Sangria Summer powered away after setting sharp fractions to an open-length victory in the $214,286 Grade 3 Courageous Lady for invited three-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday, Oct. 10 at Northfield Park.
Matt Kakaley summoned :26.4 early speed from the filly to grab control from post two, while Savage Cindy (Dan Noble) was left out and hustled up to contend with the early leader. After a :54.4 half, Sangria Summer ratcheted up the tempo and dispatched Savage Cindy past three-quarters in 1:22.1, motoring away from the rest on the final turn. She was wrapped up by mid-stretch and rolled to the line to prevail in 1:51.1 by 2-3/4 lengths over Perfect Thought (Anthony MacDonald). Seaside Shuffle (Chris Page) closed for third while slight favourite Be Perfect BG (Justin Irvine) finished fourth.
“She won the post draw. With [sixth-place finisher] Loua Dipa drawing post eight, we took advantage of it," commented Kakaley after the race. "She zipped around there; she drives like a car so it makes my job easy. She’s a special filly so I’m sure you’ll be hearing from her again."
Sangria Summer returned to victory lane after finishing fourth in the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final, which ended a run of wins that included the Grade 1 James Lynch Memorial and Grade 3 Shady Daisy. The daughter of Captaintreacherous-Shower Play is now seven-for-14 on the year for trainer Luc Blais and owner Determination of Montreal, Que. She has won eight of her 24 career starts and earned $699,276. Sangria Summer paid $5.80 to win as the second favourite in the field of nine.
She is expected to start in the upcoming Breeders Crown next at Scioto Downs.
(Standardbred Canada)