Royal Heroine Stakes (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purse
SA- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile on The Turf
May 5, 2016

It wasn’t a busy day at SA today, but one of the two races at the track was a Grade 2 Turf event. A field of four went to post for the tenth running of the Royal Heroine Stakes which took place in May for the first time in its history.   Returning to the race was the winner of the 2015 race, Tidal Wave, and she seemed to have a good shot at duplicating that performance, but winning the same stake two years in a row is never an easy feat.  She had never slowed down and had won two more graded stakes since.  We made her our horse to beat, although Iron Punch looked like she had the potential to beat her here.  Jockey K Desomeaux, who rode Tidal Wave last year, would be on that biggest rival this year.  That would lead to the betting public not agreeing with us about Tidal Wave, and instead made Iron Punch the favorite.  Even Dancing Ghost took a little more money then Tidal Wave.  In the end, Tidal Wave did just as she did last year, jumping out to the lead, and never looking back.  Her winning time of 1:33.45 was .07 then her time last year, and becomes a record for the stake when held at SA.   This year the winning rider was G L Stevens, his first win in the race.  Congrats to winning trainer, Paradise Stable!  Here’s a deeper look.

1st- 2- Tidal Wave (5/2)- Things seemed pretty easy for our winner from Paradise Racing in this race.  She was sharp out of the gate, and it looked like her and Iron Punch would be ready to match strides into the opening turn.  Though her rival would back up about three lengths and instead race with Dancing Ghost instead of running on the lead.  This allowed for Tidal Wave to be clear on the lead while not overextending herself.  The opening quarter went in :24.28, and the half in :47.70.  No one would challenge her on the backstretch as she gracefully raced along with her two to three length cushion.  In the turn, it looked as though Iron Punch was wanting to bear down on her, but it probably did not take more then a simple nudge by G Stevens on his mare just to make sure she would be able to keep this pace up.  Tidal Wave was still looking good at the top of the stretch, and would cruise to the wire to pick up the win!   Tidal Wave is a six year old mare by Astral Weeks (Rhythm line) and out of the autogen Hummus.  She was bred in New Jersey by Paradise Stable as a third quarter two year old, and they have been together every step of the way! Congrats again!

2nd- 4- Iron Punch (6/5)- The Joseph Racing entry was actually a little quicker then Tidal Wave right out of the gate, but instead of running with her around the first time, K Desormeaux would restrain her.  This would lead to her dropping back almost three lengths from the leader as they moved down the backstretch.  As the run into the final turn began it looked like she was ready to make a move on Tidal Wave and regain those lengths, but since her rival had plenty left in the tank herself, she never seemed to make much progress on the winner but did well to keep her second position.

3rd- 1- Dancing Ghost (2/1)- It was an average start for Drabfantasy’s filly, content to be about three to four lengths back down the backstretch.  She kept her position along the rail, but she would not be able to advance on Iron Punch in the turn, let alone Tidal Wave.  The three non-winners were all within a length for the stretch run, but there were no passes completed by any.

4th- 3- Three Little Birds (5/1)– The entry from Threshold did not get involved early, and would see them all in front of her down the backstretch.   She allowed an approximate two length gap between her and third place Dancing Ghost at this stage of the race.  Got a little closer in the final turn and into the stretch, but she would never be able to move out of the last position.

Track: Firm
Time: :24¹  :47³  1:10²  1:33²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 2 – 4 Paid 7.70

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES