Lady Valeur holds on for win

Lady Valeur knocks on the door in stakes races in Southern California, but she gets through it when she comes to Golden Gate Fields.

She did it for the second time Saturday when she outfinished Street Surrender in a stretch-long duel to win the $51,950 Golden Poppy Stakes by threequarters of a length. She won the Miss America Stakes on Dec. 10 a bit more easily, by 1¼ lengths.

“When you get second, third and fourth you get disappointed, but then she comes up and wins,” trainer Paddy Gallagher said. “Those consistent horses are hard to find.”

In eight stakes races at Santa Anita and Del Mar, Lady Valeur has had two seconds and a third while finishing worse than fifth only once. Her third in the Grade 1 American Oaks on Dec. 31 at Santa Anita was the best race of her career as she finished only a half-length behind the winner.

Lady Valeur ran in second place for much of Saturday’s 11⁄16-mile grass race for fillies and mares as 49-1 shot My Heart Goes On set fast fractions of 23.42 seconds and 47.29 while opening a 3½-length lead.

It was almost as if jockey Ricardo Gonzalez on Lady Valeur simply pretended My Heart Goes On wasn’t in the race, and by midway on the second turn she wasn’t. That’s where Lady Valeur inherited the lead while My Heart Goes On retreated to what would be a lastplace finish.

Lady Valeur took command at the top of the stretch, but Street Surrender — making her stakes and grass debut after three straight wins on the main track — quickly moved abreast of her. Street Surrender got within a head in midstretch, but Lady Valeur had more energy left.

“She got out of there really nice, and I just sat behind the leader and made my run,” Gonzalez said. “The other horse was coming after her, but she was game. She kicked right back under as soon as that horse got next to me.”

The two-horse stretch duel left Sweet Dragon Fly 3¼ lengths behind Street Surrender in third.

The 4-5 favorite in the field of 11, Lady Valeur finished in 1:43.17 for her fourth win in 14 starts. Although the Irish-bred 4-year-old filly is a grass course specialist, she was able to win the Miss America Stakes on Golden Gate Fields’ Tapeta Footings synthetic surface when rain forced it from the turf.

If Lady Valeur can’t break through in the next few months in Southern California, she can always return north for August’s Luther Burbank Handicap on the grass at the Sonoma County Fair.