November 9, 2016

The best female sprinters at HRP lined up on Saturday afternoon in a hotly contested renewal of the Grade I BC F&M Sprint and in the end, the three-year-olds bested the older runners once again as Queen Of Broadway stalked the early lead of Ambient perfectly before holding off Enticing for a neck decision. Purchased by Aer Stables after her win in the Eight Belles on the KYO undercard, she had been improving in each effort and found the seven-furlongs to her liking, scoring a second win at the distance and fifth overall from only eight career starts.

Inside speed was nowhere to be found in the F&M Sprint but Ambient (23.95) was certainly fast enough and rocketed to command from Asclepios Trail (8.50) and Laffin Diplomat (56.70) out wide with Queen Of Broadway (10.20) inside of them. The leaders were able to get down to the fence with Ambient still on top and through an opening quarter-mile in 22.26, the top four had separated themselves from You Gotta Believe (12.45), Fleeting Affair (5.35) inside and Enticing (9.40) three-wide into the far turn. A clear lead into the far turn proved that the fractions up front were too quick and as Queen Of Broadway inched forward, the half-mile came up in 45.06 with plenty of closers lurking in the weeds. At the top of the long SA stretch, Ambient was all out to hold the advantage but had drifted into a two-wide path and that opened up the rail for Queen Of Broadway, who was tracked by Fleeting Affair while Enticing came wide. Ambient gave it up in the final furlong as the inside proved golden once again and at the wire, it was Queen of Broadway who held on for the 10-1 upset over Enticing in second with Fleeting Affair a closing third and favourite Lea (*3.05) up for fourth inside. Sweep Clean (8.60) came wide for fifth from You Gotta Believe and Summer Sampler (11.45) with Silk Houses (55.65) wide, Ambient tiring and Balais Bruit (35.80) lackluster. City Bus (8.85) moved wide but showed little, Laffin Diplomat and Asclepios Trail finished right together as they were at the beginning while the only one distanced from the field was T S Devil (43.45), who never got involved despite an inside gate.

Queen Of Broadway looked to be coming up to a big effort in her third start off the layoff and as predicted, she found a stalking spot inside when others could not and used that to score the biggest win of her career, and of the year, in the BC F&M Sprint. She is now the leader of a division that had some big players in it and in victory, still has a lot of races ahead of her with only eight under her belt and an older division to tackle in 2017.

Congratulations goes out to owner Aer Stables and their three-year-old filly Queen Of Broadway, a rousing winner of the Grade I BC F&M Sprint at SA!

Prediction                      Lea / Fleeting Affair / Ambient

Winner                           Queen Of Broadway

                                          Three-year-old bay filly

                                          Danzing Host-Broadway Dance (Forum Dancer)

Owner                             Aer Stables

Time                                22.26, 45.06, 1;09.39, 1:22.05

Overall

Queen Of Broadway    10.20 sat inside, rallied, held sway

Enticing                          9.40 broke wide, sharp late gains

Fleeting Affair               5.35 pressed inside, up for third

Lea                                   *3.05 came on too late

Sweep Clean                  8.60 even effort

You Gotta Believe         12.45 even effort

Summer Sampler          11.45 minor late gains

Silk Houses                    55.65 no threat

Ambient                           23.95 set wicked pace, faltered

Balais Bruit                     35.80 no factor

City Bus                            8.85 broke slow, even

Laffin Diplomat             56.70 wide run

Asclepios Trail               8.50 wide run

T S Devil                           43.45 outrun

Triple T Racing 🙂

Categories: BC 2015-17, Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES, THE BREEDERS CUP