Cotillion Stakes (Grade 1) (BC)- $1,000.000 Purse
PRX- For Fillies Three Years Old
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
September 26, 2020
Pocono Fashion may have been bred in New York, but it is only fitting that she would win the biggest race of her career not too far away from the Pocono Mountains here at PRX in the 13th running of the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes. This will allow her to run in the BC Distaff next month just as long as the trainer decides to send her. That trainer is Nakamura Stables, and it seemed like he would have one of the top horses in the field, it just was not this one. Now, with Tell It Like It Is not having her best race, Pocono Fashion stepped up in her place, getting the win at odds of almost 20/1. It is the first win in the race for both the trainer and for jockey G Franco. Congratulations to them. The race was run in a time of 1:41.86, which is in line with other recent winning times. Here is a look at the race!
(¼ Mile- :22.90)- The race gets off to a smooth start, with the early leader being the outside horse, TwinTowersRacing’s Starship Twister who takes the long way around most of the opening turn before being able to move over as they approached the backstretch. At that point, she leads by almost a full length over Rampage Stable’s Coconut Princess, who is to her inside. On her inside, within half a length, is Allinthegate’s The Belle Tolls. Dream Woman, out of Mb Stables is in fourth, and potentially has a nice lane here to take to the outside of Starship Twister if she was interested. Pink N Bold, from Iolaus Racing, is fifth and situated behind the leader. Ms Pea (Aer Stables) is next on the rail, three lengths from the lead. In the middle of the field, we have Pocono Fashion, our eventual winner from Nakamura Stables. She got off to an uneventful, though clean start, and is running behind Dream Woman in the fourth lane. Stablemate Miss Steel Mazula is to her inside with Flawed Justice (YME Stable). Well known names make up the trailers, as its then Precise Performance (Mb Stables), Odd Trek (D J C Racing Stables) and Tell It Like It Is (Nakamura Stables), with Run Fitchew (Night Rider Stables) a little further back.
(½ Mile- :46.14)- The field moves down the backstretch without any major moves within the field. Starship Twister continues to show the way, and Coconut Princess is content to run to her inside, but not make a bid for the lead. The same can be said for The Belle Tolls, who ran third on the rail. As we move closer to the turn, we begin to see Dream Woman take advantage of the clear lane that she had, and she cuts into the lead and becomes one of the horses to watch while in the turn. Behind her had been Pocono Fashion, and this filly was wide to follow Dream Woman’s advance. It was not a push for the lead at this point, but more a case of wanting to keep on Dream Woman’s tail. This allowed her to pull to within two and a half lengths of the lead, and set her up very nicely to move over a lane and attempt to pass Dream Woman if she was interested and able to do so. Elsewhere, Pink N Bold is also wanting to move up, but does not have the same clear lane in front of her as does Dream Woman, and that stymies her advance. Precise Performance looked to be in the best shape of those further back to make a run forward.
(Top Of The Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- The run around the turn played out much the way that it looked to be setting up. Dream Woman continued to advance while in the fourth lane and would push to the front by the time they reached the exit of the turn. Starship Twister would bow out around this time, making horses like Pink N Bold, then a domino effect with Miss Steel Mazula, having to alter their positions to avoid running into her. However, the other two that were in the front still had plenty left in the tank, with The Belle Tolls looking appealing here. A win here would be great for this filly to show that she still should be considered one of the best in this division, which is how she was looking around this time last year. Coconut Princess was hanging on well enough. Meanwhile, Pocono Fashion took advantage of the lane that she had, and would move over one more to try and get by Dream Woman. She was now just a length back, and the one that was making Nakamura Stables the most excited now. Precise Performance would take the lane to her outside, putting her six lanes over, and about two and a half lengths from the lead. She’d have a lot of work to do, with the task of getting around Pocono Fashion the most difficult. Odd Trek was trying to inch forward, but could have shown a little more at this point.
(Finish- 1:41.86)- In the stretch, Pocono Fashion is too much for Dream Woman to handle, and makes the pass somewhat easily. Her biggest concern would be Precise Performance, who was coming on strongly on the outside, but Pocono Fashion still had plenty of run here, and was not about to let the lead slip away. She holds on, looking good in the process, and wins by a length. The photo for second was very close, as the steady run of The Belle Tolls on the inside kept her in the mix, and she gets the edge over Precise Performance to complete the exacta. Dream Woman is fourth after a good run, and Pink N Bold gets the fifth spot but could have had a better finish here if not for the traffic issues here approaching the top of the stretch. Longshot Coconut Princess dropped to sixth, besting Miss Steel Mazula for the spot. Odd Trek had a lane, looked like she might do something with it for a moment, but then came empty, giving her no excuses when she goes to back to the barn for her eighth place finish. Tell It Like It Is was a disappointment here, running ninth, but at least her trainer will be in a good mood after the race. Flawed Justice never got involved. Ms Pea seemed like she could have had a better finish here, but came up quite empty late. Run Fitchew had the best seat in the house to watch the action in front of her, and Starship Twister at least had her moment early on.
About The Winner- Pocono Fashion, trained by Nakamura Stables and ridden to victory by G Franco, is a three year old filly by Pocono General, and is out of Hollywood Geek. She was bred in New York by Nakamura Stables as a first quarter two year old, the only trainer for which she has ever known. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her fourth in 11 starts, her second stake win, and first graded win. Her career earnings are now $834.360.
Track: Fast
Time: :224 :46 1:101 1:414
$2 Mutuel Prices:
$1 Exacta: 10 – 8 Paid 134.60
$1 Trifecta: 10 – 8 – 11 Paid 173.60
Scratched: None
— NS
Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES
