Stretching out to 10 furlongs for the first time off of consecutive nine-furlong scores in the GII Hillsborough S. at Tampa Mar. 12 and as part of a productive weekend for Brown and Brant at Churchill in the May 6 GIII Modesty S., Bleecker Street was content to trail early as Flighty Lady was hard ridden to the first turn, but then only posted somewhat un-rabbit-like fractions of :24.54, :50.76 and 1:16.48. Family Way tracked a couple lengths behind that one and further clear of the rest of the field. Family Way took over heading for home, and Irad Ortiz, Jr. had a fistful of horse on Bleecker Street as he guided his mount to the far outside for clear sailing. Family Way still looked like a winner to midstretch as nobody near her really kicked it in, but Bleecker Street–sporting a red cap to distinguish herself from her three stablemates–zoomed home to be up in time.

“Her closing kick, especially with those slow fractions, was nice,” said Ortiz, who had also piloted newly named 'TDN Rising Star' Artorius (Arrogate) as well as GII True North S. runner-up Sound Money (Flatter) for Brown on the card. “Not too many horses can go around a slow pace, slow fractions, like that. I made a wide move to go around and she still got there. She gave me a good kick. She's very nice. They were backing up into me a little bit and they were a little slow and then everybody was sprinting home, so it was hard to catch them. But she got the job done.”

This was Ortiz's first time riding the winner–Flavien Prat hopped off her for Rougir.

“I had never ridden her before so I talked to Flavien and he gave me some tips, like she's pretty easy to ride and she's not too fast out of the gate,” Ortiz said. “I tried to find out everything I can about her. She was undefeated and I wanted to keep going with her. Now she's 7-for-7 and everything worked out perfect. Thank God.”

Brown, whose three prior wins in this event also include a 2019 score for Brant, said of the winner, “What a remarkable horse. I wasn't sure about a mile and a quarter. She finished her races like she would get it, but as you know, handicapping doesn't always work out that way. Just because they're closing and you keep on stretching them out, sometimes it has to do with pace, when they make their move and how long their move is. This filly does everything we put at her. What a remarkable horse–where she started and where she came from. She's moving up in the ranks of one of the better ones I've had.”

Bleecker Street began her career as a member of Brown's perceived “B team,” winning first out at Monmouth and clearing her first-level allowance condition at The Meadowlands. She was entered and withdrawn from last year's Keeneland November sale.

As for Rougir, last year's G1 Prix de l'Opera winner and most recently an impressive victress of the G3 Beaugay S. going shorter here, Brown said, “She just didn't fire today. She was in a good spot, always ahead of Bleecker Street. We didn't have any excuse. We'll go back to the drawing board. Maybe the softer ground in her form suggested [she prefers softer turf], but she certainly trained really well at Belmont.”

Friday, Belmont Park
NEW YORK S.-GI, $735,000, Belmont, 6-10, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/4mT, 2:02.58, fm.
1–BLEECKER STREET, 122, f, 4, by Quality Road
                1st Dam: Lemon Liqueur (SP), by Exchange Rate
                2nd Dam: Limoncella, by Lemon Drop Kid
                3rd Dam: Trip Around Heaven, by Halo
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($400,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Branch Equine, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $400,000. Lifetime Record: 7-7-0-0, $834,700. Werk Nick Rating: C+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Family Way, 120, m, 5, by Uncle Mo
                1st Dam: Susie's Baby, by Giant's Causeway
                2nd Dam: Mekko Hokte, by Holy Bull
                3rd Dam: Aerosilver, by Relaunch
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($775,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP; €150,000 3yo '20 ARQDEC). O-Fergus Galvin, Debra L. O'Connor, & Marc Detampel; B-Diamond Creek Farm (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh. $140,000.
3–Flighty Lady (Ire), 118, m, 5, by Sir Percy (GB)
                1st Dam: Airfield (GB), by Dansili (GB)
                2nd Dam: Emplane, by Irish River (Fr)
                3rd Dam: Peplum, by Nijinsky II
(21,000gns Ylg '18 TAOCT). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Tally Ho Stud (IRE); T-Chad C. Brown. $75,000.
Margins: HF, NK, NK. Odds: 2.85, 10.00, 51.25.
Also Ran: Virginia Joy (Ger), Rougir (Fr), Core Values, Lovely Lucky.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
Bleecker Street becomes the 14th Grade I winner for Quality Road, and second for Brown and Brant, following in the hoofsteps of Dunbar Road. This is the first highest-level winner in North America out of a mare by Danzig's son Exchange Rate (he has three in South America).

Dam Lemon Liqueur (Exchange Rate) was a debut winner and stakes-placed juvenile for owner/breeder My Meadowview Farm and the late Rick Violette. She was acquired by Ben Berger's Branch Equine for $75,000 in foal to Honor Code at the 2016 Keeneland November sale and RNA'd at that auction two years later for just $19,000 after not being bred back following the foaling of Bleecker Street. Bleecker Street has a 2-year-old half-sister named Red Lemonade (Always Dreaming) who was bred by Delia Nash, a yearling filly by Flatter and an Apr. 6 foal colt by Not This Time.

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“I wanted to get a good break, that was the most important thing,” said McCarthy, who was celebrating his first win at the highest level. “He broke well last time, but he just got annihilated at the break. Today, he was really handy the whole way for me. The pace was pretty slow, but the whole time he was just carrying me, carrying me, carrying me. At the 5/16 pole I let him go and started to make an early move. I just wanted to get away from the other guys and it sure paid off. He made up a ton of ground the first time he ran in America and got shut off really bad at the break, but he made a good rally.”

“It's a great feeling,” McCarthy said of winning his first Grade I. “To win it for [trainer] Graham [Motion], who has given me so much support in my career, it's really special. My father started riding for Graham and we got to be good friends with them and his family. I started at 15 and worked for Graham. As soon as I started to learn how to ride, I stayed at Fair Hill for three years. I would come in on the weekends and days off of school and ride out for him which was great. I learned so much from him and all his employees there at the time. To win it with so much history with him is great.”

Originally based with Paul Cole in England, Highland Chief was well thought of enough to contest the 2020 G1 Investec Derby, where he finished 10th before a pair of seconds going 1 1/2 miles at the Group level. He made just one start last year, checking in fifth in Epsom's G1 Coronation Cup June 4, and found 8 1/2 panels at Aqueduct too sharp when ninth while making up significant ground late in his Stateside debut Apr. 14.

“In fairness, Alex Cole, the manager for the owners, told me that if he runs back to his European form, he's very competitive with these horses,” said Motion. “He won a race at Ascot. That's not easy to do. Trevor had a strategy–he knew he couldn't leave him too much to do. He broke better today, which made a difference because he wasn't so held back at the start or too much ground to make up. Trevor gave him a great ride. I said to Trevor, 'I can't believe somebody broke slower than we did.”

Of potential future plans, Motion said, “We'd have to think about the [June 11 GI Resorts World] Manhattan, but it was mentioned to go to Europe after this race if he ran well. Originally, they talked about running in the Dubai World Cup and I knew he just wasn't ready for that. [The owners] think very highly of him.”

As for the beaten favorite, trainer Charlie Appleby said, “That's him. He did that here last year. That's his style. He did it [when second in the Mar. 26 G1] Sheema Classic as well. We intentionally did not want him to be as slow out, but his run style is to come off the pace… Unfortunately, we had rain here last night and rain again today and it's just on the slower side of where he likes to hear his feet rattling. For his acceleration, it just blunts it slightly. Take nothing away from the winner, he held decent form back in Europe in his 3-year-old career there and he had to be respected. We ran our race, but in an ideal world if you asked me what I'd like to have had, it would be no rain.”

Appleby said last year's champion turf horse would likely be back in the States for the Aug. 27 GI Sword Dancer S. at Saratoga.

