NEWS
Perfect end to almost perfect season
Posted: Saturday, November 11, 2000
Perfect Sting rebounds from sole defeat this year to win Filly and Mare Turf
Perfect Sting was not perfect this year. Almost, but not perfect. The one imperfection on her record, however, may have been instrumental in enabling her to win the $1,108,360 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) at Churchill Downs on November 4, most likely earning her the turf female championship that eluded her last year.
In her last prep for the Breeders' Cup, Perfect Sting finished second to Tout Charmant in the WinStar Galaxy Stakes (G3) on October 13 at Keeneland Race Course. Ridden by Jerry Bailey, Perfect Sting had chased Tout Charmant for more than three-quarters of a mile without being able to cut into the lead, eventually losing by 1 1/4 lengths. It was her lone setback in 2000.
Joe Orseno, Perfect Sting's trainer, said the loss did not take anything out of the filly and in fact saved something for the Breeders' Cup.
"Tout Charmant went out there as the lone speed," Orseno said of the Keeneland race. "She's a very talented horse and (jockey Chris) McCarron is a clever rider, and they outsmarted us that day. Jerry did the right thing by not hooking up with her at the half-mile pole and dueling with her to where he had no horse by the Breeders' Cup. So in looking back, that race in actuality helped us win this race. Tout Charmant had a lot left, and if we had gone with her and dueled with her, maybe we would have beat her, but it would have knocked my filly out. Jerry did not want to do that. He looked me in the eye after the race and said 'Don't worry about it.' "
Orseno was always confident he had the best filly on grass in this country and had been pointing her toward the Filly and Mare Turf for a year, since the Stronach Stables homebred had finished sixth in last year's inaugural Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park.
"Last year, if you watched the film, she was the best filly in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf," Orseno said. "She didn't get a chance to run from the gate to the wire. She was in trouble the whole way. She was the best filly last year. Unfortunately, the world didn't get a chance to see it."
Perfect Sting came into the Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill with the best record of any of the North American contenders, but she did not appear to be as sure a thing as Orseno seemed to think. While she had won 11 of her 16 career starts on turf coming into the race, she was in a battle every time. She had won 4-of-5 starts this year, but her average winning margin was less than a half-length, never winning by more than three-quarters of a length. That toughness, said Bailey, is what makes her a champion. "She likes to win," said Bailey, who took over as her rider after last year's Filly and Mare Turf. "That's why she has a lot of ones by her name."
Perfect Sting was sent off as the second betting choice, at 5-to-1, in the Filly and Mare Turf. Favored was English invader Petrushka (Ire), winner of three consecutive Group 1 races, the Irish Oaks (Ire-G1), Yorkshire Oaks (Eng-G1), and Prix de l'Opera (Fr-G1). Trained by Sir Michael Stoute and owned by Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, the daughter of Unfuwain was viewed as the European with the best chance on the card to win.
The Filly and Mare Turf attracted a full field of 14 runners, featuring the best runners from the West Coast: Tout Charmant, Tranquility Lake, Snow Polina, Caffe Latte (Ire), and Spanish Fern; the best from the East Coast: Colstar and Pico Teneriffe; the top Canadian filly, Fly for Avie; the tough German filly Catella (Ger); Japanese invader Maltese Superb; French-based Goldamix (Ire); and rising three-year-old Collect the Cash, stablemate of Perfect Sting.
"This was a tough field," Orseno said. "Everyone kept telling me about the horse from Europe (Petrushka), the horse from Europe, and I didn't know what to make of the horse from Europe. They were ready to make her the winner. But I said 'Let's run the race and see.' "
Almost perfect planning
The Filly and Mare Turf is a natural championship event for the division. Last year, Soaring Softly, ridden by Bailey, won the race and the turf female title. Perfect Sting, the co-second choice last year, finished sixth, beaten 2 1/2 lengths while ridden by Pat Day. She finished the year with six wins in ten starts.
Perfect Sting came into this year's race off a campaign that had been planned and implemented almost to perfection. Orseno said he plotted out the races for his filly in the spring and deviated just once-in her loss at Keeneland.
