March X Press rallies late in Bolton Landing to win stakes debut

by Brian Bohl

Golconda Stables' March X Press ran down Fairyland in deep stretch, completing a furious late rally to win her stakes debut by a half-length in the third running of the $100,000 Bolton Landing for juvenile fillies on Wednesday on the Mellon turf at Saratoga Race Course.

Buy Sell Hold and Fairyland dueled to set the pace in the 5 ½-furlong sprint, with the former going a quarter-mile in 21.79 seconds before Fairyland edged ahead to go a half-mile in 44.15.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., Fairyland gained separation heading into the stretch. But Jose Ortiz bested his brother, piloting March X Press on the outside and gaining ground before taking the lead in the final jumps, hitting the wire in 1:01.69.

"[She is] a very talented filly. She came back in two weeks and I was a little worried about it, but she was ready to run," Ortiz said. "She broke much better today, I was happy to see that. I went through a tight hole around the three-sixteenths pole but she's got a lot of heart, she made it through, and I think that's the point where we won the race.

"I mean when I made it through the hole I knew I was going to win. There wasn't a lot of race left and I saw the horse in front of me was getting tired."

March X Press improved to 2-for-2 in her career, building on her debut win on August 2 at the Spa. The Todd Pletcher trainee went off as the 2-1 favorite and paid $6.80 on a $2 win wager.

The Shanghai Bobby filly more than doubled her career earnings to $103,800.

"There was a moment there where things got a little crowded and she showed a lot of bravery on her second start to push her way through there," Pletcher said. "She has an explosive turn of foot in that last part. She had to push her way through a little bit, and for a lightly raced filly to do that, it is impressive."

March X Press was coming off a 14-day turnaround, also at 5 ½-furlongs. Pletcher said the state bred filly could move up to graded stakes competition with the Grade 1 Natalma on September 17 at Woodbine a possibility.

"First of all, she came out of the race really well," Pletcher said of the decision to run her for the second time in two weeks. "On that day, she only ran like the last three sixteenth of a mile, so we just wanted to monitor how she came out of the race, and she came out of it well. There are not too many opportunities left like this, so she gave us the indication that she was ready to run back, and we are glad we did."

Fairyland made her third career start and first back in North American since finishing 12th in the Group 3 Albany at Royal Ascot on June 23 in England for trainer Wesley Ward. She outlasted March X Press stablemate Sugar Queen by a half-length for second.

Sugar Queen, returning to stakes competition for the first time since a fourth-place effort in the Astoria on June 8 at Belmont Park, was coming off an allowance win on July 24 at Saratoga.

"She ran well. She got a little bit of a wide trip," Pletcher said. "She was kind of drifting away from horses around the turn, a little bit green. I thought she closed really well. [It was] a good effort from both fillies."

Life Time Citizen, Bully Sell Hold, Sly Beauty and Madame X. completed the order of finish. Mentality was scratched.