Belmont at Big A: Pipsy starts poorly, still wins Soaring Softly

Pipsy overcame a troubled break, rallying from last to first under jockey Flavien Prat to win her U.S. debut in Sunday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Soaring Softly Stakes, a six-furlong, outer-turf sprint for sophomore fillies at Belmont at the Big A.

Owned by Woodford Thoroughbreds and trained by Will Walden, the Kodiac bay was bought for $929,489 at the Tattersalls December mare sale after having won 2 of 3 starts for her former conditioner Ger Lyons in her native Ireland.

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“The horses were acting up around her, and she got very anxious in the gate and broke in the air,” Prat said. “So, we went to plan B. I gave her a chance to see if she would get underneath me, and she sure did. When I tipped her out, she made a great move.”

Pipsy was forwardly placed in her Irish endeavors but reared at the break of the Soaring Softly and spotted the 10-horse field several lengths as Tiger Belle led through splits of 22.42 and 45.40 seconds over the good going.

Prat remained patient aboard Pipsy, angling his filly to the two path into the turn and six wide into the stretch run. That was where Independenceavenue inherited the lead from a backpedaling Tiger Belle with Amidst Waves, Kodiac Wintergreen and Kairyu among the many challengers.

Pipsy was in full flight once straightened away and took command from Amidst Waves with a sixteenth of a mile to run, outdueling the charge of a game Kairyu to win by a half-length with a final time of 1:09.41. It was three quarters of a length back to Amidst Waves in third with Independenceavenue another nose back in fourth.

Kodiac Wintergreen, Marco T., Golden Ghost, Caress, Artemis Sound and Tiger Belle rounded out the order of finish. Buttercream Babe, Baraye, El Terreno and main-track-only entrant Value Area were scratched.

Walden, who trained his first graded-stakes winner Sunday, said he anticipated a few anxious moments at the gate.

“We had talked to the gate crew, and they did what we asked. We asked them to keep their hands off her in there,” Walden said. “There was a lot of commotion left and right of her, and she was one of the first to load and got a little fractious in there. Obviously we’ve got some work to do at the gate, but our confidence in her is pretty high right now. She came home with an electric turn of foot. Flavien gave her a great ride.”

Pipsy trains regularly with Olivia Maralda, a 4-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Kodiac bought by Woodford Thoroughbreds for $961,649 at the same sale as Pipsy. Olivia Maralda finished a good second on debut for Walden in April at Keeneland and is stakes-bound next out.

Walden said Pipsy clearly got a lot out of her works with Olivia Maralda and credited the filly with overcoming adversity to pass horses with ease.

“We do most of our breezes and works head and head. We never really put her behind horses,” Walden said. “She trains with a really good filly ... and they make good workmates. That was all her.”

As for what is next for Pipsy, Walden said, “We’ll see how she comes out of this one and look at our options. I wouldn’t be afraid to stretch her out to a mile, especially after the way she did it today. She would definitely be forwardly placed at a mile, but we’ll see how she comes out of it and go from there.”

Cherie DeVaux-trained Kairyu, a Group 3-winning sprinter in her native Ireland last year, arrived from an off-the-board effort in the one-mile Appalachian (G2) in her stateside debut April 6 at Keeneland.

Jockey Kendrick Carmouche said Kairyu, who made an inside run on the turn and took up briefly behind Amidst Waves at the three-eighths pole before waiting for racing room at the quarter pole, performed admirably through her own adversity.

“With a little bit of racing luck, if I could have gotten out sooner, I thought she could have been a winner,” Carmouche said. “Overall, I thought she ran a good race. No complaints.”

Pipsy graduated at second asking sprinting six furlongs over yielding turf in September at The Curragh before taking the five-furlong Legacy over synthetic in October at Dundalk.

Bred in Ireland by Noel Finegan, Pipsy banked $96,250 in victory while improving her record to 4: 3-1-0. She returned $8.70 for a $2 win bet.