Saturday, Belmont Park
MAN O' WAR S.-GI, $651,000, Belmont, 5-14, 4yo/up, 1 3/8mT, 2:17.04, fm.
1–HIGHLAND CHIEF (IRE), 118, h, 5, by Gleneagles (Ire)
     1st Dam: Pink Symphony (GB) (GSW-Ire, MSP-Eng, $186,684), by Montjeu (Ire)
     2nd Dam: Blue Symphony (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
     3rd Dam: Blue Duster, by Danzig
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
WIN. O/B-Mrs. Fitri Hay (IRE); T-H. Graham Motion; J-Trevor
McCarthy. $375,000. Lifetime Record: 12-3-2-2, $501,862.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: B.
2–Gufo, 124, h, 5, Declaration of War–Floy, by Petionville.
O-Otter Bend Stables, LLC; B-John Little & Stephen Cainelli
(KY); T-Christophe Clement. $130,000.
3–Yibir (GB), 124, g, 4, Dubawi (Ire)–Rumh (Ger), by Monsun
(Ger). O/B-Godolphin (GB); T-Charles Appleby. $70,000.
Margins: 1, NK, 2 3/4. Odds: 19.20, 2.45, 0.55.
Also Ran: Easter (Fr), Abaan. Scratched: So High (GB). Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
Highland Chief hails from the first crop of MG1SW miler Gleneagles, who was a distant last in his lone U.S. start when trying the dirt in American Pharoah's GI Breeders' Cup Classic procession. He is one of 10 graded/group winners for the Coolmore Ireland resident.

Montjeu, meanwhile, has 37 Northern Hemisphere graded/group winners as a broodmare sire to go with 17 foaled south of the equator.

The winner's dam was a 400,000gns TATOCT yearling purchase in 2008 by Paul Cole on Hay's behalf, and she helped repay that investment with a score in the 1 1/2-mile G3 Irish Stallion Farms E.B.F. Give Thanks S. in 2011. A half to MGSW/MG1SP Fantasia (GB) (Sadler's Wells)–a Group 3-winning producer herself–and MGSW/MG1SP Western Hymn (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}), Pink Symphony is a granddaughter of Europe's 1995 champion 2-year-old filly Blue Duster. She has a 2-year-old full-brother to Highland Chief and a yearling filly by Churchill (Ire).

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Christophe Clement saddles a live one in Lia Marina (Uncle Mo). Earning her diploma at second asking at Belmont Oct. 23, the dark bay captured this venue's Wait a While S. Dec. 3.

Michael Tabor's Beside Herself is another daughter of Uncle Mo with a strong chance here. Finishing third in her first two tries, debuting at Belmont Oct. 29 and then running Dec. 26 at Gulfstream, the bay wired the field next out in a two-turn event in Hallandale Jan. 30.

Also worth a look is Gainesway's Spendarella (Karakontie {Jpn}), who graduated in her career bow at this oval Feb. 2.

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Starting off her sophomore season with a victory in the GIII Senorita S. at Santa Anita May 1, Madone faded to sixth behind Going Global in the GIII Honeymoon S. going nine panels there 21 days later. The dark bay rallied strongly to turn the tables on that foe with a half-length success in Del Mar's one-mile GII San Clemente S. July 24.

Previously campaigned in Europe, Going Global captured her American debut in the GIII Sweet Life S. Feb. 14 and followed suit with victories in the China Doll S. Mar. 6, GIII Providencia S. Apr. 3 and the Honeymoon. Madone ended that streak last out, but Going Global has already proven twice that nine furlongs is right up her alley.

Chad Brown can never be ignored in a turf stakes and he ships in from the East Coast with Fluffy Socks (Slumber {GB}). Winner of the GIII Jimmy Durante S. on her last trip to this oval in November, the bay rallied to be a head second in Aqueduct's Memories of Silver S. Apr. 18. She was fifth in Belmont's GIII Wonder Again S. June 3 and closed to be second to her GII Lake Placid S.-bound stablemate Technical Analysis (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in Saratoga's GIII Lake George S. July 23.

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The 64th running of the E.P. Taylor, a 1 ¼-mile turf test for fillies & mares, 3-year-olds and upward, is complemented by a trio of stakes events, including the 67th edition of the Northern Dancer, a 1 ½-mile grass engagement for 3-year-olds and upward.

Sunday's card will also see nine starters contest the $250,000 Nearctic (G2T), while eight hopefuls face off in the $100,000 Display Stakes.

Trainer Gail Cox has a trio of talented turfers taking up the Sam-Son Farm charge, namely, Rideforthecause in the E.P. Taylor, as well as Count Again and Say the Word in the Northern Dancer.

A 4-year-old daughter of Candy Ride (ARG), Rideforthecause rolls into the E.P. Taylor off two straight scores, both of them contested at Woodbine.

