Country Hideaway takes Vagrancy following win by sister Matlacha Pass

If there were any doubts about who would be favored in the $109,400 Vagrancy Handicap (G3) at Belmont Park on the sultry afternoon of June 17, they were dispelled earlier in the day.

In the third race, trainer Claude R. "Shug" McGaughey III sent out a three-year-old bay daughter of Seeking the Gold out of Our Country Place, by Pleasant Colony, for a solid, 1 3/4-length victory in a seven-furlong allowance race. It was the first start since September 26 for Matlacha Pass, who was sent off at 2-to-5 in what was only her second career race following an 8 1/4-length triumph in her debut at Belmont, also under jockey Jerry Bailey.

Five races later, McGaughey was back with the filly's older full sister, the four-year-old Country Hideaway, who in the Vagrancy was making her second start off a layoff that began after she ran fourth in the Top Flight Handicap (G2) on November 28. By post time, Country Hideaway, a mild choice on the morning line, became the 1.15-to-1 favorite, and both Country Hideaway's connections and backers were rewarded when she rushed four wide through the stretch to post a three-quarter-length victory over the front-running Hurricane Bertie.

"I tried to be patient with her," said Bailey, who has been having an astounding run of success at the Belmont spring meet, riding winners at a nearly 40% clip. "When I went, I went kind of hard with her and when she turned for home, she kind of floated out a little bit and that might have cost her a length. She was running so fast she couldn't keep the turn. This was the next logical step for her."

It was the second graded stakes win and seventh victory in nine starts for the late-starting filly, who won the First Flight Handicap (G2) at Aqueduct last fall after making her debut last June. Her only two losses came at distances greater than seven furlongs and against tougher company; she finished fourth in the Top Flight to Belle Cherie and fifth in the Gazelle Handicap (G1), won by champion Silverbulletday.

"She's accomplished a lot for having started so late," said McGaughey. In the Vagrancy, Bailey settled Country Hideaway in next to last in the early going as Hurricane Bertie carried the field of seven through fractions of :22.41, :45.81, and 1:10.59. Gradually advancing and then going wide on the turn, Country Hideaway collared the pacesetter 110 yards from the finish and hit the wire in front in 1:17.05 for the 6 1/2 furlongs.

Following Hurricane Bertie under the wire were Imperfect World, who overcame traffic problems to gain third, Foil, Close Cut, La Galerie (Arg), and Her She Kisses. Gold Princess, declared the winner of last year's Vagrancy when Hurricane Bertie was disqualified from first, was scratched.

"We were hoping for some faster fractions, especially with the scratch of Gold Princess, " said McGaughey of how the race set up for Country Hideaway, who earned $65,640 for owner Ogden Phipps as she extended her bankroll to $306,840.

"Jerry did a nice job getting her to settle behind the speed. She was floated a bit wide coming out of the turn, but she was not beat up doing it."

In the days leading up to the race, McGaughey had expressed hope that Country Hideaway would blossom this year, having come out of her initial start, an allowance race on May 17, in good order. The Vagrancy represented a step up for the filly, whose dam, a half sister to 1994 champion filly Sky Beauty, was purchased by Ogden Phipps as a yearling.

"She was unraced, but she was a very good mare," said McGaughey of Our Country Place.

The win opened up several options for McGaughey, who is considering the 1 1/16-mile Molly Pitcher Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2) at Monmouth Park on July 4 for her next start.

"There are also races at Saratoga like the Honorable Miss (Handicap [G3]) and the Ballerina (Handicap [G1])," he said. "The Ruffian (Handicap [G1]) is here in the fall, and then the First Flight and Top Flight. We'll wait and see before making a decision."

Golden Prince

A glance at some of the company Promontory Gold has been keeping in his brief career is really enough to discover that he has been going up against some of the best of his generation.

In his second career start, the three-year-old son of Gone West out of 1995 champion grass mare Possibly Perfect finished second by a length to eventual Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner The Deputy (Ire) in the one-mile Hill Rise Handicap on the Santa Anita Park turf on January 2. In his lone foray on to the main track, Promontory Gold finished sixth behind future Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Fusaichi Pegasus in the San Felipe Stakes (G2).

The only puzzle was his fifth-place finish as the 3-to-5 favorite in the Forerunner Stakes at Keeneland on April 20, a race in which trainer Bobby Frankel thought he might have been compromised by being too close to a fast pace.

That was not going to be the case in the $110,900 Hill Prince Stakes (G3) on the firm Belmont inner turf course on June 17, not if Promontory Gold had anything to say about it. Rated just off fractions of :24.47 and :48.84 set by Avezzano (GB) and Peeping Tom, a headstrong Promontory Gold drove to the front on the second turn and had plenty left to hold off the late charge of Rob's Spirit to win by a half-length in 1:49.15 for the nine furlongs.

"He broke kind of slow but the pace was slow and he pushed his way through," said jockey Edgar Prado. "When I put him in the clear, he really settled nicely. I thought the other horse (Rob's Spirit) might go by in the stretch, but he dug in pretty gamely."

"We had every chance to win, we just couldn't run the winner down," said Bailey, aboard the runner up.

The mild 2.10-to-1 favorite in the field of seven, Promontory Gold now has a record of 3-1-0 in six starts for owner Robert A. Witt.

"Turf is where he belongs," said Witt. "We tried him on the dirt and it didn't work out. Last time, he went off at 3-to-5 at Keeneland and we were disappointed with the race. He got the ride he was supposed to get today." Following Promontory Gold and Rob's Spirit under the wire were Avezzano, Polish Miner, Bulling, Belle's Tiger, and Peeping Tom. Big E E was scratched.

Gaviola's Sands Point

When trainer Billy Turner Jr. first discussed the filly Gaviola with Twilite Farm owner Carlos Perez, he learned that the Ecuadoran businessman and breeder regarded her as the second-best horse he had ever bred.

"It turns out the best horse he'd ever bred was Kona Gold," Turner said mildly after Gaviola ran off to her fourth straight victory on the turf in the $111,300 Sands Point Stakes (G3) before a Father's Day crowd of 14,839 on June 18. (Kona Gold, who ran second in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Sprint [G1], has won the Potrero Grande Breeders' Cup Handicap [G2] and the Palos Verdes Handicap [G2] this year.)

Under Bailey, who took two of the three weekend stakes at Belmont, Gaviola sat just off fractions of :24.07, :47.69, and 1:11.78 set by Southern Sandra and then powered past the pacesetter on the turn en route to a 4 1/4-length victory over Shopping for Love. She ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.77 on firm turf.

"We had a great trip," Bailey said. "The plan was not to go too fast early on. I sat behind the longshot, and she did the rest. She ran like a 3-to-5 shot should." Gaviola went off at 7-to-10.

Following the first two under the wire were Millie's Quest, Efficient Frontier, Tippity Witch, Southern Sandra, Azireprice, and Senza Paura.

"She just keeps on performing well," Turner said of the three-year-old gray daughter of Cozzene out of Forest Key, by Green Forest. "She's relaxing more in her races. She could be vulnerable to a speed horse, but she was able to sit off the pace today. That will help her down the line because these races will only get harder."

The victory was the fifth in eight starts for Gaviola, who sandwiched allowance victories around her other stakes win, the Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park in March.

"I think she'll go longer, but not yet," Turner said. "Our long-term goal is the (nine-furlong) Lake Placid (Handicap [G2]) at Saratoga on August 21."