Souper Escape rolls to victory in Woodbine's Trillium

Live Oak Plantation’s Souper Escape gave her filly and mare foes the slip in the $125,000 Trillium Stakes to earn her first graded stakes victory Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.

The Michael Trombetta trainee was an impressive 1:42.78 winner in the Grade 3 main track event, coming close to the 1:42.16 track record for 1 1/16 miles held by recently retired Freitag.

“When she came out from the gate, she was so nice and relaxed, it looked like it was kind of easy, but she was all game today,” said winning jockey Luis Contreras, who was bracing for the competition to come. “When I turned for home, I had so much horse and she just kept rolling.”

Souper Escape set fractions of :24.93 to the quarter, :48.65 to the half and 1:11.76 while widening her lead to three-quarters. Another Time and favorite Theodora B. were her closest rivals three lengths behind after Nantucket Red levelled off when attempting a three-wide bid down the backside.

Souper Escape opened up six lengths down the lane and ended with 4 1/2 lengths to spare as Painting, who trailed the seven-horse field through the first half-mile, rallied into second-place and finished 3 1/4 lengths clear of show finisher Another Time.

Art of Almost, Wings of Dawn, Theodora B. and Nantucket Red rounded out the order of finish.

Souper Escape paid $7.50 to win as the slight 5-2 second choice.

The 4-year-old homebred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro-Cry and Catch Me also counts the 2019 La Lorgnette Stakes, her only other start on Tapeta, among her five wins from 15 starts. Saturday’s victory boosted her bankroll well over the $200,000 mark.

Contreras and Trombetta have already teamed up for a stakes win this season with Woodstock champion Newstome at the start of the meet.