18 Abr. USA. Doubledogdare S. G3. Keeneland. 8,5f. AW. 125.000 $
1.- CARRIAGE TRAIL (K.Desormeaux)
2.- SAY YOU WILL (J.Leparoux)
3.- INDESCRIBABLE (E.Prado)


Carriage Trail set a determined pace, drew clear approaching the stretch, and earned her first stakes win in a 1 1/4-length victory in the $125,000 Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) on Friday at Keeneland Race Course.

Positioned off the inside rail at the start by jockey Kent Desormeaux, Carriage Trail maintained a half-length lead through six furlongs in 1:12.43. Kicking clear on the turn, Carriage Trail gamely turned back a late bid from Grade 2-placed Say You Will (Ire).

“We started running about the mile pole,” Desormeaux said. “It wasn’t that much of a theft from there. She had to be a racehorse.

“When you see us quickening in the replay at the half-mile pole, she was actually able to get a second breather. When she cornered for home, she just took flight and started reaching for the wire.”

A Stuart Janney III and Phipps Stable homebred, Carriage Trail raced on the outside of Marquee Delivery at the start and led by head through a quarter in :25.27. The Giant’s Causeway mare increased her advantage to 1 1/2 lengths in early stretch and won the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:42.51 on Keeneland’s synthetic Polytrack surface.

Runner-up Say You Will finished a half-length in front of third-place finisher Indescribable.

Grade 1 winner Panty Raid, the even-money favorite who was making her first start in almost five months, tired after moving up to second approaching the quarter pole and finished last under jockey Garrett Gomez in the field of seven.

“We were laying second and when it came time to run, she ran for about an eighth of a mile and that was it,” Gomez said. “That’s about all I can say.”

Trained by Shug McGaughey, Carriage Trail entered off an unplaced finish in the Vinery Madison Stakes (G2) on April 9 at Keeneland. The bay mare made two starts last season and won an allowance race at the Lexington track prior to finishing third in the 2007 Humana Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Carriage Trail earned her fourth win in ten starts and increased her earnings to $228,566. Bred in Kentucky, the mare is out of Grade 3-placed winner Manoa, by Seeking the Gold