Back to the winner’s circle for Immersive (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Churchill Downs Press Release
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Godolphin’s champion homebred Immersive returned to the winner’s circle Saturday with a hard-fought, comeback victory in Saturday’s fifth running of the $173,700 Seneca Overnight Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs. She defeated Ivory and Ebony by two lengths.
Ridden by Florent Geroux and trained by Brad Cox, Immersive ran 1 1/16 miles over a fast track in 1:42.64 to collect her first win of the year in three starts. The $107,200 winner’s share increased Immersive’s earnings to $1,729,900 with an overall record of 5-2-0 in seven starts.
Immersive, the winner of last year’s Spinaway (Grade I), Alcibiades (GI) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI), dictated the terms and led the field of five through unpressured and comfortable early splits of :24.10, :48.16 and 1:12.32 with graded stakes-placed Liam in the Dust, on the outside, and recent Saratoga maiden winner Ivory and Ebony, along the rail, chasing the leader.
Leaving the final turn, Ivory and Ebony rushed to challenge the leader through an opening along the inside and briefly poked her head in front. Immersive and Ivory and Ebony raced shoulder-to-shoulder in upper stretch before the class of Immersive prevailed and she inched away with a furlong to the finish.
“She broke well and traveled well into the first turn,” Geroux said. “Around the far turn she got some pressure but she never felt like she wanted to stop running. I just let (Ivory and Ebony) make her move and was patient. My filly dug in and ran hard in the stretch.”
Immersive, who finished second in the Monomoy Girl and Coaching Club American Oaks (GI) in her previous two starts this year, paid $3.22, $2.28 and $2.10 as the heavy 3-5 betting choice. Ivory and Ebony, ridden by Jose Ortiz at odds of 7-2, returned $3.50 and $2.40. It was another 4 ¼ lengths back to Quickick in third under Brian Hernandez Jr., who paid $2.64 to show at 6-1.
Liam in the Dust and Flash Wear completed the order of finish. Decadent and Next Up were scratched.
Immersive was bred in Kentucky. She is a daughter of Nyquist out of the Bernardini mare Gap Year.
“We’re really proud how she was able to bounce back today,” Cox said. “She ran fine in her first two starts off the layoff but today she was able to put it all together. I think it proved she’s ready to go graded stakes company.”
The race honors Seneca Park, which was the last park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm in Louisville. The park resides in the Louisville neighborhood of Seneca Gardens. It is part of the Cherokee-Seneca neighborhood, which is bounded by I-64 and other hilly neighborhoods.
