Semper Sententiae becomes stakes winner in River Memories

by Ryan Martin

ELMONT, N.Y. - After four consecutive placings against graded stakes company, John O'Connor's consistent Semper Sententiae added "stakes winner" to her resume when taking Friday's $100,000 River Memories over Belmont Park's Widener turf.

Piloted by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, the gray or roan daughter of The Factor was second in the early stages, 2 ½ lengths behind Scottish Jig, who led the six-horse field by two lengths through an opening quarter-mile in 24.64 seconds with last year's River Memories winner Homeland Security moving to Semper Sententiae's outside in third. Semper Sententiae began inching her way closer with a half-mile covered in 49.52 seconds over the firm turf.

At the eighth pole, Semper Sententiae confronted the pacesetter and then overtook her. Fools Gold made a three-wide move on the outside, but Semper Sententiae was able to keep her challenger at bay and pulled through to victory by 1 ¾ lengths over Fools Gold, who finished 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Scottish Jig. She completed the 1 1/2-mile journey in 2:25.48.

Completing the order of finish were Homeland Security, Sky Full of Stars and Matty's Magnum.

Ferdinanda, Lemon Zip, Theodora B., Gaining, Pamina, Violet Blue and main-track only entrant Another Broad were scratched.

Velazquez, who has been aboard Semper Sententiae in three of her prior efforts, said that Semper Sententiae can be a bit headstrong in the early stages and that keeping her relaxed is important.

"She's been knocking on the door, that's for sure. The whole key with her is if you get her to relax; she can be pretty aggressive in the first part," Velazquez said. "The leader went and I put her right behind and she came off the bridle perfect. Someone got to her around the first turn, but then the horse got back from me, and she [Semper Sententiae] relaxed again. Today, she had that kick, and she didn't fight me so much."

Hennig praised Velazquez's ride aboard Semper Sententiae.

"Johnny gave her an excellent ride, just like we talked about. We were hoping Mott's horse [Scottish Jig] would open out in front of her and we could just track her around. When she ran at Gulfstream [third-place, Grade 3 La Prevoyante] she got forced to move early that day and Johnny was aggravated that he had to move when he did. We've been looking to get her back to that distance because Johnny said that she really liked it."

Hennig said the Grade 3, $200,000 Fasig-Tipton Waya on August 4 or the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls on August 31, both at Saratoga, are likely next targets for Semper Sententiae "depending on how she comes out of this."

Semper Sententiae scored her first victory since breaking her maiden going 1 1/4 miles over the Belmont turf in September. Since her graduation effort, she had finished on the board in all seven starts, the most recent of which was a third-place finish in the Grade 2 New York on June 7 to Homerique.

Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, Semper Sententiae returned $6.40 for a $2 win bet. She cashed $55,000 for the triumph, bringing her lifetime earnings to $297,988. Her record now stands at 10-2-2-5. She has won two of her five starts over the turf at Belmont.

Live racing resumes on Saturday at Belmont with an 11-race Stars & Stripes Racing Festival card featuring the launch of the Turf Triple series. First post is 1 p.m.