FAVORED BELVOIR BAY HANDLES SWITCH IN SURFACE WITH APLOMB AS SHE TAKES LAS CIENEGAS STAKES

By Mike Willman —-

Gary Barber’s Belvoir Bay and jockey Flavien Prat win the Grade III, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes, Saturday, January 12, 2019 at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia CA.
© BENOIT PHOTO

BELVOIR BAY
BENOIT PHOTO

FAVORED BELVOIR BAY HANDLES SWITCH IN SURFACE WITH APLOMB AS SHE TAKES $100,000 LAS CIENEGAS STAKES BY 1 ¼ LENGTHS UNDER PRAT; TRAINED BY MILLER, SHE GETS 6 ½ FURLONGS ON WET FAST MAIN TRACK IN 1:15.06

ARCADIA, Calif. (Jan. 12, 2019)—In a race reduced by five scratches to a field of four runners due to a shift in surfaces, today’s $100,000 Las Cienegas went to favored Belvoir Bay, who stalked the early pace and took command a quarter mile from home en route to an authoritative 1 ¼ length tally under Flavien Prat. Owned by Gary Barber and trained by Peter Miller, English-bred Belvoir Bay got 6 ½ furlongs in 1:15.06 over a main track labeled wet fast.

“We had a good trip and I was very confident the whole way,” said Prat. “She made a good move around the turn and she did it pretty easily.”

Most recently second in a Grade III stakes going 5 ½ furlongs on turf Oct. 12 at Keeneland, Belvoir Bay was off at even money and paid $4.20 and $2.80, with no show wagering.

“She’s just unbelievable,” said Miller. “She can do anything, any distance, up to a mile. Any surface, she’s the kind. I think this may have opened some doors to us in the future, to possibly run on dirt. I’ll talk to Mr. Barber and do what we want to do, but we know she can sprint on the grass, obviously.

“I was a little concerned when Smith (Mike, aboard eventual runner-up Lady Suebee) came up outside my other horse (Painting Corners) like he did heading up the backside…But Belvoir Bay had everybody in her sights, so it was no problem.”

Today’s win marked Belvoir Bay’s eighth stakes win and made her perfect in two main track starts, as she also won the Grade III, one mile Torrey Pines Stakes in August, 2016.

In a remarkable career that began with five starts at two in her native England, Belvoir Bay, a 6-year-old mare, is now 23-10-4-2 overall and with the Las Cienegas winner’s share of $60,000, she now has earnings of $642,167.

Lady Suebee, who finished 2 ¼ lengths clear of Compelled, was off at 3-1 and paid $3.40 to place.

Fractions on the race were 21.63, 43.85 and 1:08.25.

Originally scheduled for 6 ½ furlongs down Santa Anita’s hillside turf course, the La Cienegas was shifted to the main track due to significant rainfall overnight and into early this afternoon. As a result, today’s running will not be designated as a Grade III stakes, unless the American Graded Stakes Committee, in a decision to be rendered in the coming days, deems today’s running is worthy of graded status.

LAS CIENEGAS STAKES QUOTES, $100,000

FLAVIEN PRAT, BELVOIR BAY, WINNER: “We had a good trip and I was very confident the whole way. She made a good move around the turn and she did it pretty easily.”
TRAINER QUOTES

PETER MILLER, BELVOIR BAY, WINNER: “She’s just unbelievable. She can do anything, any distance up to a mile, any surface. She’s the kind.
“I think this may have opened some doors to us in the future, to possibly run on the dirt. I’ll talk to Mr. Barber and do what we want to do but we know she can sprint on the grass obviously, she won the Torrey Pines, and now she won going six and-a-half in the slop so she makes me look good.
“I was a little concerned when Smith (Mike, aboard eventual runner-up Lady Suebee) came up outside my other horse (Painting Corners) like he did heading up the backside…but Belvoir Bay had everybody in her sights, so it was no problem.
“I thought we’d be sitting second or third all the way but it looked like Flavien had an idea to go up there and go head and head with my other filly. I’m glad he didn’t but it worked out.”

GARY BARBER, OWNER BELVOIR BAY, WINNER: “She can run on anything, we knew that, because she won a Grade III at Del Mar. I really wasn’t concerned about the switch to dirt, but I was a little worried about the off track. She’s been training well on the dirt and she ran well on it.”

NOTES: The winning owner is Gary Barber.

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