Maiden Beauty scores quick turnaround win in Bay Ridge

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Maiden Beauty and Kendrick Carmouche went all the way on the lead in Friday’s Bay Ridge Stakes. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law

Maiden Beauty did her own version of one door closes, another door opens Friday at Aqueduct.

Last seen winning an open company allowance-optional on the Big A’s final day of racing before the holiday break, Maiden Beauty returned on 10 days’ rest and on the first day after the festivity pause with a victory in the $97,000 Bay Ridge Stakes. The 5-year-old Revolutionary mare won the 9-furlong Bay Ridge all the way on the lead under Kendrick Carmouche for her fifth victory in 10 starts in 2021.

“That filly always runs one way for me – she runs really good on the lead,” Carmouche said. “The question today was going to be the mile and an eighth coming back so quick, but with a short field I pretty much dominated the race from the beginning. She did most of the work. She ran awesome.”

Carmouche wasted no time putting Maiden Beauty on the lead over the sloppy and sealed main track, where she won that 1-mile open race Dec. 19 and another at the same distance Sept. 19 at Belmont Park, and the two were ahead by a length over favored Ice Princess through a comfortable quarter mile in :24.74.

Maiden Beauty and Carmouche continued on their relaxed lead through the half in :49.76 with Ice Princess still tracking and just ahead of Fleet Indian winner Byhubbyhellomoney and Empire Distaff winner Sharp Starr just behind. Ice Princess edged closer on the far turn as Maiden Beauty passed 6 furlongs in 1:14.11.

Maiden Beauty cut the corner turning for home, opened up, ran past the eighth pole 2 1/2 in front and cruised to the finish 3 3/4 lengths clear of Ice Princess. Sharp Starr was another three-quarters of a length back in third with Byhubbyhellomoney and Amity Island completing the field. Maiden Beauty won in 1:51.76 for trainer Robert Falcone Jr. and owner John Grossi.

“I’m just glad she got to repeat that effort off of the flat mile race,” Carmouche said. “Rob brought her into the race good and I’m very happy that we went in this spot and made us all a winner before the first of the year.”

Falcone and John Grossi’s Racing Corp. claimed Maiden Beauty for $45,000 off Tony Dutrow and Timothy O’Toole when she finished second in a 7-furlong optional June 17 at Belmont. She finished second in her first start for her new connections in her next start, the $97,000 Saratoga Dew Stakes midway through the Saratoga Race Course meeting before her mid-September victory at Belmont.

Maiden Beauty finished sixth, beaten 9 1/2 lengths by Sharp Starr on a sloppy track, in the Empire Distaff before rebounding with her victory Dec. 19.

“John Grossi is a really great owner. I said we could run in this race after she came back good [from Dec. 19], but she may not run until February after this. I don’t like running horses back that quick, usually,” Falcone said. “She came back out of the race really good. The way she ran, that’s how she acts around the barn – she’s laid back and relaxed, but once she gets the lead just goes around there. That’s how she acts. She wasn’t blowing after that race, cooling out. She actually had more energy than she usually does the next few days when we took her back into training. We knew this race was coming up light and we decided to take a shot.”

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Maiden Beauty improved to 5-for-10 in 2021 with her second career stakes victory Friday in the Bay Ridge. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.

Falcone and Grossi considered Sunday’s $100,000 La Verdad, also against New York-breds and at 7 furlongs, for Maiden Beauty but figured the mare would have an easier time getting to the front going longer in the Bay Ridge.

“She’s just completely different on the lead. It’s just that simple with her,” Falcone said. “If you look at her past performances – and now you can add this one on – the last five times she won, she’s on the lead. If she doesn’t get the lead, she doesn’t win.”

The Bay Ridge was Maiden Beauty’s second stakes win. She won the $100,000 Lynbrook Stakes for 2-year-olds in her career debut in July 2018 for trainer Gary Contessa and owners Pines Stables, John Irwin, Paul Zysset and Sam Arci. Pines Stables bought the filly for $40,000 at the 2018 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. She previously sold as a weanling for $15,000 to Cicada Stable at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale.

Bred by Sandy Glenn Stables LLC and foaled at Stonegate Stables in Fort Edward, Maiden Beauty is the second foal out of the Eddington mare Alpha Charlie. Her first foal, the New York-bred Stay Thirsty mare Parlapiano, won three of 34 starts and earned $126,983.

Alpha Charlie is also the dam of two full siblings to Maiden Beauty – the 4-year-old filly Sister Beauty, who sold for $50,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale; and the 3-year-old filly Juliana’s Rose, who sold for $37,000 at the same sale in 2019, finished third in her debut Oct. 30 at Belmont Park and is re-entered in a maiden race Jan. 2 at Aqueduct.

Sandy Glenn Stables also bred a yearling filly by Ransom the Moon out of Alpha Charlie that sold for $25,000 at this year’s Keeneland September sale and a weanling filly out of the mare by Flameaway born Feb. 14. Alpha Charlie was bred to 2019 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run in 2021.

The Bay Ridge not only capped a strong season for Maiden Beauty, but helped her improve to 9-for-35 overall, to go with 10 placings, for career earnings of $628,912.

Endnotes:
  1. [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/MaidenBeauty-BayRidge.jpg
  2. [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/MaidenBeauty-BayRidge2.jpg

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2021/12/30/maiden-beauty-scores-quick-turnaround-win-in-bay-ridge/