Valley View (G3)
KEE 1 1/16 mile – Turf
Filly & Mares 3&up
It was the fifth start of the year for Must Be Nice and her fifth win of the year, her first for new owner John Henry and her first in graded company. This time she wired the field as she has in three of her five career wins. Her toughest competition was expected to come from co-favorites My Lady and Senorita Is Sweeping.
Out of the gate, My Lady, Senorita Is Sweeping and Must Be Nice broke together on the lead. But as they went under the wire for the first time, My Lady gave them a length, leaving the other two to duel it out through an opening quarter mile in 23.61. Into the turn, Must Be Nice, in the third or fourth lane, stuck her head in front and never looked back.
She ran unchallenged through the backstretch, accelerating through the half in 46.88. By mid backstretch she had a comfortable 2½ length lead over Senorita Is Sweeping and Nebraska Ag and led by 3 at the ¾ mark in 1:10 flat.
Around the turn and into the stretch, it looked like Nebraska Ag would mount a challenge, but it was My Lady coming from 5 lengths back and threading through heavy traffic to cut the lead to ¾ of a length at the wire.
It was a tour d’ force performance for Must Be Nice. The 3-year-old filly ran each of the first 3 quarters of the 1 1/16 mile distance faster than the one before:
Quarter #1 – 23.61
Quarter#2 – 23.27
Quarter#3 – 23.12
The final time of 1:39.99 was less than a second off the track record.
Congratulations to John Heny!
Complete Order of Finish
Must Be Nice – led wire to wire in a commanding performance
My Lady – challenged for the lead early, fell back and overcame traffic problems to finish 2nd
Speedy Scrapper – trailed the field until mid-stretch when he made a big move to take 3rd
Nebraska Ag – stalked the pace and finished fourth, just a length back
Kip Kadabra and Queen of California – never a factor
Senorita Is Sweeping – stayed close to the eventual winner at first but faded badly to finish 7th and last
Categories: Grade III
