Tiger Ride Wins Keeneland’s Valley View

Tiger Ride rallied from eighth place in a field of ten to win the Valley View Stakes at Keeneland for trainer Graham Motion and rider Edgar Prado. The Valley View (originally G3), which went off as the ninth race, was taken off the turf after racing had commenced and after wagering had begun on the Pick 6. As is the case when a graded stakes race comes off the turf, its status becomes pending until the Graded Stakes Committee can review the field. In the Pick 6 the race is counted as an ALL because of the late surface change.

Calypso Beat set the early fractions going 23.93 and 48.59. The winner sat in seventh place four lengths behind after the first quarter and then in eighth with six lengths to make up after the half-mile. With the race going on the main track, Include Betty became the 5-2 betting favorite. She was far behind in ninth place through the early going, 9 ½ lengths behind after four furlongs.

Turning for home with the early leaders fading Tiger Ride got to the lead with Include Betty making her usual very strong closing move. Nearing the finish it looked like Betty would pass Tiger Ride, but she was unable to do so, as Prado was able to keep the three-year-old daughter of Candy Ride going strong to the wire.

The victory would be the fourth stakes win of the Keeneland meeting for the veteran jockey and the third in conjunction with Motion. “How about winning three stakes with Edgar Prado? It’s like the old days,” said Motion. “We go back a long way. We’ve had weeks like this before, but it’s been a while. It’s very exciting. Great to have Edgar Prado (riding).”

Tiger Ride, who had done her best running on the grass, won a July stake at Indiana Grand on a sloppy track after that race also came off of the turf. Motion commented on the switch, “I felt pretty comfortable running her on dirt. I would have preferred the grass. I think she’s eventually going to be a better filly on the grass. But obviously she handles both, which is pretty unique.”

In the end Tiger Ride had a winning margin of a length over Include Betty. Drayden Van Dyke the regular rider on Include Betty said, “She ran her race. She’s always run when I’ve asked her. The way she came from last, I think the short stretch might have confused her a little bit because I had to ask her for everything mid-turn and I usually don’t do that.”

Tiger Ride paid $15.80, $6.60, $4.20 as the fifth betting choice. The win and the $90,000 share of the purse upped her career stats to 9: 5-0-1 with earnings of $296,780. The $2 exacta with Include Betty in second returned $65.