Spacy Tracy
continued her upward ascent with a come-from-behind victory in the Grade 2,
$150,000 Top Flight Handicap on Friday at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Last of six exiting the chute, Spacy Tracy made a steady advance along
the backstretch to race in fourth as the field rounded the far turn. Jeremy
Rose kept Spacy Tracy along the rail to the top of the stretch and swung his mount
outside nearing the eighth pole, and she made a determined run once given her
cue to take command with 70 yards remaining en route to a three-quarter length decision
over Our Khrysty.
“The trip was pretty much perfect, other than that I had to wait
a lot longer than I wanted to,” said Rose. “She really rated well
and responded perfectly. She’s coming into her own and every race
she’s been getting better and faster.”
Spacy Tracy,
the second-highest price in the field at 6-1, returned $15.20 for a $2 win
wager and completed the one-mile distance in 1:35.28.
The Top Flight was the third straight victory for Spacy Tracy, who has
won five of seven starts since being transferred to the barn of Anthony Dutrow.
The 5-year-old daughter of Awesome Again is unbeaten in three races on conventional
dirt, having won an off-the-turf allowance race at Parx Racing by 4 ¼ lengths
on October 2 and the Justakiss at Delaware Park on November 6.
“We just wanted to see how she’d do on the dirt, it was as
simple as that,” said Dutrow. “She has been good on every surface.
She was good on artificial surfaces and on the turf, but she has been excelling
since we moved her to the dirt.”
Bred in Kentucky
by her owners, Mercedes Stables, Spacy Tracy has won six of 10 lifetime starts
and has earned $240,690, including the $90,000 winner’s share of the Top
Flight purse.
Qualia finished third, beaten two lengths, after setting the pace with
Funny Moon, favored Sara Louise, and Way With Words completing the order of
finish.