Who's the Lady unleashes furious late rally to capture Azalea

Darsan’s Inc.’s Who’s the Lady made a triumphant return to Gulfstream Park Saturday after unleashing a furious inside run to capture the $75,000 Azalea by a neck.

The Kathleen O’Connell-trained daughter of Munnings remained undefeated in four starts over the Gulfstream track, running seven furlongs in 1:24.58 in the stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Who’s the Lady ($17.60) had won the first four starts of her career, following up a debut victory at Gulfstream Park West with three straight wins at Gulfstream before shipping north. The homebred filly finished off the board in the Adena Springs Miss Preakness (G3) at Pimlico and the Crank It Up at Monmouth in her two most recent starts before returning to South Florida for the Azalea.

Who’s the Lady and jockey Luis Saez switched up tactics in the Azalea, dropping far off the pace set by R Angel Katelyn instead of setting or prompting the pace as she had done in her first four scores. After straightening for home, the Florida-bred filly responded to strong urging by Saez and surged to the lead along the rail in the shadow of the finish line.

“We’ve been trying to go a little longer with her after the past two races, we figured. There was no spot up there and this is a great race to run in. She’s Florida-bred, and Gulfstream allowed us to come to come down with the plane and got her down here in a quick amount of time,” Darsan’s Daryl Clark said. “I actually walked away at the half-mile marker. I was walking away thinking, ‘Well, she just maybe wants to go a little further,’ and [jockey Luis Saez] just didn’t give up on her. You can’t ask for more than that. He’s a great rider. Kathleen and her team did a great job in New Jersey and a great job when she got here. I just can’t say enough about them.”

Who’s the Lady, who hadn’t been beyond six furlongs in her first six starts, was ridden by Saez for the first time Saturday.

“It was a pretty nice trip. We had a good break and she was right there but when we came to the stretch I thought we’d lose but I started riding her again and she responded,” Saez said. “I had room but I didn’t know if I would get there. When I saw her responding, I started riding and we got it. I was not sure because I saw somebody from the outside but we got it.”