Wedding Toast Celebrates in Ruffian
Wedding Toast upped her game and rallied through the stretch to win the Grade 2. $250,000 Ruffian Stakes for fillies and mares four-years old and up on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Ridden by Jose Lezcano, Wedding Toast closely tracked pacesetters Via Strata and Princess Violet through an opening quarter-mile in 23.45 seconds, with the half going in 46.40. Set down once in the lane, she took the lead in mid-stretch and won by four lengths.
"I had a really good trip," said Lezcano. "My filly broke good, and [I know] the two other fillies would be going [Via Strata and Princess Violet] so I wanted to make sure I got a good spot and we did.We sat in third and she gave me the race. The last two times, she gave me so much and the last time, she was a little rushed. Today was all about getting her to relax. She's a great filly and she performed well today."
The winning time for the one mile distance on the Belmont oval was 1:34:86.
The victory was the first stakes win of the year and a redeeming one for the bay daughter of Street Sense, who entered the Ruffian off a fourth-place effort in the Grade 1 Madison on April 4 at Keeneland, two lengths behind winner Princess Violet, who had to settle for second best today.
Making her fourth start of 2015, following an 8 month layoff, Wedding Toast's connections felt she need a few races to get settled and return to her winning form.
"It really was a good performance," said Jimmy Bell, racing manager of winning owner Godolphin Racing. "She got her time off, and her first race back was sprinting. It looked very good, so we thought, 'Why not stick with that early on?' In her last few races, the race shape hadn't really been all that helpful for her. Today, she was able to break, gather herself, sit off the early fractions a bit and I think the distance going a little further was a little more effective. She sat to the quarter-pole and made a very nice move and was much the best today."
Wedding Toast's victory today was the first graded stakes win of the Belmont spring-summer meet for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and Godolphin Stable.
"The last couple times [jockey Jose Lezcano] was down on the inside and had to ask her early in the race, and they were going fast at seven furlongs," said McLaughlin. Today, I liked the race shape today and the way he rode her. She's a pretty talented filly.
"One turn, middle distance races suit her," he added. "The [G1 Ogden Phipps on June 6 at Belmont] is 1 1/16 miles, so we'll probably look at that. She can go two turns, but she started off short this year - successfully - so we tried her a couple times. Now that this worked out we'll keep her at a mile and up."
Part of an entry, sent off as the 8-5 co-favorite, Wedding Toast returned $7.90 on a $2 wager as she extended her record to 6-2-1 from 10 starts. With the winner's purse of $150,000, Wedding Toast upped her bankroll to $644,956.
Runner-up Princess Violet was 2 1/2 lengths ahead of third-place finisher House Rules, with Shayjolie checking in fourth. Via Strata and Macha completed the order of finish.
Source: NYRA Communications