Del Mar 2022: Edgeway repeats in the Rancho Bernardo

The classy mare Edgeway tied her running shoes tight Sunday at Del Mar, and it was a good thing she did.

The extra fast, New Mexico filly Slammed put her to the test, going head and head with her older rival through the last five-sixteenths of a mile in the 6 1/2-furlong, Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap. In the end, though, Edgeway edged clear late and prevailed by a half-length under a strong ride by Juan Hernandez.

“It was a good win for her,” Edgeway’s trainer John Sadler said. “It wasn’t easy. She gutted it out. It was a really good horse race, and we’re happy. We had a lot of seconds and thirds this week, so I was a little grumpy face, but with horse races it’s a new day every day.”

It was the second straight victory in the Rancho Bernardo for the 5-year-old Kentucky-bred by the Super Saver stallion Competitive Edge. She had won the 2021 running of Rancho Bernardo by a full length for her connections, Hronis Racing.

Sadler said Edgeway would train up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, a race in which she was runner-up last year to Ce Ce.

“She’s one that needs spacing,” Sadler said. “She won’t run again now until the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.”

Click here for Del Mar entries and results.

Slammed, who races for the partnership of Fincher Racing, King and Kirby and was ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, had 7 1/2 lengths on Cover Version.

Edgeway picked up a check for $90,000 from the $150,000 purse to increase her career earnings to $753,860 for her eighth win in her 13th start. The final time for the dash was 1:15.97.

Edgeway returned $3.80, $2.10 and $2.10.  Slammed paid $2.10 and $2.10. Cover Version returned $3.40 to show. Edgeway and Slammed both had gone off at 9-10 on the board, but the winner was a slight favorite by approximately $3,000.

The victory was one of three on the day for Hernandez, who has 39 wins through the first 23 days of the session.

“She is a really good filly, really professional,” Hernandez said. “She was standing really good, and when (the gates) opened, she broke really sharp. The other filly battled with me and was trying to come back at me again, but my filly is a big strong filly, and she knows where the wire is. She looked for the wire, and in the last one-sixteenth, she picked it up. I was working a little bit harder, but she responded to me.” 

In the jockey standings Hernandez is 16 winners ahead of the second-place rider Umberto Rispoli.