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​Impazible Donna prevails in NYSSS Staten Island

by Keith McCalmont

Flying P Stable’s Impazible Donna returned from a three-month layoff to capture Sunday’s $125,000 NYSSS Staten Island, a seven-furlong sprint for eligible New York-sired fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Bruce Levine and piloted by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, the 5-year-old daughter of Mission Impazible made her stakes debut a winning one in her 17th career start with a determined outside rally to best Silken Dollar by 1 3/4-lengths.

“Right now, she’s in the best form she’s ever been,” said Flying P Stable’s Jay Provenzano. “She’s carrying good flesh. Today, she showed that she doesn’t have to be on the lead. She just wants to go by a horse and go by with being forceful."

Impazible Donna broke alertly from the outermost post 4 and briefly held the lead before Jose Lezcano hustled Bank On Anna to the front to mark the opening quarter-mile in 22.93 seconds over the muddy main track. Impazible Donna appeared to take a bad step down the backstretch and dropped back to third as Silken Dollar rushed up the rail under Manny Franco to assume command through a half-mile in 46.34.

Impazible Donna rallied wide late in the turn and was full of run as she took aim at Silken Dollar with Bank On Anna retreating. Castellano urged his mare for more as Silken Dollar drifted out and went eye-to-eye with her foe, but Impazible Donna would not be denied the victory and stopped the clock in a final time of 1:24.92. Silken Dollar completed the exacta by 9 1/2-lengths over Bank On Anna. Sedona Rocks trailed throughout. Galaxina, Yo Cuz and Bunty Windermere were scratched.

Castellano said he was proud of the way his filly performed.

“She broke so well out of the gate and I think Jose Lezcano rushed to go straight to the lead,” Castellano said. “I just made my own judgement down the backside – I didn’t want to hook two speed [horses] up and made her back up a little bit. I like the way she developed down the backside little by little and I liked the way she finished. She hooked up with those two horses at the top of the stretch and I liked the way she responded. She steadied a little and wouldn’t go by, but when she figured it out, she took off.”

Castellano said the awkward step down the backside didn’t hamper Impazible Donna.

“She was on the wrong lead and when she did that, she made an adjustment and she leveled off,” Castellano said.

Franco, who guided Silken Dollar to victory in a one-mile state-bred turf allowance here last out, said his filly performed admirably on her return to the main track.

"My filly ran awesome. She was second best. I drew the rail and she had run on grass, so I was a little afraid of the kickback," Franco said. "I wanted to put her somewhere where she wouldn’t get too much dirt in the face, it would be awesome, and that’s what I did. I just held my position, the rail was open and she was happy the entire way. She just got beat.”

Impazible Donna made her two prior starts at Saratoga Race Course in state-bred optional-claiming tilts won by Mosienko, finishing third in a six-furlong test on August 6 and second in a seven-furlong sprint on September 2.

“She’s been a little hard luck,” Levine said. “The biggest thing is she’s not a good doer and you have to space her out and really train her light. That’s just the way she is. But she’s been good to me.

“I was afraid to run her seven-eighths and now I can’t wait to run her a mile,” added Levine. “We’re going to try her at least. She’s training better than she’s run in her life. Now, she’s gone seven-eighths twice. She ran against Mosienko twice and today, she won. She had two good races going seven-eighths.”

Bred in the Empire State by Twin Creeks Farm, Impazible Donna, out of the stakes-placed Silver Deputy mare Pink Lollipops, banked $68,750 in victory while improving her record to 17-3-5-4. She returned $4.70 for a $2 win bet.

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.   

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

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