Oaklawn: Comparative breaks through with 6-1 upset in Bayakoa
Rapidly developing Comparative became a graded-stakes winner after holding off Ice Orchid by a half-length in the Grade 3, $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes for older fillies and mares Friday at Oaklawn.
The 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa marked the first career Oaklawn victory for New York-based jockey Manny Franco and a record-equaling fourth for trainer Brad Cox. Cox has won the Bayakoa, a major local prep for the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) on April 13, three of the last four years.
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“Speed seemed really, really good,” Cox said. “A few races I’ve watched since I’ve been in town, horses on the front end weren’t backing up. They were going fast and continuing on. Thought we were sitting a great trip the first turn up the backside. Congratulations to Godolphin. Brought this filly back trying to make her a stakes winner. She accomplished that the first part of January. To win a graded stakes is huge with her and her pedigree.”
A homebred for Godolphin, Comparative ($14.40) has won five of her last six starts. In her previous race Comparative notched her first career stakes victory in the 1 1/8-mile, $150,000 Ladies Stakes on Jan. 6 at Aqueduct.
Comparative’s task Friday was made easier after speedy 4-5 favorite Hot and Sultry stumbled badly at the start and was never a factor. With Hot and Sultry missing from the pace equation, Comparative and Shotgun Hottie, the 5-1 second choice, battled for the lead through fractions of 48.12 seconds for the first half-mile and three-quarters of a mile in 1:12.82. Shotgun Hottie weakened in the stretch, and Comparative turned back Ice Orchid on the outside in the final furlong.
“I’m just happy to get this win for Cox and Godolphin,” Franco said. “She’s a nice filly. She’s been running well for me back home in New York, so I just had to follow her. Just happy to get the win. She always tries hard. She did it last time. Another horse engaged her, and she just kept fighting. That’s what she did today. She felt the pressure, and she was hard to get by. She didn’t give up.”
Ice Orchid finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Misty Veil, who was followed in order by Butterbean, Hot and Sultry, Shotgun Hottie, Just Katherine, The Alys Look and Skratch Kat.
Comparative’s winning time on the fast main was 1:44.81. Comparative won for the fifth time in 11 starts to raise her career earnings to $410,995. A 4-year-old daughter of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, Comparative is a full sister to Shared Sense, a multiple graded-stakes winner also campaigned by Cox and Godolphin.
The 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa originally was scheduled to be run Saturday before being moved up one day to accommodate a revised stakes schedule after racing and training was halted last month because of a winter storm.