Princess Erindelle Defies 25-1 Odds in Lacombe Memorial

Owner-trainer Hugh Robertson continued his impressive Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots 2015-16 meet Saturday afternoon when his Princess Erindelle, a $17,000 OBS August bargain, defied her 25-1 odds to sweep past the entire field of 12 other sophomore fillies to win the $50,000 Allen ‘Black Cat’ Lacombe Memorial over 7½ furlongs on the Stall-Wilson turf course.

With Marcelino Pedroza aboard, the sizable gray daughter of Divine Park rallied and circled the field to cross the finish line a half-length in front of Arindel Farm’s Ronny Werner-trained last-out Broussard Stakes winner Pancake under Shaun Bridgmohan. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Douglas Scharbauer’s Bret Calhoun-trained More Than Most in third under Francisco Torres, while Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey’s Joe Sharp-trained 3-5 favorite Sapphire Kitten checked in fifth under Brian Hernandez, Jr., 5¼ lengths behind the winner. Carolyn Friedberg and Jeff T. Larson’s Richie Scherer-trained Inconclusive split those two after a mild rally.

Yet to finish out of the money, the Kentucky-bred improved her record to 6-2-3-1 and earned $29,760 to increase her career earnings to $75,880. She paid $53.80, $19.60 and 11.40, while Pancake returned $6.40 and $5.20 and More Than Most yielded $10.60 to show.

After earlier fractions of 24.94, 48.77 and 1:14.39, Princess Erindelle stopped the clock in 1:32.37 over the firm going in what was the first time she had crossed the wire first in a race. Second on debut at Arlington behind subsequent stakes filly Wake the Dawn, she was runner-up in three consecutive photo finishes in maiden special weight company at Fair Grounds. Adjudged the winner via disqualification in the last of that triad on Jan. 15, she returned to finish a flying third through traffic – beaten 1¼ lengths – last out in the Broussard behind Pancake. She is a half-sister to stakes winner Window Boy and a full-sister to stakes-placed Divine Ambition.

“She always tries and gives me 200%,” Pedroza said. “Hugh has been doing a great job with her. She’s a nice filly and will keep going.”

“She should have won a couple of her races, but she is her own worst enemy,” Robertson said of the highly spirited filly. “When she makes the lead, she starts wandering and she did it again today. It looked like she’d go right by those horses, but then when she gets her nose in front, she starts waiting on horses. She’s a good filly.”

Batting 24% and 58% this meet as a trainer, Robertson won for the 13th time and collected his 11th as the sole owner of his charge. He currently ranks second in the owner’s standings to Midwest Thoroughbreds (13 wins), while striking at an impressive 42%, with 77% of those in the money.

“She tried hard,” Bridgmohan said of Pancake. “She’s a nice little honest filly and she gave it her best.”

“We had a good trip,” Hernandez said. “We turned for home and she leveled off on me. She didn’t finish at all like we thought she would.”