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Poca Mucha much the best in $135K De La Rose

by Mary Eddy

Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable and Jerold Zaro’s Poca Mucha capitalized on a blistering early pace duel with a last-to-first rally in Wednesday’s off-the-turf edition of the Listed $135,000 De La Rose at Saratoga Race Course.

The contest for older fillies and mares who have not won a graded stakes this year was originally slated for one mile on the inner turf, but was moved to the main track to be contested from the Wilson Chute at the same distance due to heavy rains earlier this afternoon.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Poca Mucha notched her first stakes victory in her 22nd lifetime outing, and visited the winner’s circle for the first time since taking a local turf optional claimer in August 2022. The 6-year-old daughter of Tourist made her first start on dirt since a third in a one-mile optional claiming tilt in November 2021 at Mountaineer.

Mott cited the mare’s maiden win in October 2020 over sloppy and sealed going at Horseshoe Indianapolis as a reason to stay in the race after he scratched his other entrant Immensitude.

“I had two in there and one I had to scratch. I told the stewards let me have a look at it and I'll call back on the other one,” Mott explained. “I talked to Mr. Wachtel, and we looked at it and went over her form and she'd run good on an off track a couple times, even though not Saratoga. We decided to give it a try.”

Ridden to victory by Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, Poca Mucha exited post 2 and stalked in last-of-4 behind the hard-sent duo of post-time favorite Hot Fudge and Sister Lou Ann, the latter of which was one of two entrants for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. and owner Ken Ramsey. The top two bounded away by seven lengths to duel through an opening quarter-mile in 23.74 seconds over the sloppy and sealed footing.

“I didn't think that [pace duel] was going to hurt us. As you saw it develop, they [Joseph, Jr. and Ramsey] had two horses in there and they obviously had a plan and it worked out for us,” said Mott.

A patient Rosario watched as the pair reached the half-mile in 46.43 before commencing his bid for the front, riding the rail and cutting the corner when an opening became available exiting the turn.

"It looked like she was handling it well. I stayed inside at the rail there,” Rosario explained. “I didn't want to change too much, it looked like she was moving nice, moving well for me. She did everything I asked her to do and it looked like the two horses in front didn't have a lot of horse at one point. Then I had a run inside and I went inside, and it worked out."

An all-out Hot Fudge conceded her lead at the top of the stretch after three-quarters in 1:11.38 as Poca Mucha swept up the rail and drew clear from her three rivals. Joseph, Jr. and Ramsey’s other entrant, Be My Sunshine, also made a late rally in tandem with Poca Mucha and went outside rivals to improve position in the stretch, but there was no denying Poca Mucha, who won going away by 14 1/4 lengths in a final time of 1:37.45.

Be My Sunshine was 5 3/4 lengths better than Hot Fudge with Sister Lou Ann completing the order of finish. Five Towns, Spirit And Glory, Mouffy, Immensitude, Evvie Jets and Midnight Mile were scratched.

Mott added he was pleased to have his mare add black type to her resume.

“She ran well and it makes you wonder if maybe we should have tried this before,” said Mott. “I'll be curious to see how the speed figures come back comparatively. The purses are good – good to win a stake, nice to win in Saratoga.”

Bred in Kentucky by Bridlewood Farm, Poca Mucha banked $74,250 in victory while improving her record to 22-4-5-4 and returning $22.60 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Thursday at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the Saratoga Race Course summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

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