Valadorna prevails by three-quarters of a length in Doubledogdare
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Stonestreet Stables’ Valadorna wore down longshot pacesetter Apologynotaccepted in deep stretch by three-quarters of a length to win the 24th running of the $100,000 Hilliard Lyons Doubledogdare (G3) for fillies and mares before a Friday afternoon crowd of 16,362.
Trained by Mark Casse and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Valadorna covered the 1 1/16 miles on a fast main track in 1:43.87. Casse earned his 20th Keeneland stakes victory and his second in this race with the other win coming in 2014 with Sisterly Love.
"Over the winter, she filled out and got stronger," said David Carroll, Casse's assistant. "She won the stakes for us at Fair Grounds (Tiffany Lass in December). Disappointing race at Sam Houston (finishing sixth in the Houston Ladies Classic-G3) – just wasn’t her day. We shipped her back up here. She settled in beautifully, and she just blossomed. She was training beautifully. We would have been very disappointed if she didn’t perform today."
Apologynotaccepted led the field of 12 through fractions of :23.39, :46.77 and 1:11.38 while receiving token pressure from Jenda’s Agenda. Hernandez had Valadorna racing in midpack and in the clear in the run down the backside and began picking off horses going into the far turn.
At the head of the stretch, Valadorna had moved into second and gradually wore down Apologynotaccepted to gain the victory.
The Hilliard Lyons Doubledogdare win marked the first graded stakes victory for Valadorna, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Curlin out of the Yes It’s True mare Goldfield. The victory was worth $60,000 and increased Valadorna’s earnings to $558,920 with a record of 10-5-3-1.
Valadorna returned $8.80, $5.20 and $4. Apologynotaccepted, ridden by Julien Leparoux, returned $18.80 and $9.60 with Song of Spring finishing another half-length back in third under Joel Rosario and paying $6.20 to show.
It was another 1½ lengths back to Ministry in fourth with Promise of Spring, Tapa Tapa Tapa, Mines and Magic, Girl Talk, Well Humored, Someday Soon, Jenda’s Agenda and Julerette following in order.
Racing continues Saturday with a 10-race program beginning at 1:05 p.m. ET and highlighted by the 33rd running of the $250,000 Dixiana Elkhorn (G2) for older horses going 1½ miles on the grass. The Dixiana Elkhorn will be the afternoon’s ninth race with a 5:30 p.m. post time.
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On Saturday, Keeneland will offer a Pick 6 carryover of $22,573.
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