Gratefully hits the front to take the Second Division Perfect Sting, NYRA Photo
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Keith McCalmont
Adelphi Racing Club, Shelly Hume and Russell Hume’s Gratefully improved her record to six wins from seven starts with a frontrunning score under Umberto Rispoli in the second division of Friday’s Listed $175,000 Perfect Sting, a seven-furlong Widener turf sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Belmont Park.
Trained by Robert Falcone, Jr., the 4-year-old Laoban dark bay won her first five career starts, including a score in the restricted Wishing Well in February at Santa Anita Park. She stepped up in class for the Grade 2 Intercontinental on June 4 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course and stumbled at the start en route to a last-of-9 effort.
Gratefully, with blinkers off, showed no signs of rust in her return from a more than four-month layoff as she traveled beyond six furlongs for the first time.
“She ran a perfect race. Umberto rode her perfect and everything came together,” Falcone, Jr. said. “The blinkers off was always in the back of our minds, but it’s tough when the horse is undefeated – at the time – to take them off, but I think it was the right move, and she proved that today.”
Gratefully broke to the front from post 6 and showed the way through splits of 23.23 seconds and 46.43 over the firm footing with Table Flirt, Jody’s Pride and Abientot in close contention.
“Listen, I was not surprised about the speed she had coming out of the gate,” Rispoli said. “She’s always quick. My hope was she would not overdo it because she can be very, very sharp.”
Gratefully maintained a one-length advantage at the stretch call and continued to find more as Jody’s Pride, with Edgard Zayas up, angled off the rail and took aim at the leader. The deep-closing Love Cervere showed good energy in the center of the course but there was no reeling in Gratefully, who scored by a half-length in a final time of 1:20.32.
Rispoli, who guided Gratefully to a stalking optional-claiming score in January at Santa Anita, said Falcone, Jr. made a wise decision to remove the blinkers.
“That made sure she wasn’t too rank. From there, I was able to set a nice pace,” Rispoli said. “Once I turned for home, the pressure came, obviously, but they let me do what I wanted, and she responded and was very brave until the wire.”
Jody’s Pride finished second by 1 1/2-lengths over Vive Veuve, who completed the trifecta by a head over Love Cervere. Capturing, Abientot, Ashikidah and Table Flirt rounded out the order of finish. Little Jamie and Spinning Colors, who is entered in Saturday’s $200,000 Ticonderoga here, were scratched.
The Jorge Abreu-trained Jody’s Pride enjoyed her best placing yet on turf after starting her career with a number of strong performances on dirt, including a runner-up effort in the 2023 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita and a win in the 2025 Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont at the Big A.
Zayas said Jody’s Pride, who is now 6-0-1-2 on the lawn, was hampered by the moderate pace.
“I was following the winner the whole way. Tipped her out, she really kicked on nice but couldn’t catch the winner. The winner ran a better race today,” Zayas said.
Falcone, Jr. said Gratefully could come under consideration for the one-mile Listed $175,000 Noble Damsel on November 27 here.
“It’s possible. We have a few options now,” Falcone, Jr. said. “This was her first race off the layoff, she got the seven-eighths, so we’ll see how she comes out of it, and we’ve got some spots we could discuss.”
Gratefully, out of the dual graded stakes-winning More than Ready mare Selflessly, was a $155,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase. Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Gratefully banked $96,250 in victory while improving her record to 7-6-0-0. She returned $6.40 for a $2 win bet.
Live racing resumes Saturday at Belmont Park for the Empire Showcase Day card, which offers 10 stakes exclusively for horses foaled in New York State valued at a combined $2.1 million in purses. First post on the 11-race program is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.
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