Divine Lorretta Rallies in Red Camelia

Randy Davis and Associates’ Divine Lorretta, unhurried early, blossomed like a rose of winter when she rallied boldly in the middle of the track when set down for the drive and drew clear late for a one-length victory in the $60,000 Red Camelia Stakes Saturday at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Ridden by James Graham and trained by Sweet Hodges, Divine Lorretta accomplished the about 1 1/16-mile distance over a firm Stall-Wilson Turf Course in 1:44.60, returned mutuels of $10.60, $5 and $3.40, and increased her career earnings to $204,522 with her sixth win in 21 lifetime starts.

“That’s the way she wants to run,” said James Graham of Divine Lorretta’s tactics in a race that had a lot of early speed.

Coteau Grove Farms’ Little Polka Dot, who set the early fractions of 23.32 and 47.80 in the race restricted to older accredited Louisiana-bred fillies and mares, could not withstand the winner late but was clearly second best, paying $4.60 and $3.40 while finishing 1 1/4-lengths in front of The Five Horsemen’s Burning Creole, who returned $6.60 for the show.

“We had to run her off works because we had trouble getting races for her,” said winning trainer Hodges of Divine Lorretta’s win. “But anyone can train a good horse and this mare is a good horse.”