NYRA/Adam Coglianese
William C Schettine’s Isabelle, a bay 4-year-old filly by Successful Appeal, scored her second career stakes victory and extended her winning streak to three with a win from off the pace in the $150,000 Broadway Stakes. The six-furlong sprint for older New York-bred fillies and mares was run as the Valentine’s Day feature Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Isabelle, who was 2-1 post time favorite under trainer Bill Mott’s go-to rider Junior Alvarado, got out of the gate well, but was forced to regroup and take back somewhat shortly after the break when the speedy Atlantic’s Smile to her outside crossed over to take the lead.
Racing evenly in fifth as Atlantic’s Smile carved out solid early fractions of 23.14 and 46.89 on an uncontested lead, Isabelle still had two lengths to make up approaching the quarter pole
Working her way out into the four path, Isabelle began picking off her rivals in late stretch. Inside the final sixteenth, she swept past Atlantic’s Smile on her way to a 1 1/4-length victory in a final time of 1:12.23. [VIDEO]
NYRA/Adam Coglianese
Junior Alvarado explained the dynamics of the early stages of the race: “She broke good. I tried to send her a little bit but there was a fast horse outside of me; she brushed with the other filly and lost all her action. After that I just tried to get a good spot for her and make her comfortable without rushing her.”
Alvarado continued. “I thought it was going to be harder than that, but I had so much horse. Everything ended up easy for me. Turning for home I put her outside and she finished very good.”
Riley Mott, Bill Mott’s son and assistant, added, “She kind of got squeezed back at the break, shuffled back, and got dirt in her face. She overcame that and Junior rode a great race. The track was playing to speed all day, so the fact that she was able to come off the pace like that was impressive.”
According to Trakus data, Isabelle travelled 18 feet further in the race than Atlantic’s Smile and 23 feet more than Make the Moment, who charged home from last to finish a neck back in third. Vicki’s Dancer, Blithely, Uncle Southern and Pennymine completed the order of finish.
Isabelle began her career under the care of Lisa Lewis. Unplaced in her single start at two, Isabelle has run first or second in six of seven subsequent starts. A runner-up in her sophomore bow last April 6 at Aqueduct, she parlayed a twelve-plus length maiden breaking score in the mud at Belmont on May 9 into a victory in the Bouwerie stakes at the end of the month. She also won a state-bred allowance for Lewis last summer at the Spa.
Going out for the Mott barn for her first start of the year, Isabelle won a second-level open allowance race on January 29, before wheeling back sixteen days later in the Broadway. Her career record now stands at five wins and a second from eight starts with $281,400 in earnings.
Bred by Bluegrass Farm Partners in partnership with Jeffrey Tucker, and foaled at Tucker’s Stonebridge Farm in Gansevoort, Isabelle was purchased by Schettine at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton New York select yearling sale for $100,000. The bay filly’s dam is Florida-bred stakes-placed runner Merrill Gold, who has produced two other winners. The mare currently has an unraced 3-year-old filly by Harlan’s Holiday and a 2-year-old colt by Bellamy Road, both registered New York-breds. In 2015 she was bred to I Want Revenge.
