Street Story makes the grade in Victory Ride
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Photo:
NYRA / Coglianese Photos
In what has been a very up and down career for 3-year old Street Story, the dark bay filly
finally managed to keep her head on straight from one race to the next and
string together consecutive victories. Last out, despite being her own worst
enemy by acting up in the post parade and breaking slowly, the filly rolled
late in the Instant Racing Stakes at Oaklawn at odds of 14-1. Today Street
Story was on her best behavior and took advantage of a blistering pace to
record her first graded victory in the G3 Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont Park.
At the break, Red Velvet rushed out to take the early lead, followed quickly by Fat Kat, Miss
Behaviour and West Coast Chick. With those 3 hounding her, the Todd Pletcher
trainee continued the quick pace, putting up the opening quarter in an
eye-popping 21:48 and the half in 44:39. Thanks to the torrid pace, the
front-running quartet separated themselves from the rest of the field by about
6 lengths, but such a grueling pace simply could not be sustained.
Miss Behaviour,
who had sat close to the pace, took the first shot at the tiring Red Velvet,
but after being so near to the punishing early speed, the third betting choice’s
bid for the win fell short. While Miss Behaviour tried to keep pace throughout,
Street Story, with Joel Rosario aboard, had been content to sit back and make
one sustained run for the lead, which is exactly what she did.
Winning rider Joel Rosario was confident that there was enough speed in the race that would
give his mount a tactical advantage, a belief that turned out to be exactly
right. “I saw there was a lot of speed, and I was right,” he said. “In a couple
of races she had come from off the pace, and that was the reason why I thought
she’d have a good chance. I saw [Miss Behaviour] starting to slow down, and
[Street Story] kept fighting and fighting. Going past the eighth pole, I thought
I had a good chance to win the race.”
Swinging to the outside from off the rail, Street Story stormed
past Miss Behaviour to win by 1 ¾ lengths in a final time of 1:17.08 for the 6 ½
furlong event. Miss Behaviour stayed on for second, and Milam made a bold run
from the back of the field to close for third. Red Velvet lost the show by a
nose, and West Coast Chick, Isabelle and Fat Kat completed the order of finish.
Despite the 2 ½ month layoff since her last race, trainer Steven Asmussen had his charge fit and
ready to fire her best. Toby Sheets, assistant to Asmussen stated, “She’s been
[at Belmont] for about a month and a half. We freshened her up and gave her
three breezes here. She’s been doing really, really good; she likes it here,
obviously.”
Sent off at odds of 10-1, Street Story returned $22.20/$8.70/$4.20
as the winner. Miss Behaviour paid $5.00/$3.10, and a $2 show bet on Milam was
worth $2.80. The $2 exacta returned $107.50, the $2 trifecta paid $354.00, and
the $2 superfecta was worth $765.00.
By Street Cry and out of the Tale of the Cat mare Perfect
Story, Street Story was purchased for $155,000 at the Keeneland 2012 September
Yearling Sale by Whispering Oaks Farm
and Carol Castille. Now boasting a record of 8: 4-1-0, the Asmussen trained
filly has earned back her purchase price and then some, banking $251,210 in
total purse earnings. Though the Victory Ride was her first graded stakes
victory, Street Story entered the race with a pair of stakes to her credit, the
Dixie Belle Stakes and the Instant Racing Stakes, both run at Oaklawn. No plans
for the filly’s next race have yet been discussed.
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