Love Cervere lifts late to land first graded win in G3 Glen Cove

Edward Seltzer, Beverly Anderson and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s Love Cervere showed a swift turn-of-foot late to sweep past rivals and land her first graded victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Glen Cove, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for sophomore fillies, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Miguel Clement, the daughter of Into Mischief has now hit the board in 7-of-8 starts, including her first stakes victory in the in the Take the A Train over course and distance in May and the Listed Alywow in June at Woodbine Racetrack. She entered from a game runner-up effort to Saturday Flirt in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance on September 6 at Kentucky Downs.

"She loves Aqueduct,” Clement said of the bay filly, who is a perfect 3-for-3 at the Big A. “She has a great turn-of-foot, and she is ultra-consistent which makes our job a lot easier – she won at Woodbine, ran well at Saratoga and Kentucky Downs. She's game, she's tough - everything you would like in a filly. She's a graded-stakes quality filly and it's great that she finally has that on her resume.”

Piloted by Manny Franco, Love Cervere emerged cleanly from post 2-of-10, and was unhurried as Me Governor skipped to the front to mark an opening quarter-mile in 22.01 seconds over the firm turf with the pair of Pop Idol and Slightly Busy keeping close watch just behind.

Love Cervere was last heading into the turn, and had an inside route closed off when Katie Davis quickly angled Somnium inward to take up an opening on the rail, leaving Franco to swing his mount wide when meeting a wall of rivals through the half-mile in 44.61 with Me Governor toiling at the helm.

"I moved wide, but I knew I had a lot of horse,” Franco said. “It was all a matter of time. I tip out, she takes off. I was happy with that. I tried to get her to relax at the beginning and make a run."

Somnium was in with a shout after five-eighths in 56.56, and Flat Out Time surged between rivals to throw her hat in the ring, but Love Cervere unleashed an impressive run in the six-path and swept by all her challengers under a hand ride from Franco to cross the wire one length in front in a final time of 1:08.44.

Flat Out Time held off the late rush of Abientot, who rallied from last to land third by one length over Somnium. Italian Soiree, It Ain’t Two, the Clement-trained Annascaul, Me Governor, Pop Idol and Slightly Busy completed the order of finish. Main track-only entrants Stone Smuggler and Army Gal were scratched.

Clement added that Love Cervere was aided by a swift tempo.

"Pace makes the race - she has a great turn-of-foot, so the more pace the more effective she is," he said.

Franco said Love Cervere responded well to the patient ride over a firm course that had been doused with some light showers earlier in the day.

"Really nice filly. Miguel gave me a lot of confidence. He told me to ride the way that I wanted, but he wanted me to be patient, the way the ground is,” said Franco, who won four races on Saturday’s card. “The field came back to me. At the same time, when I asked her, she was there for me. She took off when I asked her.”

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, aboard the George Weaver-trained runner-up Flat Out Time, said his filly ran admirably in her turf debut off a third in the Grade 3 Prioress over dirt in August at Saratoga Race Course.

"Beautiful trip. First time on the grass, she ran amazing. We followed the speed. I sat right behind, the pocket, saved all the ground,” Castellano said. “I cut the corner, the winner went around and was the 'much-the-best' horse in the race. I'm satisfied with the way my horse did it today. Second best today.”

Bred in Kentucky by Edward Seltzer and Beverly Seltzer, Love Cervere is out of the stakes-placed Black Minnaloushe mare Panther Strike and is a half-sister to Grade 3-winner Chapalu and dual stakes-placed Caroline Test. She banked $96,250 in victory while returning $6.76 on a $2 win wager as the 2-1 mutuel favorite.

Sunday’s card at Belmont at the Big A has been canceled due to a powerful coastal storm forecast to bring extremely high winds and heavy rainfall to the New York City metropolitan area. Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcasting, and wagering is available via NYRABets.com. Sunday’s featured $150,000 Carle Place will be brought back on Sunday, October 19 with entries to be taken on Wednesday, October 15.

Live racing resumes Thursday with an eight-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.   

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont at the Big A, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.