G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s homebred Navratilova dug down deep for a front-running one-length victory in Friday's featured $150,000 Rubicon Valley View (G3) on the penultimate day of Keeneland's 17-day Fall Meet in Lexington, Ky. The win marked the eighth graded stakes victory for Humphrey and earned for him a Keeneland Tray, part of Keeneland's unique Milestone Trophy Program.
Humphrey is the 23rd owner to receive the Keeneland Tray, first awarded to Hasty House Farm during the 1955 Spring Meet. On Oct. 23, Godolphin earned the Keeneland Tray following Caramel Swirl's win in the Lexus Raven Run (G2).
Navratilova, trained by Rusty Arnold and ridden by Colby Hernandez, covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.57 over a turf course listed as yielding.
She and Hernandez broke sharply and secured the early lead heading into the first turn through an opening quarter-mile fraction of :23.82. Crazy Beautiful and Brian Hernandez Jr. broke sharply but settled in second up the backstretch while favored Toby's Heart and Joel Rosario kept to the inside in fourth behind Arm Candy and Ricardo Santana Jr.
Following a half-mile time in :49.06 and 6-furlong mark of 1:14.02, Navratilova continued to cruise on the lead while Crazy Beautiful and Tobys Heart maintained second and third, respectively. Inside the eighth pole, Navratilova was able to hold off Crazy Beautiful for the victory.
Sent off at odds of 25-1, Navratilova returned $53.80, $20.60 and $10.20. Crazy Beautiful paid $8.40 and $5.40 while Adventuring and Florent Geroux closed late for third and returned $5.60.
Navratilova is a 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro out of the Grade 1-winning mare Centre Court, by Smart Strike. With today's win, the Kentucky-bred earned $90,000 to increase her career earnings to $241,465 with a record of 9-3-0-3.
Tobys Heart was able to hold fourth and was followed by Core Values, Breaker of Chains, Oliviaofthedesert, Saranya, Queenship (IRE), Arm Candy and Princess Theorem. Oyster Box, Lady Speightspeare, Flown, Gam's Mission and Wait for Nairobi were scratched from the over-subscribed field.
Sweet Dani Girl Wins Myrtlewood
J & J Stables and Nicholas Vaccarezza's Sweet Dani Girl made a bold three-wide rally to win the $150,000 Myrtlewood, named for the Hall of Famer and influential broodmare who won three races during Keeneland's nine-day opening meet in October 1936, in the race before the Rubicon Valley View.
Trained by Vaccarezza's father, Carlo Vaccarezza, and ridden by Martin Garcia, Sweet Dani Girl covered 6 furlongs in 1:10.36 over the track rated fast.
Kant Believe It and Verylittlecents dueled on the lead throughout much of the Myrtlewood through a quarter-mile fraction of :22.16 and half-mile time of :46.14. Garcia and Sweet Dani Girl tracked just to the outside of the pacesetting duo and was able to surge to the lead in the final strides for a three-quarter-length victory.
Sweet Dani Girl, the 2-1 favorite, paid $6, $4.20 and $3.40. Kant Believe It held second to return $7.20 and $5 under Jose Ortiz, while Verylittlecents finished third under Joe Talamo and returned $6.40.
Chi Town Lady finished fourth and was followed by Jester Calls Nojoy, Jumeirah, Towser, Majestic d'Oro, She's Pure Silver and You Look Cold. Blazing Summer was scratched.
Sweet Dani Girl Martin Garcia up, wins the Myrtlewood Stakes
With Sweet Dani Girl's victory in the Myrtlewood, she earned $90,000 and remained perfect in two career starts. The daughter of Jess's Dream out of the Scat Daddy mare My Sweet Dani Girl was bred in Florida by her owners.
Saturday is closing day of the Fall Meet with 10 races beginning at 1 p.m. ET. The card includes three stakes: Race 7 (4:12 p.m.) — $150,000 Bowman Mill, Race 8 (4:44 p.m.) – Bryan Station and Race 9 (5:16 p.m.) – Hagyard Fayette (G2).
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