Sugar Maple- $150.000 Purse
CT- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
April 18, 2015

Heading into this fourth running of the Sugar Maple, Blarney Bee seemed to be the horse to beat.  She had run well in a couple graded stakes, but trainer Smokey Stover wanted to see her do more.  Making the slight drop down into this race seemed like a good move, and when the field was revealed, Smokey Stover had to be feeling very confident that his filly was about to lay the “sting” down on the rest of the competition.  As good as her chances may have been on paper, there was still a race to be run, and Blarney Bee backed up the pre-race hype.  Her jockey, R Bejarano made a rare trip to CT count by getting at least this one victory.  He may have wanted the next race on the card a little more, but he will settle for this.  The winning time of 1:22.27 is a stake record.  Congrats to all of the connections!

1st- 4- Blarney Bee (2/1)- Our eventual winner was ready to run right from the get-go, and ran with pace setter Space Fairy for the first run down the front stretch.  This was done while maintaining a comfortable position along the rail.   Held steady in this spot around the first turn, and along the backstretch.  While this was happening, there was becoming more daylight between her and the rest of the field.  Made the move to pass Space Fairy with about a furlong to go, but the rival made it a difficult pass.  Blarney Bee had to earn it, and on this day she would just a little more finishing kick to get up to the wire and win the race!  Congrats again to all of the connections!

2nd- 5- Space Fairy (5/2)- Started well out of the gate for Threshold , and would set the opening fraction in a very reasonable :23.14, and the half in :46.26.  Her and Blarney Bee at one point on the backstretch opened up about a four length cushion on the rest of the field.  To her credit, she did not just go away, at all.  She valiantly dug in to keep Blarney Bee from passing her and made her take over half a furlong to do so.   That was not all for not, because Mississippi Darkness was full of run, but Space Fairy held her second.

3rd- 2- Mississippi Darkness (13/1)- Dropped back to the tail end of the pack at the start for Eastern Equine.   She was content to race here up until midway through the turn where she began to reel in Charming Nightmares for 3rd.  Once that pass was complete, she put together a strong effort to try and get the top two, but too much ground was conceded to them early in the race, and she could pass neither.  That’s a credit to the heart shown to the top two.

4th- 3- Osana (5/2)- The Ubetracing.com mare was unhurried out of the gate, and content to run near the back of the pack.  Disappointingly, she failed to show much of anything in this race, remaining at the back with no push ever made.  Hopefully there will be better days.

5th- 1- Charming Nightmares (4/1)- Average start out of the gate, with J Rosario keeping the Chili King Stables entry about a length or two off the front runners early.   Lost several lengths in the backstretch.  This gradual regression carried on throughout the race, and she would finish last of them all.

Track: Fast
Time: :23   :46¹  1:09⁴  1:22¹

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 4 – 5 Paid 10.20
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 5 – 2 Paid 133.60

Winner picked by NS

Categories: Ungraded