Jerry Frankel, Ronald Frankel, Steve Laymon and Bradley Thoroughbreds’ Dayatthespa took the lead out of the gate under Javier Castellano and never trailed in winning the 24th
running of the $100,000 Appalachian presented by the Japan Racing
Association (G3) for 3-year-old fillies by 2 ¾ lengths before a Thursday
afternoon crowd of 12,466 at Keeneland.
Trained
by Chad Brown, Dayatthespa led the field of nine through fractions of
:23.70, :48.50 and 1:13 and had more than enough left to hold off a late
bid from Somali Lemonade. Dayatthespa,
a New York-bred daughter of City Zip out of the Doc’s Leader mare
M’Lady Doc, ran the mile on a firm turf course in 1:36.08.
It
was the second consecutive Grade 3 victory for Dayatthespa, who had
taken the Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream Park in March. The victory was
worth $60,000 and increased Dayatthespa’s bankroll to $274,892 with a
record of 6-4-1-0.
Sent
off as the favorite, Dayatthespa returned $4.60, $2.60 and $2.20.
Somali Lemonade, ridden by Alex Solis, returned $3.20 and $2.40 and
finished 1¼ lengths in front of Regalo Mia, who paid $3 to show under Jesus Castanon.
According
to Trakus, Regalo Mia covered 57 feet more than Dayatthespa, a figure
that equates to approximately 6 ¾ lengths of added ground.
Firehouse Red finished another 1¾ lengths back in fourth and was followed in order by Dream Pegasus, Lemon Splendor, Biogio’s Gift and Little Sadie, and Andrew’s Girl, who did not finish.