Read the Footnotes’ Rightly So Dances Away From Field in Grade 1 Ballerina

by Sarah Mace

Zayat Stables’ Rightly So, last seen winning the seven-furlong Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Handicap at Belmont on the Fourth of July weekend, was pointed immediately after the race to the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga by trainer Tony Dutrow. The four-year-old daughter of New York-based Read the Footnotes fulfilled her trainer’s plans to a tee on Saturday, wiring a field of seven other fillies and mares three and up to win the seven-furlong Grade 1 race on Travers Day at the Spa in a stunning four-length romp.

Rightly So, who had achieved all six previous lifetime victories on the front end, changed no tactics on Saturday after the gates opened. Cornelio Velasquez, in the irons for both her Bed of Roses victory and close runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Vagrancy Handicap in late May, took Rightly So straight to the lead and they challenged the field to run them to down. The field did not.

Although she drifted out slightly after the start, Rightly So (who was fourth choice in the wagering at post time) led the way just off the rail through blazing fractions of 22.26 and 44.80 with Warbling in pursuit. Jessica Is Back followed in third. The running order remained unchanged down the backstretch, around the turn and through the stretch, the only difference being that in upper stretch, after testing fractions, with three-quarters of a mile clocked at 1:09.29, Rightly So continued to draw off from the field. She got the win by a four-length margin. Warbling and Jessica is Back followed her across the finish line and favorite, Champion Informed Decision, finished sixth. The final time for the seven furlongs over the fast Saratoga track was 1:22.58.

Trainer Tony Dutrow was gushing about his filly after the race, and with justification. “It was just a fantastic performance today. She’s a filly who is capable of running fast the entire race. She outdid herself today. She’s been an overachiever, and once again she raised her game to the top. We just couldn’t be any prouder of her. Congratulations, Rightly So!” Rightly So has never been off the board in all eleven careers starts, and her record of 7-3-1 after the Grade 1 victory (her second graded stakes win and fourth stakes score) brings her purse earnings to $490,050.

Bred by Sequel 2003 and foaled at Sequel Stallions NY, Rightly So was purchased by Zayat Stables as an OBS Calder two-year-old in 2008 for $220,000. She is from the unraced Out of Place mare Fit Right In, who is a half-sister to New York-bred stakes-winner Under Serviced by Hook and Ladder and stakes-placed Don’t Mind Me by Freud. Fit Right In’s only other foal to race, a three-year-old New York-bred son of Freud (Conflicted) is also a winner. Purchased by JMJ Racing at the New York October Mixed Sale from Lakland North in 2006 for $3,000, Fit Right In has a New York-bred yearling filly by Closing Argument (bred by Thomas-Narlinger, LLC and A R Properties, and selling at Keeneland this September [(Hip 2936]), a weanling full-sister to Rightly So, and has been bred to Curlin. Rightly So’s sire Read the Footnotes, who has been at stud in New York since 2006, stands for Sequel Stallions at Keane Stud.

Source URL: http://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2010/08/28/rightly-so-ballerina/

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