Alexandra Stakes – Grade II [KYO]
1 1/16 Mile Dirt Stake Purse $300.000 Filly 3 Year Olds.

Two things were obvious in this race one of which I hope you read in the preview I wrote. The one which I predicted was that most of the accomplished fillies in this race were closers going by their previous performances and that a front runner would most likely take this race. The second I didn’t predict was the rain which of course threw some of the form out of the window.
So, it was down to who got the luck of the race engine, or who took advantage and pressed the gaming button to make their filly the front runner. I have no idea which of those things happened, but the winner has run both on speed and as a closer and today something or someone made the right instructional choice and saw her go to the front out of the gate.

Here is how the race finished:

1st Reaper Lightning Fractious Franco M

When a stable is in form the winners keep coming and Fractious has certainly made a flying start to 2024. This wasn’t a shock result as she had charged home to very nearly win the Demoiselle last time out, I guess the only surprise was that she found the lead so easily but considering the muddy surface she went pretty quick through the first quarter and even the wide gate speed push wasn’t enough to keep up. It has to be said that she maintained a good pace throughout and won pretty easily in the end with the expected scrum in behind her as all the closers rushed to beat the stalkers home. Despite the conditions I feel she was the best filly on show today and she looks a natural for the KYO.

2nd Agapova Royalty Stables Velazquez J R

Though this filly got it right in the BC Juvenile Fillies I was worried that her late closing style would see her second more often than first and that was again the case today as she beat everything else home bar the front runner. There is no doubt this is a very classy filly with a bag full of ability, but the race engine makes it very hard for closers and she will always find be the gamble in any race where she gets too far back.

3rd Children Of The Sod Onlineracingclub.com Cedillo A

The wide gate speed push was only enough to get her into the stalk and on this muddy ground with a strong front runner it was always going to be hard to get past the leader. Second to last was all noses and necks and she did well enough to hold onto third but never looked like worrying the winner out of it.

4th Midnight Rumble Riggins Racing Geroux F

I must admit this race worked out exactly like it looked it would with most of the runners looking to rush late. This was one of them and like the runner up this running style is always going to see more promising runs that wins. This was a decent effort and of course if you ran this race with a slightly different early pace the ending could’ve looked very different.

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES