Center Aisle Much The Best In Sugar Swirl, Earns First Stakes Victory

Center Aisle stalked a quick pace over six furlongs at Gulfstream Park and dueled with Frank's Rockette down the stretch to take the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl by a length. After two in-the-money finishes in other graded stakes races, the daughter of Into Mischief breaks through to win her first graded stakes.

Loriloupies was quickest out of the gate at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track, setting early fractions of :21.72 for the quarter mile and :44.18 for a half mile. She was part of a four-across quartet of Frank's Rockette, Center Aisle, and Quinoa Tifah down the backstretch and into the race's only turn. As they straightened for home, Center Aisle and Frank's Rockette began to separate themselves from the field, dueling down the Gulfstream straight.

The two fillies were head to head throughout the stretch run, but Center Aisle was able to pull away from Frank's Rockette to win by a length. Bronx Beauty was third.

The final time was 1:09.54. Find this race's chart here.

Center Aisle paid $6.20, $2.80, and $2.60. Frank's Rockette paid $2.60 and $2.20. Bronx Beauty paid $2.80.

Bred in Kentucky by Breffni Farm, Center Aisle is by Into Mischief out of the Empire Maker mare Specification. She is owned by OXO Equine LLC and trained by Paulo Lobo. The filly was consigned by Tom McCrocklin and purchased by her owners for $1.5 million at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale. With her win in the G3 Sugar Swirl, the 4-year-old filly has three wins in three starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of four wins in eight starts and career earnings of

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New Barn No Problem For Miss Auramet In Monmouth Park’s Politely Stakes

When trainer Eddie Plesa sent Miss Auramet to Kathleen O'Connell's barn with an eye toward Monmouth Park's stakes schedule he did so with simple instructions.

“Don't mess it up,” said O'Connell, laughing as she recalled the conversation with her good friend.

Plesa, based at Gulfstream Park, needn't have been concerned.

Miss Auramet, handled perfectly by jockey Dylan Davis, found a seam along the rail coming out of the final turn after a stalking early trip and cruised to a two-length victory in the $75,000 Politely Stakes that served as the feature on Monmouth Park's Sunday card in Oceanport, N.J.

“This was her first start for me,” said O'Connell. “(Plesa) saw an opportunity for her at Monmouth and wanted her here. She has trained really good. I'm not surprised she ran this well.

“The wonderful thing about her is she's an all-terrain model. She just oozes with class. Just an ultra-consistent mare.”

In posting her ninth victory in 22 career starts (with six seconds and three thirds), Miss Auramet easily handled a solid field of fillies and mares 3 and up, covering the five furlongs over a sloppy track in :57.60.

Bronx Beauty rallied for second, six lengths ahead of longshot No Mercy Percy.

The Politely, contested for the 27th time, was originally scheduled for the turf.

“She can handle any surface,” O'Connell said.

Davis, sitting behind early speedsters Tracy Ann's Legacy, Beaux Arts and Honey I'm Good, kept Miss Auramet close behind that trio through an opening quarter of :22.01. Davis began nudging the 5-year-old daughter of Uncaptured-Hello Rosie by Yes It's True midway through the turn before finding a hole along the rail – beating Bronx Beauty and Isaac Castillo to the spot.

“Our plans coming out of there were to break sharp, not necessarily on the lead but breaking well within the pack,” said Davis, who recorded his first winner since being sidelined with a broken clavicle on March 20 on Monmouth Park's Saturday card. “I was very happy where I was at in a nice stalking position in the first flight. I saw an opportunity up the rail and she was doing great. She was on the bridle. I just took the opening and she pushed through there. It was exciting.

“Once she pushed through she opened up another stride. This was my first time on her. I love the way she ran. She listened to me the whole time. She came to run today.”

Sent off at 7-2 in the field of seven that was reduced by one when My Lovely Girl was a gate scratch, Miss Auramet returned $9.40 to win. The Florida-bred mare is coming off a 2020 campaign that saw her win six of nine starts with a second and a third. She sports a 2-2-1 line from six starts this year.

Racing resumes at Monmouth Park on Monday with a nine-race Memorial Day card headlined by the $75,000 Spruce Fir Stakes. First race post time is 12:15 p.m.

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‘Hard-Knocker’ Bronx Beauty Chasing Graded Success In Saturday’s Inside Information

2W Stables' Bronx Beauty, an eight-time stakes winner over her first four seasons of racing, continues the pursuit of her elusive first graded triumph in Saturday's $200,000 Inside Information (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The 42nd running of the seven-furlong Inside Information for fillies and mares 4 and older is among seven graded-stakes worth $4.725 million on a blockbuster 12-race Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series program featuring the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) at 1 1/8 miles on dirt and $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) at 1 3/16 miles on the grass.

First race post time is 11:40 a.m. Both Pegasus races will be part of NBC's live national telecast from 4:30 to 6 p.m. The Inside Information is carded as Race 9 (4:35 p.m.).

Bronx Beauty, a daughter of Grade 1 winner Liaison bred in Pennsylvania, owns 10 wins and $618,070 in purse earnings from 25 career starts, all for owners Richard and Marie Woll, for whom Margotta purchased the now 6-year-old mare as a yearling. Both natives of the Bronx, Woll named the horse after his wife.

Twenty-two of Bronx Beauty's starts have come in stakes, six of them graded, including a head loss to Lady's Island in the Dec. 12 Sugar Swirl (G3) at Gulfstream, a race where the winner survived a jockey's objection for interference to earn her second straight win in the six-furlong sprint.

It marked the third straight year Bronx Beauty capped her season in the Sugar Swirl, running fourth in 2018 and 2019. She also launched 2020 in the Inside Information, where she got hung out wide and raced near the back of the pack before finishing eighth.

“We bought her to take advantage of the Pa-bred program because we're right across the road in New Jersey. She really turned out to be a very, very hard-knocker,” Margotta said. “We didn't pay much for her but she's earned over $600,000 and she just got the elusive Grade 3 placing. It was almost a Grade 3 win. We almost got it by default.

“She's been a very productive, very sound filly. You look at her record. Fortunately we've been able to manage her along nicely,” he added. “She won the MATCH series the year before last when that came back into play, which was a great thing for everybody. She's just really been a pleasure to have around.”

Bronx Beauty signaled her ability early on by winning five of her first six races including the open Colleen Stakes in her second start and both open and state-bred stakes at Penn National and Parx. She's won at least one stake in each of her racing seasons, including two stakes at 2 and 3 and three stakes at 4.

“When I was first breezing her in the morning she identified herself that she was going to be good. How good we didn't know,” Margotta said. “She's always shown us that she had ability.

“We're going to give her another year. The people that own the horse are longtime clients and sportsmen and they don't jump right into the breeding shed. They like to race,” he added. “We're going to see how we do here. Obviously, a Grade 2 on her resume, if she hits the board, would be great. If she wins, we're over the moon. She's a valuable broodmare no matter what happens.”

Margotta said he has not seen a decline in interest from Bronx Beauty as occasionally happens with older mares. Luis Saez, aboard in the Sugar Swirl, will ride back from Post 3 in a field of eight.

“Sometimes that will happen and she's shown no signs of that. And on the flipside of that coin, you will see some older fillies and mares that really light up the board later in their careers at 4 or 5,” Margotta said. Quite frankly, we had offers to sell her as a broodmare but [the owner] in the game to race. He loves the game. We're blessed to have her in the barn.”

Bronx Beauty will face a familiar foe in Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Michael Anspach and Bethlehem Stables' Cinnabunny, the 4-year-old Golden Lad filly trained by Brad Cox that closed to be third in the Sugar Swirl, beaten three-quarters of a length for it all.

Cinnabunny was making her stakes debut in the Sugar Swirl after winning four of her first six career starts by 10 combined lengths, all last year at Parx for trainer Kathleen Demasi and Anspach's Shooting Star Stable, which also bred the filly in Pennsylvania.

