Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Forever Together Wins The Diana Stakes at Saratoga July 26
Posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008
The Jonathan Sheppard-trained Forever Together won Saturday’s 70th running of the $500,000 Diana Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course and earned a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf as part of the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” series of horse races.
Racing 1 1/8 miles on turf in 1:46.52, Forever Together, under jockey Julien Leparoux, paid $20, $8.20 and $5.80. 3/4-lengths behind, Dynaforce, with jockey Kent Desormeaux, returned $5.10 and $3.70. Another 3 1/2 lengths behind, Rutherienne, ridden by jockey Garrett Gomez, showed $5.20.
Facing a deep and contentious field of nine other fillies and mares that included four Grade 1 winners, the 4-year-old daughter of Belong to Me, Forever Together, broke well under jockey Julien Leparoux and was content to bring up the rear as Bayou Lassie zipped to the front and set fractions of 23.47, 46.98 and 1:10.93 over a Mellon turf course that was rated “good.”Rounding the turn, jockey Julien Leparoux, aboard the gray filly for the first time, swung Forever Together to the outside and she responded with a rousing late run that carried her past the front-runners to hit the wire in 1:46.52 for the nine furlongs.
“I was last, but it was nothing spectacular,” said jockey Julien Leparoux. “I mean, she was last, relaxed, and around the stretch I thought to make a move and come inside. When I got her out, she just took off.”
Vacare was 4th in Saratoga’s Diana Stakes followed by Lady Digby, Bayou’s Lassie, favored Wait a While, Criminologist, Bit of Whimsy, and Chestoria.
“She didn’t run like we thought she was going to,” said race horse Todd Pletcher, trainer of the beaten favorite Wait a While, who was in contention at the top of the stretch but flattened out. “We’re going to take her back to the barn and make sure everything is okay.”
Owned by Augustin Stable, Forever Together spent the early part of her career on dirt, winning the Forward Gal (G2) at Gulfstream Park last March.
When the filly Forever Together failed to win her next five starts on dirt, race horse trainer Jonathan Sheppard switched her to the turf and she came up with a good-looking victory over a yielding course at Arlington Park in May. In her next start, as the longshot in the field, she came from last to finish third, beaten but a length and a half, in the Just A Game (G1) at Belmont Park on Belmont Stakes Day.
“I suppose if you run a superb race at 45-1, one might think it was a fluke,” said race horse trainer Jonathan Sheppard of the filly Forever Together’s performance in the Just A Game. “We always thought she would like the turf.”
“We seemed to have a preponderance of turf horses in the barn, and if we find one that seems to be doing okay on the dirt, it gives us some diversity … [but] whatever we do, we seem to wind up in the same spot.”
With the winner’s purse of $300,000 Forever Together more than doubled her earnings to $575,300 and extended her record to 5 wins in 11 starts. With her having qualified as part of the Breeders’ Cup field for the 11-furlong Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at the Oak Tree Meeting at Santa Anita Park on Friday, October 24, race horse trainer Jonathan Sheppard said he would like to find a spot for her to stretch out between now and then.
“You would like a mile and a quarter race in between,” he said. “The [Grade 1, $600,000] Flower Bowl Invitational [September 27 at Belmont Park] might be such a race.”
Horse racing news edited from www.nyra.com.
Horse racing tags: Bayou's Lassie, Bit of Whimsy, Chestoria, Criminologist, Dynaforce, Forever Together, Lady Digby, Rutherienne, Vacare, Wait a While
"Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Forever Together Wins The Diana Stakes at Saratoga July 26" was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 8:18 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, Results & Payouts, Saratoga, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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