Deep Satin up in time to be victorious in the first division of the De La Rose (Susie Raisher)
Mary Eddy/NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – John D. Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock Services’ Deep Satin arrived in time to capture the first of two divisions of the Listed $135,000 De La Rose, a one-mile inner turf route restricted to older fillies and mares who have not won a graded stake in 2024-25, on Thursday’s Opening Day card at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Cherie DeVaux, the 4-year-old daughter of American Pharoah rebounded from a last-out fifth in the Grade 3 Mint Julep on June 1 at Churchill Downs as the post-time favorite, and adds to previous stakes success when dead-heating with Style Points to win the Listed Virginia Oaks last year at Colonial Downs.
The first division of the De La Rose marked the first stakes of the 40-day Saratoga meet, and DeVaux said the win was a good way to get things started.
“It is definitely a big relief when you can just get a win, so you don’t feel like that’s the pressure,” DeVaux said. “It is a sense of relief, she is a well-meant filly, so it is nice to see that she put in a nice run there, and kind of ran to the way we were hoping she would.”
Ridden to victory by regular pilot Jose Ortiz, Deep Satin exited post 3-of-7 and was coaxed between rivals into third as the pair of Edict and In Our Time took off from the rest of the field before Edict was alone on the lead through the opening quarter-mile in 24.33 seconds over the firm footing.
Deep Satin was under a snug hold as she tracked in third down the backstretch with Way to Be Marie on her outside flank through the half-mile in 49.30 before In Our Time was asked to challenge Edict for command entering the far turn.
“She broke good, was following the speed just like I wanted to,” Ortiz said. “I thought the pace could have been a little hot but the other horse didn’t go – the outside horse [In Our Time]. I was in a good spot from the three-eighths pole and everybody started to pick it up and I was able to just go outside of them.”
Ortiz shook the reins while angling out a path heading into the stretch to try and keep up with the top pair as they attempted to sprint clear with Les Reys unleashing her bid along the inside. The field bunched up passing the eighth pole and it appeared to be anybody’s race as Edict was finally passed by In Our Time and a host of pursuers were finding their best stride from the rear of the field.
Heredia made a late surge to the outside of Deep Satin while In Our Time refused to retreat from the lead, but Deep Satin was rolling down the center of the course and nailed the leader by a neck in a final time of 1:35.49.
“She gave me a good turn-of-foot and it was a very clean trip, saved ground on both turns – she was pretty good,” Ortiz added.
In Our Time was a neck better than Heredia with Les Reys rounding out the superfecta. Way to Be Marie, Edict and Alluring Angel completed the order of finish, while On Command and main track-only entrants Weigh the Risks and Maggy’s Palace were scratched.
DeVaux said the race went exactly how Ortiz had envisioned.
“Jose had it in his mind how it played out there,” DeVaux said. “He said there was speed to his outside, the five [Edict] and the eight [In Our Time], and he was wanting to sit right behind that, not be on the lead. It materialized just how he had written it up in his head. She broke and put him in the spot, and she came through, which was great.”
DeVaux added that she will carefully review a return to graded company for Deep Satin. The next local option would be the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2, $300,000 Ballston Spa on August 8.
“We just have to see how she comes out of it. She has to train forwardly for something like that, so we just have to see how she trains out of this before we put something like that on the calendar,” DeVaux said of the Ballston Spa.
Bred in Kentucky by Eurowest Bloodstock Services, Deep Satin is out of the Grade 3-winning Chester House mare Take the Ribbon, who also produced stakes-placed Take These Chains. Deep Satin banked $74,250 in victory while improving her lifetime record to 7-3-3-0 and returning $6.70 on a $2 win ticket as the 2-1 mutuel favorite.
Live racing resumes Friday at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the Grade 3, $175,000 Coronation Cup in Race 7. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
