Kareena Wins Stakes Debut in Jersey Girl

Favored Kareena rambled home a 6 1/4-length winner of the $150,000 Jersey Girl Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park Friday afternoon to register her first stakes victory.

 

The Jersey Girl marked Kareena's stakes debut for owner Godolphin Stable and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro was ridden to victory by Irad Ortiz, Jr. 

 

Appealing Maggie set scorching fractions of 21.62 seconds for the opening-quarter mile, and 43.55 for the half-mile. Kareena, who stalked the early pace, came flying down the middle of the track in the stretch to roll by Appealing Maggie, who held for second, 1 1/2 lengths in front of One True Kiss.

 

"She's a real nice filly," Ortiz said. "I've been talking to Kiaran and he told me he loved her and she was prepared and ready to go. She pulled me home and was real excellent today."

 

McLaughlin is hopeful Kareena can follow in the footsteps of Cavorting, who he saddled to win last year's Jersey Girl before the filly went on to win a pair of Grade 1 races at Saratoga, the Test and Prioress.

"She's just an impressive filly," McLaughlin said of Kareena.  "She's got a great disposition. She's a very kind filly and she can really run so it was a great; that was a serious race. We're hoping to do what we did with Cavorting last year. The post position [6] allowed her to sit off of [the early pace]; two of them inside of her [had speed]. If we had been inside, we might've had to go ahead and go but sitting outside, she could do that. It was beautiful."

The order of finish was completed by She's All Ready and Quick Release. Blip n' Th Bye and Off the Tracks were scratched.

 

The 1-5 favorite in the field of five, Kareena returned $2.60 for a $2 win bet, and earned $90,000 for her second victory in three starts. The Kentucky-bred, who was purchased for $400,000 by Godolphin as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Select Sale in Saratoga, raised her career earnings to $134,000.

 

The final time was 1:07.87 over a track labeled fast.

 

Kareena launched her career at Gulfstream Park in March by finishing second in a maiden special weight race. The bay filly returned to the races in April and dominated a field of maidens by five lengths.