Rightly
So led every step and earned her first Grade 1 win Saturday afternoon at
Saratoga Race Course with a front-running, four-length victory over Warbling in
the 32
nd running of the $250,000 Ballerina Stakes.
The consistent daughter of Read
the Footnotes, never worse than third in 11 lifetime starts, immediately shot to
the front when the gates opened for the seven-furlong dash and sashayed
unthreatened through opening fractions of 22.46, 44.80 and 1:09.29. Opening up
through the final yards under jockey Cornelio Velasquez after a fleeting
challenge from Warbling, Rightly So hit the wire in 1:22.58 for her second
victory in five starts this year.
“My filly broke well and went
right to the lead and she finished well, too,” said Velasquez, who was aboard
for her first graded stakes win in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Handicap at Belmont Park on July 5. “I had a lot of horse at
the quarter pole, so she really ran a big one. Speed has been holding up well
today, and I was fortunate to have a good break and make the lead.”
Rightly So, who was bred in New
York and carries the colors of Zayat Stables, LLC, earned $150,000 for the
victory, her seventh from 11 lifetime starts, and has now amassed $480,050. The
fourth choice at 9-2 choice in the field of eight fillies and mares, she
returned $11.40 for a $2 win bet.
“It was just a fantastic
performance today,” said winning trainer Tony Dutrow. “She's a filly who is
capable of running fast the entire race. She outdid herself today. She's been an
overachiever, and once again she raised her game to the top. We just couldn't be
any prouder of her. Congratulations, Rightly So! I think the public was
anticipating a speed duel. I thought that was a possibility; I was just hoping
it wouldn't happen.”
Informed Decision, the favorite,
finished sixth after going wide on the turn.
“She has not run well on the
turn, on the dirt, for some reason, even though she normally finished well,”
said Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, trainer of the beaten favorite. “I think
she’d have finished better today, had she not had to be taken up. But she wasn’t
going to win it.”
Jessica is Back was third, a neck
in front of Devil by Design, with First Passage, Informed Decision, Pretty
Prolific, and Qualia, who was eased after her saddle slipped, completing the
order of finish.
rig