Life At Ten Wires Rare Treat
Cynthia DeBartolo’s Life At Ten broke sharply from the gate, took the lead going into the first turn, and never looked back in wiring the field in the 38th running of the $65,000 Rare Treat Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Life At Ten exited a stakes win in the Snit back on December 19 at Aqueduct. That day, she sat just off the pace, but this time around the 5-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon set all her own fractions as the heavy 4-5 favorite.
“With the way the track was playing early and given her style and the way the race set up, we thought on paper we could control the pace,” said Pletcher’s assistant trainer, Jonathan Thomas. “From a tactical standpoint, everything worked out perfectly.”
Life At Ten broke quickest of the five fillies and easily set opening fractions of 24.14 and 48.28 seconds.
With Starship Angel tracking a length behind, the pair opened up ten lengths on the rest of the field through three-quarters in 1:12.53.
In the stretch, Life At Ten and jockey Richard Migliore opened up a clear lead and cruised to the wire, 5-1/4 lengths ahead of Starship Angel. It was 16 lengths back to Pumpkin Shell in third.
The final time for the 1-1/8 miles over the inner track was 1:50.09.
“Obviously, the inside speed was golden today and she possessed the most natural speed in the race,” Migliore said. “Everything played in her favor and she was just so right. Warming up, I don’t think a horse could instill more confidence in a rider. The more I warmed her up, I felt like she was a cinch. It was basically over within an eighth of a mile; it was like going horseback riding.”
With the win, Life At Ten improved her career record to 4-5-1 from 11 starts and raised her lifetime earnings to $189,269.
Life At Ten returned $3.80 for a $2 win bet.