Breeders' Cup bound Harmonize goes Wide to Win the Jessamine
They say the shortest path to the finish line is to ride the rails. Don’t tell that to the talented young daughter of Scatt Daddy, Harmonize, who went widest of all in a 14-horse field, on her way to a neck victory in today’s Grade 3 Jessamine Stakes over a firm Keeneland turf course.
Sent off as the big even-money wagering choice off her rousing score in the P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga, Harmonize let a fast pace develop well in front of her, as longshot Carleigh Belle zipped off to the early lead. Patiently handled by her talented rider, Junior Alvarado, Harmonize found herself way back near the end of the pack early. This was in direct opposition to her first two races, in which she was a big part of the early pace. The new running style would not prove problematic to the Bill Mott trained juvenile filly.
Carleigh Belle lengthened her lead on the Keeneland backstretch as she strung together leading fractions of :22.44, :47.02, and 1:13.51. Meanwhile, Harmonize occupied the 11th place position, while waiting to make her move. Back on the front end, the 100-1 shot leading them was not prepared to finish the job, and began to slow.
As Carleigh Belle’s lead quickly disintegrated, the field bunched up coming out of the far turn. The Joe Sharp trained Sapphire Kitten forged to the lead quickly in the stretch, but all eyes were on Harmonize out in the middle of the turf course. She lost some serious ground on the far turn, needing to go widest of all, at least eight paths off the rail, but was now passing horses at an eye-catching clip.
Sapphire Kitten, who had won her only previous start impressively at Kentucky Downs, was full of fight, but the momentum of Harmonize proved irresistible. On the wire, the Larkin Armstrong owned filly finished a neck the best, earning herself a Breeders' Cup berth.
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She wasn’t getting hold of the track the first part of the race,” explained Alvarado. “I didn’t want to get after her too early; I wanted to let her get comfortable and let her pick up ground. By the end, she was much the best.”
Sapphire Kitten was much the best of the rest, 4 ½ lengths clear of third place finisher, Outside Art. Lilly’s Dream completed the 4-6-14-7 superfecta.
Final time for the 8 ½ furlongs on the turf was 1:44.19. With the victory, Harmonize raised her lifetime mark 3-2-1-0. Her earnings jumped to $166,600 in a career that only began on August 9. Having just missed in her career debut, Harmonize became a stakes winner as a maiden going in last time, and today she became a graded stakes winner.
After the race, the winning trainer was pleased with his filly’s ability to overcome. “It’s nice to see that she’s versatile enough to come from back in the pack like she did,” said Mott. She struggled with ground early and once she got down the backside, she got a little better, a little better. When (jockey Junior Alvarado) turned for home, she turned on the afterburners and was good enough to run them down.I thought we could be laying third or fourth in the race. There looked like there were two obvious speed horses. I thought we would be laying right behind them. It didn’t work out that way, but I’m glad the filly took care of it.”
Harmonize paid $4.00 for the win, while the exacta over Sapphire Kitten returned $31.40. The 4-6-14 trifecta came back at $187 for a dollar wager, and the superfecta paid off $110.72 for a dime -- Not bad at all with the chalk on top, and three horses that all made sense below.
Moving forward, it was a big performance by Sapphire Kitten, in only her second lifetime race, and an even bigger one by the wide rallying Harmonize. Both should prove major players at the end of the month in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and in fact, Harmonize may well be the filly to beat.