Thrilled breaks through in the Plum Pretty

Three times in her juvenile season, Thrilled ran well enough to win, but all three times she was denied a stakes victory in New York, finishing second each time. Thankfully, 2016 is a new year. The daughter of red-hot sire Uncle Mo began this season as she did last year, with a well-earned victory. The difference is, this time it came in a stakes race. When last seen, the Todd Pletcher trained filly was running second in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Demoiselle over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend Stakes, while making her dirt debut. Nearly four months later, and on the other side of the country, Thrilled returned to the races with a determined victory in the $200,000 Plum Pretty Stakes this afternoon at Sunland Park.

A first-time winner on the grass at the Spa last August, turf is where Thrilled stayed for her initial four starts, which included back-to-back bridesmaid finishes in the P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont Park. A disappointing result in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf opened the door for the bay filly to be moved to dirt. After that solid performance, the Michael Tabor owned charge looked to have plenty of options and a big future moving into her second season on the racetrack; so far, so good.

Ridden by Eclipse Award winning rider, Javier Castellano, Thrilled was sent off as the slight favorite over the Bob Baffert trained, Family Tree, in the compact field of five. That one went right to the lead from her inside post under Martin Garcia. Thrilled tracked in second down the backstretch through moderate fractions of :24.13 and :47.72, with the local star, K P Wildcat moving into contention in third before the far turn.

Thrilled moved up to the leader as the pair came spinning out of the far turn, while the third choice’s run could not stick with the top two. Thrilled stuck her nose in front early in the lane, but the early leader fought back from the rail. The two favorites exchanged a few bumps in mid-stretch, before Thrilled ultimately pulled clear of a stubborn Family Tree, who was also making her seasonal debut. K P Wildcat was more than seven lengths behind the runner-up at the finish, but a far way ahead of the two long shot fillies that made up the rest of the field.

A stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run immediately flashed, but the results were allowed to stand. The final time for the 8 ½ furlongs over the fast track was 1:43.35.

With the victory, Thrilled improved her career record to 6-2-3-0, while raising her earnings to $289,800. She may have started her career on turf, but judging from her first two tries on the main track, spread out over two seasons, it looks like Thrilled is a dirt horse, at least for now.