La Marseillaise took the BC F&M Sprint with a sharp finish that didn’t get answered by the other contenders. It’s the first ever win in a BC race for Witeout Stable, and they might be a small stable, but they seem to be knowing very well what they are doing. They didn’t just send the horse to this race, they worked every angle.

Not sure if jockey’s instructions were adjusted, but La Marseillaise didn’t jump in front to fight for the lead as it could be expected, but she took instead a comfortable spot in the middle.

We said it in the preview, be careful with this filly because the speed is there; she impressed and won twice in a row at SAR before trying a turf race that didn’t work. But on the dirt she had the numbers.

For this race Witeout removed both blinkers and shadow rolls, leaving just the Lasix injection. It probably has to do with the breezing work below 59 on 10/29, although we don’t know for sure.

The other interesting thing beside a change of pace and accessories is that Witeout enlisted and got first the mount by M.E. Smith; then a sudden change of heart and they called back Joel Rosario, who already took this filly to victory in the Honorable Miss.

Smith was left without mount, pretty much a similar thing that happened with Jive Inc where they first gave # 12 Truly Deeply Madly to Lanerie, then made the switch to Garcia Mar. It worked great for Witeout, maybe a bit less for Jive, just maybe, because in spite of a good ride for Truly Deeply Madly, we have a little question mark for Garcia Mar.

Favorite at the gate was First Impression at 7/2, one of the 3 Mb Stables’ fillies. So, after a few changes in the mounts as we said above, it’s race time.

And off the gate Garcia Mar makes an immediate move with Truly Deeply Madly and after a little confrontation with First Impression, takes the lead. First Impression is right there and the group gets in line, following the sharp pace.

After 2 furlongs, Truly Deeply Mad is in the lead, a close lead over First Impression, then Grayte Shack, Ms Pea, Repercussions, Wbf No Regrets, Z is For Zero, La Marseillaise, Class Status, Totally Baroque and Out and Bad. A bit behind are Tommy Frazier, Hawaiian Cruiser and Christina G, all a bit slow off the gate.

Not a lot of movement leading to the 4 furlongs mark: Truly Deeply Madly, still in the lead, clocks it in 45:92. First Impression is still there, menacing. Behind, at close range, Grayte Crack resists in third place but looks like she gave what she had to give. Ms Pea moves in front of Repercussions to take a temporary 4^th place. Meantime, while Wbf No Regrets is holding his spot on the rail, there’s some movement on the outside.

Entering the turn home, Truly Deeply Madly is still in the lead but maybe there’s a little mistake by Garcia Mar who in spite of having led all the way, never really got to the rail. On the turn, in fact, First Impression moves on the inside. Right behind it gets suddenly dark for Ms Pea and Repercussions, both struggling badly. On the outside Totally Baroque, after a bit of back and forth with Z is For Zero, is on the move, sharply. Class Status tries to follow, but it’s beaten on the spot by La Marseillaise, pushed promptly by Rosario on Totally Baroque’s trail.

Coming home on the stretch First Impression takes advantage of the hole inside and positions herself nicely to deal with Truly Deeply Madly; Wbf No Regrets is still there, right behind in the center, while on the outside Rosario keeps on pushing La Marseillaise against Totally Baroque’s back. Grayte Shack is now struggling and slowing down.

Here on the turn, it looks like Ryan takes it really wide on Totally Baroque, sort of starting the turn wide 3 and exiting wide 6. That allows La Marseillaise to come out on the stretch on the inside, while Totally Baroque, still willing to fight, will have to regain the ground lost on the final turn.

First Impression, on the inside, tries to take off, having disposed of Truly Deeply Madly, but La Marseillaise and Totally Baroque come charging at full speed. In the last half furlong, La Marseillaise takes over, while a fighting Totally Baroque conquers the second place, and you wonder if that wide turn home cost her something more. First Impression is holding for third in front of Wbf No Regrets, who had a very good race, but lacked the extra push on the stretch.

Truly Deeply Madly will finish 5^th in front of Tommy Frazier, who actually had an amazing rally, coming from way behind.

La Marseillaise was purchased at the auctions by Witeout Stable from Blushing Meadows on 9/14/2019 for $ 15,030. Right after, Witeout added Lasix and won an allowance and since then La Marseillaise has been racing in several stakes. The filly has Swarley and Hollywood Moon among others in her pedigree and she has now $ 879,600 career earnings.
The final time for the winner was 1:21.6, the 4^th best time in this race ever.

Very good second place for Totally Baroque, ridden smartly by Ryan with well-timed moves on the outside, except for that turn home that could have been less wide and caused some loss of ground. Still, great race.

First Impression did well; she first got into it with Truly Deeply Madly, then let her go and kept stalking. She didn’t have the strength to answer back to the final charge by the top 2, but had a good race.

Wbf No Regrets, finished fourth, and as said, good race, good speed, but lacked the needed acceleration on the home stretch.

We talked already about Truly Deeply Madly, who worked hard from the beginning, took charge of the pace, then ended up a bit tired. Garcia Mar could and should have moved her to the rail, however, that might have helped some.

Tommy Frazier finished a good sixth considering the ground she lost early when she got left behind with Christina G and Hawaiian Crusader. Great rally, a bit earlier…who knows. Good race though and nice ride by Gaffalione.

Class Status had a pretty stable race, always between 7^th and 9^th, unable to progress, but not fading away either.

Z is For Zero was similar to Class Status: 7^th after 2 furlongs, 9^th after 4 and 8^th at the end.

Disappointing were Hawaiian Crusader (9^th) who only partially made up for a poor start, Christina G (10^th), same as Hawaiian, Repercussions who looked pretty good for 4 furlongs then suddenly gave up.

Behind her finished Grayte Crack, who maybe tried too hard to keep the initial pace with Truly Deeply Madly and First Impression and then tired at the beginning of the stretch.

Ms Pea was 4^th and looking bright right before the 4f mark, then all of a sudden started to lose ground.

Out And Bad had a pretty anonymous race and finished last.

Mauro Ruini/Alabarda

Categories: BC 2018-20, Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES