Haveyougoneaway rallies to win Dancin Renee

Taking advantage of a fast early pace, Haveyougoneaway rallied in the stretch to post a 2 ¾-length victory in the listed $100,000 Dancin Renee on Sunday at Belmont Park.

The 5-year-old chestnut mare, owned by Sequel Racing and trained by Thomas Morley, drew away from her six rivals to win the six-furlong sprint for New York-bred fillies and mares. Haveyougoneaway hit the wire in 1:09.10 as Morely registered his first career stakes victory.

"When I first saw the past performances of this race, with all the speed in there, I really thought this race would shape out in our favor," Morley said. "We knew we would get the six furlongs. She came into our barn as a New York-bred and having previously raced in the Midwest as a multiple stakes winner. She never faced New York-breds, so we knew she had a lot potential."

Jockey Kendrick Carmouche settled the daughter of Congrats out of One Wise Cowgirl near the back of the pack early, as longshot Perfect Freud ran a blazing opening quarter mile in 21.95 seconds with Hot City Girl, the program favorite, in second, just one length off of the quick pace.

After a half mile in 45.21 seconds, Hot City Girl took the lead at the top of stretch, but the early fractions were too much for the mare to overcome, and she did not have enough left to fend off the late rallies of Haveyougoneaway and Quezon.

"She broke very well and I was just waiting for position to get inside," Carmouche said after the race. "I saw two horses wanting to get out a little, so I let Manuel (jockey on Quezon) make his way through traffic inside and I just sat behind him and waited for him to angle out. After that, once I angled out at the eighth pole, I knew I had a lot of horse left so I just rode her home from there. All the props go to Thomas Morley and the connections. I'm just happy to be on this horse."

It was the third victory of the year for Haveyougoneaway and the ninth overall in her career. She returned $7.20 for a $2 win wager and improved her career earnings to more than $500,000 in 24 career starts.

Morley took over as her trainer two starts ago and has now saddled the mare to a second place finish in the Critical Eye at Belmont in May as well as Sunday's victory.

"We got beat by a Grade 1-placed filly last time, and beat a graded-placed filly this time," Morley said. "She showed a lot of gears going six furlongs today against a set of good fillies knocking heads upfront today. She was very impressive. She stalked the trip perfectly and after that it was done and dusted in a couple of strides."

Quezon rallied from off the pace to finish second. Hot City Girl, the race favorite, faded to third. Perfect Freud, Non Finisce Mai, Isabelle and Court Dancer completed the order of finish.

Source: NYRA Communications (Ron Scaglia)