Adam Coglianese
La Verdad (Yes It’s True) took her eleventh trip to the winner’s circle and won her fourth consecutive stakes victory on Thursday after leading three multiple stakes-winning rivals gate-to-wire in the $100,000 Dancin Renee Stakes for New York-bred filly and mare sprinters at Belmont Park on Thursday.
La Verdad was bet down to 1-5 favoritism for the Dancin Renee as she cut back to her preferred distance of six furlongs on the heels of a gutsy victory in the one-mile Critical Eye Stakes on Big Apple Showcase Day on May 31, where she pushed her distance limit to the extreme. Two starts back the 4-year-old won the Grade 2 Distaff at Aqueduct at six furlongs for a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
The field of the Dancin Renee was reduced to four after the early scratch of Miss Da Point, who is entered to run in the Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes at Finger Lakes on Saturday. Lined up to the outside of La Verdad, who drew post one, were: AnJes Farm’s Clear Pasaj, who won the Dancin Renee last year when it was contested at seven furlongs as a handicap; the talented Willet, who had not started since winning the Touch of Love Stakes last December 6; and Risky Rachel in post four, who returned from an extended layoff to win the Minaret and the Manatee at Tampa Bay Downs over the winter but had been unplaced in two subsequent starts in the Northeast. Risky Rachel is also, as it happens, the daughter of 1997 New York-bred Horse of the Year Dancin Renee for whom the race was named.
The speedy La Verdad broke running and quickly opened up two lengths on the competition, carving out testing fractions of 21.99 and 44.48. In the far turn her closest original pursuer Risky Rachel gave way to an energized Willet, who took up the chase and looked to threaten in upper stretch.
NYRA/Chelsea Durand
Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., replacing his brother Jose (currently on a three-day suspension) as La Verdad’s regular rider, felt Willet’s pressure stretch-long. After just showing his mount the whip, he gave her a vigorous hand ride to the wire where she posted the victory by 1 3/4 lengths in a final time of 1:09.99 over the “good” drying out Belmont main track. Following Willet across the finish line were Risky Rachel and Clear Pasaj. [VIDEO]
Linda Rice, who trains La Verdad for Sheila Rosenblum’s Lady Sheila Stable, expressed some relief after the race. “I got a little nervous when they put up the :21 4/5 for the first quarter,” said Rice. “That concerned me that Willet, who is a pretty nice filly, might get to her late in the stretch. La Verdad turned her back. It was a good race.”
Jockey Irad Ortiz explained that he got some coaching from his brother Jose for the assignment. “I just followed instructions. Jose understands the filly very much and he’s my brother; he had confidence in me and told me everything about the filly. He helped me a lot, and she’s a very nice filly. ”
Ortiz continued, “I felt [Willet] a little bit, but when I asked her I didn’t hit her. Jose told me to have confidence that when you ask her, she’s going to pick it up. I was waiting to feel [Willet], then started asking her and just showed her the whip, but I never hit her and she picked it up a little bit. She went pretty fast in the first part and kept going.”
Ortiz concluded with a pledge: “I’m going to buy Jose dinner.”
Rosenblum, for her part, raved about her talented filly “I’m usually not speechless, but with this filly . . . she’s unbelievable. She’s a dream come true. She just speaks for herself – she’s all about New York.”
Even though the Dancin Renee came up tougher than she expected for La Verdad. Rice already has the filly’s next date with the starter in the books. “Obviously, physically, she is a big, strong, attractive filly with a lot of speed, but she also has a terrific mind. She’s a good competitor. Coming out of a [one-mile race], I wanted to just keep her sharp. I did not anticipate that this race would have come up as tough as it did with Willet and Risky Rachel, so it wasn’t the prep I was looking for, but it will get us [to the Grade 2 HRTV Honorable Miss Handicap on July 28 at Saratoga Race Course].”
After finishing fourth in her unveiling in March 2013 on the Aqueduct inner oval, La Verdad has done virtually nothing but win. She broke her maiden and won an entry-level state-bred allowance in back-to-back starts in April and May at Aqueduct and Belmont. Then, following six months off, she took three straight races, winning through her second-level open allowance condition before finishing second in her stakes debut in the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie at Laurel. Since the Fritchie she has gone four-for-four, winning a sloppy renewal of the Broadway on March 29, the Grade 2 Distaff on April 19, the endurance-testing Critical Eye on May 31 and the Dancin Renee. Now 9-1-0 from 11 starts, La Verdad has earned $606,700.
La Verdad was bred by Eklektikos Stable LLC, who sold her privately to Rosenblum following her second allowance victory last November 7. Foaled at Chester and Mary Broman’s Chestertown farm in Chestertown, she is one of two winners out of Noble Fire (Hook and Ladder), a stakes-placed runner bred by Chester and Mary Broman and also trained by Rice, who purchased her for $115,000 at the 2007 OBS Spring sale of 2-year-olds in training,
Noble Fire is also the dam of speedy Rice-trained Eklektikos homebred gelding N. F’s Destiny (Cuvee), a four-time winner and earner of over $200,000. She currently has a 2-year-old filly by City Zip named Hot City Girl and a weanling filly by Freud, born on May 22.
