Warming hits the front late in the Gallorette, TMJC Photo
Preakness 151 Press Release
LAUREL, MD – Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Warming, back on turf for the first time since last fall, came with a spirited late run to surge past Austere inside the eighth pole and hold off Child of the Moon by a length to win Saturday’s $150,000 Gallorette presented by Old Bay at Laurel Park.
The 75th running of the 1 1/16-mile Gallorette for fillies and mares 3 and up on the grass was the seventh of nine stakes, four graded, worth $3.15 million in purses on a spectacular 14-race program headlined by the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
It was the second stakes win of the day for trainer Graham Motion, following Turf Star in the $100,000 James W. Murphy. Motion previously won the Gallorette with Mean Mary (2021), Ultra Brat (2018) and Film Maker (2005).
Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez guided Warming ($19.80) to the wire in 1:41.16 over a firm All Along turf course for his third career Gallorette victory, after Roshani in 2008 and No Explaining in 2011.
Warming settled patiently in sixth leading the second flight as Motion-trained stablemate Ribaltagaia led the way through a quarter of a mile in 23.95 seconds and a half in 48.27, pressed to her outside by Austere with 3-1 favorite Awesome Czech given clear run outside in third. Velazquez, who began to move with Warming leaving the backstretch, was able to split Awesome Czech and Child of the Moon once straightened for home and continued on stoutly to the wire.
Child of the Moon held second, three-quarters of a length ahead of late-running 16-1 longshot Cheetah Lady. Austere, Accent, Awesome Czech, Ribaltagaia and Mahra’s Love completed the order of finish.
Warming’s last win came in her most recent start on the grass, the one-mile Autumn Miss (G2) last October at Santa Anita. Since then, the 4-year-old filly had gone winless in three tries, one on dirt and two on synthetic, the most recent a third in the 1 1/16-mile Latonia March 21 at Turfway Park.
Gallorette retired in 1948 as the world’s leading money-winning mare, with earnings of $445,535. She won 21 of 72 starts and placed in 39 stakes, capturing the 1945 Pimlico Oaks and being named champion handicap mare of 1946. She was elected to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1962.
$150,000 Gallorette (G3) Quotes
Winning trainer Graham Motion (Warming): “We’ve always loved this filly. She was my best 2-year-old. I had a lot of issues with her early on, but we always thought she was this kind of filly. I think finally we saw her today. I mean, obviously she won the race in California. But this was different, this was a different level today.
“Johnny said today he was just going to leave her alone. He was determined just to let her settle. And I think we gave her plenty of time between races. We just did right by her this time.
“I actually didn’t see her. I was watching my other filly to see if she’d hang on. I was surprised when I saw Warming coming running.”
“I thought she ran well on the synthetic at Gulfstream. She’s been a little bit hard to place. She won’t be so hard to place now that we know she’s proper graded caliber.”
Winning jockey John Velazquez (Warming): “Today she got to relax off the pace. She was loose reins, she relaxed really well and she finished well. I was going to make one move with her no matter what. I waited until the quarter pole and someone came up on my outside and I said it’s time to go and she responded. It’s nice when they do what you want them to do and she responded really well. I rode her in a race in Del Mar and the track was really fast that day, she got caught really close to the pace and she didn’t like that. I’ve breezed her before her race at Turfway and knew to get her to relax but in the Latonia she was a little flat. Today, she relaxed really well and made a great run.”
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. (Child of the Moon, 2nd): “We were way back. She likes to make one run. The plan was to lay back and go at top of the stretch. She started moving well. We just couldn’t catch the winner.”
Trainer Whit Beckman (Cheetah Lady, 3rd): “Honestly, that was as good as we could have drawn it up. That was exactly the trip I was looking for. That was just a good spot to start her with what we can do there work-wise towards what we’re trying to do toward the end of the year. Perfect. Very happy with that.”
Jockey Jose Ortiz (Cheetah Lady, 3rd): “They told me to let her be comfortable in back. They were having a good trip in front of me. I knew I had a shot at the quarter pole. Had a nice clear path and a lot of horse. But they ran away and I couldn’t catch the winner.”
Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. (Beaten favorite Awesome Catch, 6th): “We were in a good spot into the turn. She just got tired.”
