Street Fancy rallies to Starlet victory

With everyone else involved early in the Grade 1 Starlet, all Street Fancy and jockey Mike Smith had to do was sit back and wait. With an eighth of a mile left to run and the leaders beginning to back up, Street Fancy shot up the rail to record a narrow victory in the storied grade 1 affair.

From her far outside post, Pretty N Cool shot out of the gate to go to the front and set the pace. She first had to clear stablemate Treasuring, who had the rail post and used her ground-saving advantage to maintain the lead until the clubhouse turn. Stays In Vegas and Pacific Heat were also right there with the Baffert duo, followed by Surfside Tiara, Street Fancy, Mama’s Sugar, Patriotic Diamond and Sutton’s Smile.

As Pretty N Cool continued to show the way, the three fillies immediately behind her traded running positions. Treasuring drifted back to fourth, while Stays In Vegas and Pacific Heat took over third and fourth respectively. With none of those three significantly challenging for the lead, Pretty N Cool was able to set moderately relaxed splits of :22.84, :46.73 and 1:11.26.

Spinning out of the far turn, Pretty N Cool set sail for home, opening up on her rivals by about two lengths. Behind her, Treasuring, Pacific Heat and Stays In Vegas tried valiantly to cut into her lead but none of that trio were able to make headway against the Pegram owned filly.

But from behind them, Street Fancy was hitting her best stride. After the race, jockey Mike Smith explained their trip, “She’s anxious before the race starts, but once she leaves there she’s cool and was very relaxed today. We’re actually still figuring each other out and that’s what was happening in the early part of the race. I wasn’t concerned about coming up on the inside in the stretch because there was plenty of room and she was very focused.’’

As Pretty N Cool began to fade and Stays In Vegas gained the advantage, Street Fancy split between Pretty N Cool and Treasuring down near the rail to take the lead. Stays In Vegas dug in and attempted to stay with her, but Street Fancy was not relenting, going on to win the 1 1/16 affair by a length in 1:44.42. Stays In Vegas held second and Sutton’s Smile moved up to take third.

Pretty N Cool rounded out the superfecta, and her stablemate Treasuring checked in fifth. Patriotic Diamond, Surfside Tiara, Pacific Heat and Mama’s Sugar completed the order of finish.

Off at 6-1 odds, Street Fancy paid $14.60/$5.20/$3.80. Second betting choice Stays In Vegas returned $4.60/$3.80 for the place, and longshot Sutton’s Smile returned $8.80 for the show. The $1 exacta paid $32.80, the $1 trifecta returned $600.20 and the $1 superfecta was worth $2,487.90.

By Street Sense, and out of the Cat Thief mare Bold Angel, Street Fancy was bred by Hunter Valley Farm and is owned by Agave Racing Stable. She’s seen the auction ring four times, but did not meet the reserve at any of the four auctions in which she was entered. Agave Stable picked her up privately and placed her in the care of trainer Philip D’Amato. After breaking her maiden in October at Santa Anita, Street Fancy ran third in a listed stake at Del Mar before pulling off the mild upset today in the Starlet. All together, Street Fancy has a career record of 3: 2-0-1 for total purse earnings of $223,200.

Trainer Phil D’Amato concurred with Smith’s assessment of Street Fancy. “She showed a lot of tenacity and fight and (jockey) Mike (Smith) says we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of her yet,” he said. “She can be a little temperamental at times and we’ve been working a lot with her to get her to relax and slowly but surely she’s been coming along. It’s been three different distances at three different tracks and today we got the big one. She’s a big, giant, scopey filly. She looks twice the size of anybody else in this field. I knew she wanted to go two turns. I was just hoping today was the day she showed she wanted it and she did.’’

The Starlet is part of the Kentucky Oaks Prep Season. Therefore, Street Fancy, Stays In Vegas, Sutton’s Smile and Pretty N Cool earned 10, 4, 2 and 1 point(s), respectively, towards getting in the Kentucky Oaks starting gate in May.