Galiana Upsets Lady Sabelia in Skipat
Four weeks after winning her debut at Pimlico Race Course, Triple R Stables’ Galiana powered past front-running favorite Lady Sabelia in the stretch Friday for a 2 ¾-length victory in the 22nd running of the $100,000 Skipat Stakes.
It was the second straight victory at Old Hilltop for Galiana ($12.40), a 5-year-old Stonesider mare who captured the Primonetta Stakes on April 18 by an identical margin. Ridden by Abel Lezcano, she ran six furlongs on a fast main track in 1:10.08.
Favored at 3-5 and carrying top weight of 124 pounds in a field of nine older fillies and mares, Lady Sabelia took the group through fractions of 23.00 seconds, 45.20, 57.36 and 1:10.08. Tracking in second the entire way, Galiana moved to the front turning for home and kept going for her 13th victory in 25 lifetime starts.
Lady Sabelia stayed up for second, two lengths ahead of She’s Ordained.
Winning Trainer Rodolfo Romero (Galiana): “I was really nervous. I was worried about the favorite (Lady Sabelia), because she was really good. I was surprised my horse was so close to the lead. But sometimes, you don’t know what to expect from her. She’s very tough and she’s getting very good.”
Winning Jockey Abel Lezcano (Galiana): “You look at the program and you see the speed in here today. At the start she wanted to go early. She relaxed on the backstretch. At the three-eighths she moved out and started going. She really ran well.”
Source: Maryland Jockey Club