Jim McCue / Maryland Jockey Club
by Sarah Mace
Pointed to the $100,000 Skipat Stakes immediately following a victorious Pimlico debut in the Primonetta Stakes on April 18, Triple R Stables’ Delaware-based Galiana (Stonesider) scored a sixth career stakes tally in the 6-furlong dash on Black-Eyed Susan Day after a successful two-pronged attack on odds-on favorite Lady Sabelia.
Galiana, third choice at odds of 5-1, broke sharply under Primonetta pilot Abel Lezcano and took her game immediately to Lady Sabelia, who devoted the first quarter mile, run in :23 seconds flat, to shaking off the early challenge. As Galiana dropped two lengths off the pacesetter, Lady Sabelia even accelerated slightly, covering the second quarter-mile in 22.30.
In the far turn Galiana angled out and gained momentum for a second assault the leader. Advancing inexorably, the chestnut mare overhauled Lady Sabelia inside the furlong marker, then opened up to a decisive 2 3/4-length victory in a final time of 1:11.08. She’s Ordained finished two lengths back in third, a head in front of Aix En Provence.
Jockey Abel Lezcano said the key to the 5-year-old mare’s victory was her ability to rate. “At the start she wanted to go early,” said Lezcano. “She relaxed on the backstretch. At the three-eighths she moved out and started going. She really ran well.”
Trainer Rodolfo Romero expressed as much relief as pleasure in the performance. “I was really nervous. I was worried about the favorite (Lady Sabelia), because she was really good. I was surprised my horse was so close to the lead. But sometimes, you don’t know what to expect from her. She’s very tough and she’s getting very good.”
A six-time stakes winner, Galiana has emerged as the top earner for her sire Stonesider, who stands at Saratoga Stud, LLC for a 2015 fee of $3,500. She has won 13 of 25 career races, including nine tries at six furlongs, and earned over a half-million dollars ($519,121). In addition to the Skipat and Primonetta Stakes at Pimlico she has won four black type contests at Delaware Park: the Tax Free Shopping Distaff Stakes, twice, the Dashing Beauty Stakes and the Sweet and Sassy Stakes.
Bred by John T. Behrendt and Charles Marquis and foaled at Anne Morgan and Tim Little’s Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater, Galiana is out of Baby Jess, an unraced Argentinian-bred daughter of Interprete (ARG). A full sister to Galiana has won in Argentina.
