Starlight Partners and C.E. Glasscock's Hilda's Passion carried her
speed to a facile victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Inside
Information Stakes at Gulfstream Park and established a new track record
in the process, turning seven furlongs in 1:20.45. After breaking on
top, the Todd Pletcher-trained filly led by nearly two lengths through
opening splits of :22 and :44 1/5, and she widened her advantage in the
stretch, passing the six-furlong mark in 1:07 4/5 en route to a 5
1/4-length decision beneath Javier Castellano.
Hilda's Passion bettered the 1:20.88 mark set by champion sprinter Big Drama in 2009.
"I know she has a lot of speed. What I really liked about today was how
she went to the lead but she was so relaxed," said Castellano, who
opened a two-win margin over Velazquez in the jockeys' standing with his
third winner of the afternoon. "She was really comfortable and when I
asked her, it was amazing. She just took off. I knew she was going to
run fast, I didn't know she was going to break the track record."
The four-year-old filly has now four of her last five starts, all stakes
races, and narrowly dropped her lone setback, a neck second in the
Sugar Swirl S. (Grade 3) following a troubled trip in her 2011 opener.
Winner of the off-the-turf Bennington S. at Saratoga and the Raven Run
S. (Grade 2) on Keeneland's Polytrack in her final two outings last
year, Hilda's Passion entered the Inside Information off a 2 1/2-length
thrashing in the February 13 Hurricane Bertie S. (Grade 3). The talented
female sprinter has now earned $430,256 from a 10-6-1-0 scorecard.
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