"In April I sat down with Jerry Bailey's agent (Ron Anderson) and told him everywhere she would run," Orseno said. "He said he'd stay on her the whole time.
"The only change was the race she lost. We were going to stay for the Flower Bowl (Invitational Handicap [G1] at Belmont Park, won by Colstar), but decided to go to Keeneland. We wanted a race that was a little easier because she had run so many hard races. In the Flower Bowl she would have had 124 pounds versus allowance conditions at Keeneland, and we thought the less weight would set her up better for the Breeders' Cup. Plus, she'd be in Kentucky and acclimate."
Perfect Sting started her 2000 campaign with a win in the Beaugay Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct in May and then reeled off wins in the Just a Game Breeders' Cup Handicap (G3) in June, the New York Handicap (G2) in July, and the Diana Handicap (G2) in September before her loss at Keeneland.
Trouble at start
The Filly and Mare Turf had 14 starters, and though it was blessed with a lot of talented runners, not many have exceptional speed.
At the start of the race, Spanish Fern, who had finished last in the 1999 running, was pulled up immediately by jockey Victor Espinoza. "I heard something crack in the left part of her back," said Espinoza. Spanish Fern was vanned off the track and immediately sent to Lexington to the Rood and Riddle clinic for X rays and treatment. It was determined that she had suffered a fractured pelvis. She died that evening from internal bleeding.
The early pace for the race was moderate, with Maltese Superb getting the first quarter-mile in :24.49 and Collect the Cash coming up to challenge after a half-mile in :48.51. The pace for the entire race was almost perfect 24-second quarters, with the three-quarters in 1:12.41 and the mile in 1:36.50.
Perfect Sting was far back early in 11th after the opening quarter and still ninth after six furlongs.
"With the extra furlong, I didn't know how effective she was going to be going a mile and three-eighths," Bailey said. "So I was going to be conservative in the beginning. When I thought she had enough, I went ahead and cut her loose."
Bailey put Perfect Sting into the race going into the far turn, and she quickly picked up the leaders while making a five-wide move.
At that point, Tranquility Lake, who took the lead going into the far turn, was being pushed by Collect the Cash, with Snow Polina making a big move four wide, and Tout Charmant tucked in along the rail in fourth.
As Perfect Sting was making her move, Tout Charmant and McCarron were on the rail looking for room.
"I think the difference was the winner got the jump on us around the turn," McCarron said. "I had to sit and wait tucked behind Tranquility Lake, who I thought was one of the fillies to beat, and Snow Polina ranged up on the outside at the half-mile pole. That kept me from getting out. And then Perfect Sting at the three-eighths pole kept me from getting out.
"I thought we were going to get her (inside the sixteenth pole), but Perfect Sting is a fighter. She loves a battle, and she wins most of them."
Though it looked like Tout Charmant may catch her late, Perfect Sting prevailed by three-quarters of a length.
"Every time they got to her hip, she'd give me a little more," Bailey said. "I was never concerned."
Her final time of 2:13.07 on firm turf nearly equaled the Churchill course record, 2:13.00.
It was the first Breeders' Cup win for Orseno, who would win the Juvenile (G1) with Macho Uno in the subsequent race. It marked the tenth Breeders' Cup win for Bailey, who would win number 11 in the Juvenile. And it was the second Breeders' Cup win for Frank Stronach, who made it number three in the Juvenile.
Tout Charmant finished three-quarters of a length in front of Catella, who made a big move to get into contention at the top of the stretch. Snow Polina's bid flattened out and she finished fourth, followed by Petrushka, who was one of four horses supplemented to the Filly and Mare Turf.
"She's a special filly but she never really got into her best stride today," said Harry Herbert, manager of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, of Petrushka.
Herbert indicated that Petrushka would go to Dubai to winter and point for the Sheema Classic, with the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) as one of her main goals for 2001.
As for Perfect Sting, owner Frank Stronach said he has not decided if she will race again next year or be sent to the breeding shed.
"We might race her," Stronach said. "She's going to get a rest now, and we'll take a look around January and make a decision. She's proven everything."
Mark Simon is editor of Thoroughbred Times.