After an allowance victory at 1 1/16 miles on the Toronto oval Inner Turf on Aug. 1, the bay was back in the winner's circle on Sept. 12, winning the Canadian Stakes presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2) at the distance of about 1 1/8 miles on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course.

Sent off at 22-1, the second longest shot on the board, Rideforthecause, with jockey David Moran aboard, took the lead in mid-stretch and went on to a four-length score over mutuel favorite Cambier Parc.

“I always thought she was a very nice filly,” praised Cox. “I knew that she needed a distance of ground, and she never got to do that. A mile-and-a-sixteenth on our outer turf course isn't that far. He [Moran] had never ridden her before and he said that she just did it as easy as could be. He was quite impressed.”

“I thought she was being overlooked [in the Canadian]. That's all. I train her so I have a little different outlook. I thought she was being overlooked because it was such a perfect distance for her.”

Now, the Ontario-bred will go after her fifth win in what will be the 11th start of her career.

Cox, who campaigned Sam-Son's El Tormenta to a 44-1 shocker in last year's Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1T), is hoping to add another graded crown to her list of accomplishments on Sunday.

“She has been doing really well this year. It seems like she has become a little more settled with age. She was, as a young horse, a bit of a handful. She was nervous, but she's become way more settled. She's doing great. I wouldn't trade places with anyone. She's training well and she looks good. I'm very happy with her.”

Court Return, a 4-year-old daughter of Court Vision, goes after her second (Eternal Search Stakes) added-money title and first graded triumph. Bred and owned by Ivan Dalos, the Ontario-bred is 3-2-1 from 11 career starts.

Etoile, from the stable of Chad Brown, will look to build off a second-place effort in the Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) on Aug. 15 at Woodbine. The 4-year-old French-bred daughter of Siyouni has three wins and a pair of seconds from nine lifetime starts for the ownership group of Peter Brant, Mrs. M.V. Magnier, and Mrs. Paul Shanahan.

Multiple graded stakes winner, 4-year-old Elizabeth Way, goes for her third graded title. Trained by Roger Attfield, the daughter of Frankel won The Very One Stakes (G3T) and Nassau Stakes (G2T) this year. Owned by John McCormack, the chestnut is 3-2-2 from 12 career starts.

Pretty Point, trained by Patrick Gallagher, goes after her first stakes crown. The 4-year-old daughter of Point of Entry launched her career with three starts at Woodbine before heading to California. She arrives at the Northern Dancer off a fifth in the Rodeo Stakes Drive (G1T) on Sept. 26.

Secret Message, a 5-year-old daughter of Hat Trick (JPN), seeks her seventh win in what will be the 19th start of the dark bay's career. Trained by Graham Motion, the well-traveled dark bay mare won the 2019 running of the Nassau (G2T).

Bred and owned by Augustin Stable, Theodora B. aims for her third straight stakes score after taking the Dance Smartly (G2T) on Aug. 15 at Woodbine, and the TVG Stakes on Sept. 15 at Kentucky Downs. The daughter of Ghostzapper has a record of 6-5-3 from 18 lifetime starts.

The E.P. Taylor Stakes is the final event in Woodbine's Ladies of the Lawn Series. At the conclusion of the series, the connections of the top three point-earners will receive $75,000 in bonuses ($50,000 for first, $15,000 for second, $10,000 for third). Elizabeth Way (18 points), Rideforthecause (10 points) and Theodora B. (10 points) are the top three point-earners to date. The inaugural winner of the 2019 Ladies of the Lawn Series was Starship Jubilee, Canada's reigning Horse of the Year.

Flying Trapeze won the inaugural running of the E.P. Taylor Stakes (known as the Nettie Handicap until 1981) in 1956. Trainers Lou Cavalaris Jr., Frank Merrill Jr., and Maurice Zilber have won three editions of the race. Kitty Girl (1957, 1958) is the only two-time winner.

$600,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes (Grade 1) – Race 7
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Rideforthecause – David Moran – Gail Cox

2 – Pretty Point – Luis Contreras – Patrick Gallagher

3 – Etoile – Rafael Hernandez – Chad Brown

4 – Theodora B. – Justin Stein – Michael Dickinson

5 – Court Return – Daisuke Fukumoto – Josie Carroll

6 – Secret Message – Kazushi Kimura – Graham Motion

7 – Elizabeth Way – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Roger Attfield

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