by Mike Curry
Lahudood (GB) surged into contention from the inside and gradually powered past game pacesetter Rosinka (Ire) to win the $600,000 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes (G1) by three-quarters of a length and set a stakes record on Saturday at Belmont Park.
The four-year-old Singspiel (Ire) filly earned her first career group or graded stakes victory after previously placing three times in group stakes races in France. Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, the Shadwell Stable homebred entered off an unplaced finish in the Beverly D. Stakes (G1) on turf rated as good on August 11 at Arlington Park.
“[Shadwell racing manager] Rick Nichols told me that the boss didn’t send her over here to be an allowance horse,” McLaughlin said of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum. “This was the first time everything went perfect. She wants to be covered up and make a run on firm ground.”
The turf for the 1 1/4-mile Flower Bowl showed no hint of moisture as dust kicked up with every stride. Grade 3 winner Rosinka set an uncontested pace through an opening quarter in :24.76 and a half-mile in :49.13 as champion Wait a While stalked from second on the inside with 21.40-to-1 longshot Lahudood racing comfortably in third.
Rosinka repelled a bid from Wait a While entering the stretch and appeared poised to reel off her fifth consecutive victory, but Lahudood accelerated through an opening on the rail and closed willingly under jockey Alan Garcia.
Lahudood drew even with Rosinka nearing the sixteenth pole and powered past to prevail in 1:59.05 on firm turf. The winning time eclipsed the previous stakes record of 1:59.33 set by Auntie Mame in 1998.
Rosinka was a half-length in front of third-place finisher and 0.95-to-1 favorite Wait a While. Beverly D. winner Royal Highness (Ger) flattened out in the stretch and faded to while Grade 1 winner My Typhoon (Ire) finished a non-threatening eighth.
Lahudood improved to three wins in 11 career starts and nearly tripled her career earnings to $545,170 with the $360,000 winner’s share of the purse. Bred in Great Britain, Lahudood is out of the winning Arazi mare Rahayeb. She could make her next start in the Emirates Airlines Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) on October 27.
“I don’t know if she is Breeders’ Cup nominated, but it wouldn’t be a problem if we had to supplement her,” McLaughlin said.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times daily news editor