“She ran really well last time. She didn't break quite as well as we needed to in order to win,” Cox said. “When she was coming, she got sandwiched late. She just didn't have much racing luck down the lane. But, she's a really nice filly that we're hoping can win a graded stakes.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. has the return call on Cinnabunny from Post 2.

CJ Thoroughbreds, Left Turn Racing and Casner Racing's two-time Grade 3 winner Sally's Curlin will attempt to rebound off a pair of off-the-board finishes, the most recent coming in the one-mile Rampart (G3) Dec. 12 at Gulfstream. Trained by Dale Romans, the 5-year-old daughter of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin mare won the seven-furlong Hurricane Bertie (G3) at Gulfstream last March and the one-mile Chilukki (G3) in late 2019 at Churchill Downs.

Corey Lanerie has the riding assignment from Post 7.

Miracle International Trading, Inc.'s Dream Marie is a 4-year-old daughter of Graydar that ran second in the Rampart, her third career graded-stakes placing. She owns a 2-2-1 record from eight lifetime trips at Gulfstream, including seconds in the one-mile Davona Dale (G2) and 1 1/16-mile Hollywood Wildcat last winter and spring, respectively.

Dream Marie will break from Post 1 with jockey Leonel Reyes.

Completing the field are Pacific Gale, five times Grade 3-placed; Piedi Bianchi, twice Grade 1-placed as a juvenile in 2017; Sound Machine, winner of the Glitter Woman last winter at Gulfstream and most recently fourth by length in the Sugar Swirl; and Thissmytime, riding a two-race win streak including an off-the-grass Filly & Mare Turf Preview Nov. 22 at Gulfstream Park West.

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Bronx Beauty Wins Monmouth’s Regret Off Short Rest

The best year of jockey Isaac Castillo's young career just keeps getting better.

Able to get the jump on 3-5 favorite Royal Charlotte coming out of the final turn, Castillo and Bronx Beauty drew off for a 4 1/4-length victory in Sunday's $75,000 Regret Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., giving the 22-year-old Panamanian rider his first stakes win of the meet.

Trained by Anthony Margotta, Jr., Bronx Beauty was racing for the second time in six days. The classy 5-year-old mare was a late-running third in the Teresa Garofolo Memorial Stakes at Parx on Sept. 7 after breaking last in the seven-horse field.

“We typically do not run back this quickly,” said Margotta. “But we will do it if the circumstances surrounding it are good. These happened to be good circumstances. She fit very well against these, she loves Monmouth Park – four out of five now on the racetrack – she's very sound and she's fit right now. Isaac Castillo rides her really well. They get along great. All of those things led to us to coming back quickly in this race. Isaac did an outstanding job.”

Castillo, who began riding full-time in 2017, has already set personal bests this year for victories and earnings in a season.

“It feels great to win my first stakes race of the meet,” Castillo said. “This has been a really good year for me. It shows how hard work every morning can pay off. I'm very happy to win this.”

With Bridlewood Cat, Day by Day and Decoupage all vying for the early lead through fractions of :22.14 to the opening quarter and :45.29 to the half, Castillo had Bronx Beauty just behind that group but ahead of the Chad Brown-trained Royal Charlotte.

Both made their moves on the outside coming out of the final turn but Bronx Beauty and Castillo got there first, passing a tiring Bridlewood Cat at the sixteenth pole and having more than enough to hold off Royal Charlotte, who finished a head in front of Day by Day.

The winning time for the six furlongs was 1:10.45.

“I knew I needed to be aggressive against (Royal Charlotte),” said Castillo. “I had to time my move just before she made hers to get clear. I knew I would have enough left if I was able to get the lead in the stretch because I have ridden this horse many times and I know her.”

Owned by 2W Stables LLC, Bronx Beauty won for the 10th time in 22 career starts, with the daughter of Liaison boosting her career earnings to $572,270. She paid $9.60 to win.

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