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​Kept Waiting splashes to victory in $100K Broadway

by Keith McCalmont

Sanford J. Goldfarb, Irwin Goldfarb and Nice Guys Stables’ Kept Waiting maintained a perfect record over the main track, returning on short rest to post an emphatic victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Broadway, a six-furlong sprint for older state-bred fillies and mares, at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

Trained by Robert Falcone, Jr., the 5-year-old Broken Vow mare entered from an eight-length romp in her main track and seasonal debut, sprinting six furlongs against open allowance company under Kendrick Carmouche last Sunday at the Big A.

Manny Franco took over aboard Kept Waiting in the Broadway, settling in third position as Carmouche blasted out of the gate aboard graded stakes placed Sadie Lady to set the opening quarter mile in 22.69 seconds over the sloppy main track.

Sadie Lady reached the half-mile in 46.68 with Kept Waiting advancing to the inside of Time Limit and the even-money favorite Breakfastatbonnies. Kept Waiting easily took over from a tiring Sadie Lady through the turn, opening up a three-length advantage at the stretch call and surged home a 5 1/2-length winner in a final time of 1:12.81.

Franco is undefeated aboard Kept Waiting, who he guided to a narrow state-bred allowance score in April over the Belmont turf. 

“She can run on both surfaces and she impressed me because of the way she ran her last two races and today in the company of better horses,” Franco said. “To do it this way was impressive. If I wanted, I could have kept opening up, but I didn’t want to beat her up and I knew I had the win already, so I just saved some for next time. It was perfect. I was able to be where I wanted to be behind the speed and at the five-sixteenths pole, I just tapped her on the shoulder and she was there for me.”

Kept Waiting, who was claimed out of a runner-up maiden effort for $40,000 in September 2020 at Belmont, has posted a record of 5-0-1 from seven starts for Falcone, Jr.

“She definitely has moved forward,” Falcone, Jr. said. “We gave her some time off last year after her race in April and she came back in good shape. She needed that first race off the layoff, but after that she was fit enough. She’s always trained well so hopefully she keeps the same form.”

Time Limit stayed on strong to complete the exacta by a half-length over Breakfastatbonnies. Letmetakethiscall, Chasing Cara, Sadie Lady and the slow-starting Awillaway completed the order of finish.

Trevor McCarthy, aboard Time Limit, said he was pleased with the effort.

“I got a great position,” McCarthy said. “We were able to take a nice little breather and finish up. I just wish I had a little more horse to keep Manny in, but he seemed to be on the best horse today. Turning for home she had every chance to want to lay down, but she dug back in for second.”

Bred in the Empire State by John Lauriello, Kept Waiting banked $55,000 in victory while improving her record to 11-5-3-1. She returned $6.90 for a $2 win bet. 

Live racing resumes Friday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern. There will be no live racing on Thursday, February 17 to accommodate the Presidents' Day card on Monday, February 21, which will be highlighted by the one-mile $100,000 Maddie May for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies.

America’s Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.