Shoot It True gate-to-wire in the Notebook (NYRA/Coglianese)
By Mary Eddy – NYRA Press Office
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Ice Wine Stable and Smart Choice Stable’s filly Shoot It True led each step of the way to defeat males in Saturday’s $100,000 Notebook, a six-furlong sprint for New York-bred juveniles, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Wesley Ward, the Munnings dark bay entered off a six-month respite that followed a pacesetting fourth in the Kentucky Juvenile on May 2 at Churchill Downs. There, she was unsettled in the starting gate and was rushed into contention by jockey Tyler Gaffalione before weakening in the lane.
In the Notebook, Shoot It True raced with blinkers off and was much more relaxed in the gate under Frankie Dettori, leading to her first stakes victory in gate-to-wire fashion.
“Wesley said she got really upset last time in the gates and she missed the beat,” Dettori said. “Tyler had to chase her up to get into position. I think she did everything the wrong way around. Today, she was very good, broke on top, got to the lead, and she was the best.”
Ward said Shoot It True responded well to the removal of blinkers.
“She’s a nice filly. She relaxed a lot more. Took the blinkers off, but if you see the first part of the race she is pricking her ears – with the blinkers they don’t do that, because they don’t know who is around them. So that is the reason I did that,” Ward explained.
Shoot It True emerged from post 4-of-6 and took a comfortable one-length lead through the opening quarter-mile in 22.43 seconds over the fast main track as post-time favorite Man in Finance and Kenny Be went head-to-head for second position.
Kenny Be was asked for more by Romero Maragh through the half-mile in 46.12 and was just a head back to the outside of Shoot It True, but the filly determinedly turned back her rival and kept him at bay into the stretch. Man in Finance spun his wheels and Kenny Be gave chase down the lane, but there was no catching Shoot It True as she skipped clear to a 4 1/4-length victory in a final time of 1:10.17.
SHOOT IT TRUE, the 2YO daughter of @coolmoreamerica stallion Munnings, beats the boys in the Notebook Stakes with @FrankieDettori up for trainer Wesley Ward! pic.twitter.com/7GCNPn4iMb
— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) November 16, 2024
Soontobeking rallied from last to finished third another 1 1/4 lengths back with Man in Finance settling for fourth. Three B’s and In the Chase completed the order of finish. The Ward-trained Phoebeinwonderland scratched in favor of Sunday’s $100,000 Key Cents here.
Dettori, aboard for the first time in the afternoon, said he and Ward were confident the filly would fire a strong race.
“In fairness, he’s always confident, but he said she’s special,” Dettori said. “She broke really good and was good in the gate. Last time, she was a bit hot, but [today] she was very calm, broke well and got to the lead on her own terms pricking her ears. The only concern was I couldn’t get her to switch leads, but she was going forward, so don’t fix what’s not broken. She was very good. I really like her.”
Ward added Shoot It True will not race again this year and will now point towards a sophomore campaign.
“I told Dave Reid the owner here that we were maybe about 80 percent fit, but she is a really, really good filly,” Ward said. “I think she is going to be a much better three, four-year-old filly. So this will be the last start of the year for her and we will bring her back in the spring. Won’t see her again until either Keeneland in the spring or here in the spring.”
Bred by Old Tavern Farm, Shoot It True banked $55,000 in victory and adds to a 7 1/2-length graduation versus males on debut in April at Keeneland. The $340,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Yearling Sale is out of the Malibu Moon mare To the Moon Alice, a half-sister to Grade 2-winner Unchained Melody. She returned $7.40 on a $2 win ticket.
Maragh, aboard the David Duggan-trained Kenny Be, said the son of Complexity performed admirably in his first effort against winners after a dominant 8 1/2-length graduation against state-breds last out on October 26 here.
“He broke very sharply as he usually does. We sat a nice trip off of the winner,” Maragh said. “I had horse, the winner was honestly just the best horse who beat us fair and square today. That is pretty much it, it was a clean trip and we settled in nicely. He is a very nice horse, we just got beat by a nice horse.”
Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a nine-race card, featuring the $100,000 Key Cents in Race 6 and the $135,000 Tepin in Race 8. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.
