Longshot runs down Lady Eli late
SARATOGA SPRINGS >> Coming in at 27-1 at post time, it seemed like fans had forgotten about Strike Charmer in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes.
Maybe it was because they had their attention on post time favorite Lady Eli, who was making her return to racing after overcoming a dangerous bout with laminitis. Or it’s possible it’s because the Mark Hennig-trained horse had won just once in 2016 in five starts.
Either way, it didn’t matter to winning jockey Junior Alvarado, who used a magnificent outside move on the stretch to sneak up on the leaders to take the stakes race by three-quarters of a length.
Lady Eli finished second and Sentiero Italia took third.
“There were a lot of live horses today, and you always hope to pull once out,” Alvarado said. “I never lost faith. I did like her a lot, my filly. It was a tough race, but like I said I never lost my faith. I gave her the best chance to win and I’m glad it worked out for everyone.”
Sitting in fourth at the top of the stretch, Alvarado waited for the opportune moment to make his move. With Lady Eli, Sentiero Italia, Onus and Miss Temple City all jockeying for position against the hedges, Alvarado took advantage.
“Yeah, I saw that and I was like, ‘Oh, man. I hope nobody goes in there. I hope they don’t let it go three (wide),’” Alvarado said of the opening. “At the same time, I had to ride my horse and try not to get worried. Just try to get as much as I could from my filly, and she gave it. She really responded well.”
Lady Eli made her return to racing after over a year away from the races Saturday, and even though Strike Charmer overtook her at the end, second-place trainer Chad Brown was pleased with the filly’s race.
“I’m disappointed that she got beat, but I’m that she’s back to the races,” Brown said. “It looked like she got a little tired there at that last part. She made a big move there on the turn into a wicked pace and it just took a little too much out of her.”
In her first race back, Brown didn’t want jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. to push too much. Leading with 70 yards to go Brown was surprised Strike Charmer was able to catch the front group of Lady Eli, Sentiero Italia, Onus and Miss Temple City.
“He just said she got her off the fence down the backside, so they wouldn’t track her,” Brown said. “Gave her a little high trip, but he didn’t want to get in trouble with this filly. He said he moved into a pretty strong pace, didn’t want the two other horses in the race — Sentiero Italia and Miss Temple City — to get too far away from him, so he moved up on them and felt he had them all measured. Just didn’t image that horse coming up from the back and catching them, but that’s the way it worked out. Build off of this race.”