The Suwannee River (Grade 3)- $150.000 Purse
GP- For Fillies and Mares Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Turf
February 9, 2019

There is no slowing down Devil Wears Prada. The mare turned eight years old this year, and still continues to race at a high level. In our virtual world, this is a little uncommon to see a female have this kind of longevity, as that is usually reserved for geldings. Axeman has gone against what is commonly seen in the game, and has been rewarded with quite a bit of success. In winning The Suwannee River, Devil Wears Prada earned her 14th victory, and gets her 2019 off to a great beginning as she looks to run in the BC for the fourth time. It is Axeman’s firsst win in the stake, and it’s the second such win for jockey Jef Sanchez, who did so way back in 2010 with Valibert. Congratulations to them! Here’s a look at it!

(½ Mile- :46.89)- The first half mile was an interesting portion of the race that saw quite a bit of movement. At first, it looked like Alligator, from Maxmillion Farm would be our early leader. She broke well from the outside and had the field clear by a length heading into the opening turn. Behind her would be Snow Doll, for Oliver Klozov, and Tornado Warning, out of of Mb Stables. But, wait a minute! Here comes Diablo Diablo’s Calling The Shots, and the shot she was calling was wanting to be on the lead no matter what early, so she ends up taking the advantage in the turn, while Alligator retreats back to be midpack. We’re not done, though, because Snow Doll is not content to just let Calling The Shots call the first shot, and went up to battle her for the lead. After all that, at first call at a half mile, its Snow Doll by a head over Calling The Shots. After two lengths, they are four wide behind her, with Alligator in the third lane there, and Tornado Warning on the inside. Sandset runs between them for Team 7 Illusions, and four wide was the old Team 7, now Smokey Stover runner, Free Sunset. Maggie Greene was another length back for The Sidley Stud, a head in front of our eventual winner, Devil Wears Prada, for Axeman. She could see them all in front of her here, but was a reasonable five lengths off the lead.

(3/4 Mile- 1:10.33)- For the majority of the backstretch trip, the main excitement was Free Sunset moving up from the middle of the field to now join Snow Doll and Calling The Shots on the front end. Calling The Shots was just beginning to lose touch moving into the turn, and this set up Snow Doll and Free Sunset to be just heads apart. Alligator was starting to come back into the picture but traffic currently was not ideal for either Tornado Warning or Sandset to make a move. It was ideal, however, for Devil Wears Prada, who casually moved to outside of Maggie Greene, and left her in her dust, before beginning to pull up to the outside of Alligator. She had cut half the gap to the lead already. Maggie Greene responded well to the pass of Devil Wears Prada, perhaps serving as her signal to begin to move forward as well.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- While rounding the turn, Free Sunset was looking sharp, and showing the form for now that won her the BC Fillies and Mares Turf. Alligator wanted to move up to challenge, but was really unable to make up much ground. Devil Wears Prada, with a wide move around the turn, kept digging in, and was in good position for her stretch run. She was now just a little more then a length back, so it was starting to look inevitable at this point, unless Free Sunset could find a little extra. Maggie Greene continued to follow Devil Wears Prada, which was not a bad idea at all. She was fourth, a nose in front of Sandset. Snow Doll and Calling The Shots had dropped back, and Tornado Warning was lacking response.

(Finish- 1:45.79)- The veteran eight year old showed the younger fillies and mares how it was done in the stretch, pouring it on, and eventually pulling away from Free Sunset in the final furlong to win the race by a length and a half. Free Sunset holds on for second, and it was a photo for third between Maggie Greene and Alligator. Maggie Greene quietly ran a good race here today, especially in the stretch. The other four were left behind, and scored officially as Sandset, Tornado Warning, Snow Doll, and Calling The Shots.

About The Winner- Devil Wears Prada, trained by Axeman and ridden to victory by Jef Sanchez is an eight year old mare by O Cayman, and is out of the late Ideology. She was bred in West Virginia by Riddler Racing as a first quarter two year old, and acquired by Axeman, via Maverick Racing in private sales back in June 2016 for $100.000. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her 14th in 52 starts, and it is her eighth graded victory. Her career earnings are now $2,792.930.

Track: Firm
Time: :46⁴  1:10¹  1:34   1:45³

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 4 – 5 Paid 59.30
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 5 – 3 Paid 338.90

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES