winners Chimes Band
(Dixieland Band) and Freefourinternet (Tabasco Cat). A little farther back, Life
at Ten is related to noted sires Relaunch (In Reality) and Glitterman (Dewan).