Daisy Flyer battles Classic Q (#5, neck) and Reining Flowers (#1, nose) for the victory. (Susie Raisher)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Calumet Farm’s Kentucky homebred Daisy Flyer closed from deep to nail pacesetting favorite Classic Q in the final jumps and win Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Lake George presented by Surfside, a 1 1/16-mile inner turf test for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Rusty Arnold, the Mshawish bay entered from a similar late rush when closing from last-of-9 to finish a neck third at odds of 87-1 in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride on March 1 at Gulfstream Park. This time, with not as much ground to make up late, the Jose Lezcano-piloted Daisy Flyer arrived in the nick of time to post the neck win.
“I was trying to get her up to be second and all at once she made that little late spurt, and it all worked out,” Arnold said over the phone. “She’s a filly we obviously liked to bring her back from March 1 to now and run in a graded stake, but she had trained the right way and backed it up.”
Classic Q, the 7-5 betting choice under Jose Ortiz, was intent to make the lead passing the wire for the first time, overtaking the sharp-starting Lavender Disaster, to show the way into the first turn through an opening quarter-mile in 23.13 seconds over the firm footing.
Classic Q, last-out winner of the local Listed Wild Applause in frontrunning fashion, led the charge down the backstretch through a half-mile in 46.55, with Good Long Cry and Lavender Disaster tracking and a long gap back to Daisy Flyer in fifth.
Classic Q was still going strong though the turn after three-quarters in 1:10.02, opening up by two lengths at the stretch call. Lavender Disaster chased in vain as Daisy Flyer tipped out for her run and the Hall of Famer John Velazquez-piloted Reining Flowers took the inside route. The closers surged past Lavender Disaster with ease, with Reining Flowers clinging to the fence, but Daisy Flyer was traveling best of all and got up in time to notch the narrow win in a final time of 1:40.19. Classic Q nosed out Reining Flowers for place honors with Lavender Disaster another 1 3/4-lengths back in fourth.
“He [Lezcano] rode her out of the gate a little bit to get her in a decent spot because in Florida, when she almost won, she came up a neck short and had to pass them all,” Arnold said. “Jose knew the plan was to sit back and hope there was enough speed in it. We knew she’d be closing, and he got her closer than I thought she’d be. They [Reining Flowers] were both coming together and us being outside probably helped a little bit – we got lucky today.”
Aterradora, Good Long Cry and Pookie rounded out the order of finish. Pretty Lavish, who was off-the-board in the Grade 3 Ontario Colleen today at Woodbine, Princess Attitude, Play With Fire and main-track only entrant Kay Cup were scratched.
Aterradora was pulled up in the gallop out and provided a ride back in the equine ambulance and subsequently transported to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital for further evaluation.
Lezcano was aboard Daisy Flyer for the first time in the afternoon but had worked the filly several times building up to the Lake George.
“My filly broke pretty good,” Lezcano said. “She does not have much speed early on. I kind of kept her in a place I wanted to be, and she is a very nice filly and when I asked her, she go on and won the race.”
Ortiz, aboard the dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse-trained Classic Q, said the extra sixteenth of a mile may have hampered his filly.
“She was a little antsy but that’s her. We can’t take that [speed] from her, it’s her weapon,” Ortiz said. “I like to ride speed horses that way, just let her be. She ran good, beautifully, just got beat. I think the second quarter, from the six pole to the half-a-mile, she didn’t settle quite well like I wanted her. I think if she switched leads and took a deep breath, she could have got there.”
Arnold said Daisy Flyer will now take her show on the road to Kentucky Downs where she graduated at second asking in September.
“She’ll be going farther. Her next start is in the Dueling Grounds Oaks [September 10] at Kentucky Downs going a mile and five-sixteenths,” Arnold said. “We had to get her eligible for it – it’s an invitational and I don’t think she’d quite done enough and now she has.”
Daisy Flyer, out of the dual Grade 3-winning Galileo mare Starstruck, banked $96,250 in victory while improving her record to 5-2-0-1. She returned $16.40 for a $2 win bet.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls in Race 7. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
