Elsa Lorieul Photo

Varenka, Regal Glory dead-heat in G2 Lake Placid

by NYRA Press Office

Favored Varenka and second-choice Regal Glory hit the wire as one after a thrilling four-horse stretch drive to dead-heat for the win on Saturday in the 36th running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid at Saratoga Race Course.

Both fillies settled off the pace as Blowout led the field of 3-year-old turf fillies through dawdling fractions of 26.36 and 51.10 seconds, with three-quarters going in 1:15.39 under darkening skies and over an inner turf course rated firm. Heading into the turn, jockey Luis Saez made the first move aboard Regal Glory, tipping the Animal Kingdom filly to the outside in the three path as Amandrea ranged up to challenge the pacesetter.

Following along, however, were Varenka and Javier Castellano, who went even wider to trigger a contentious stretch run among the four fillies, with Blowout grimly hanging on to the lead on the inside and Amandrea staying in the mix until the final yards, when the top two surged to the front with inches to spare in the photo finish.

Both fillies were walked in a circle outside the winner's circle for several minutes as rain began to fall while racing officials perused the photo before posting the "head heat" sign.

"You have to be lucky," said Castellano. "Those 'bobs' can go either way. It was a very exciting race and those two horses showed up and I rode to win. In the moment, I thought I had won the race but after watching the replay, I thought it could go either way."

The final time for the 1 1/16-mile race was 1:43.68.

It was the second straight victory and first in a stakes for Augustin Stable's Varenka, who won an optional claimer earlier in the meet. Overall, the daughter of Ghostzapper is now 3-2-2 from eight career starts, with her only off-the-board effort coming when fifth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

The H. Graham Motion trainee returned $2.90 for a $2 win wager and earned $75,000, boosting her bankroll to $278,100.

"I'm speechless, to be honest," said Motion, who won the race in 2009 with Shared Account. "I had another one of these up here in the Amsterdam [with Secret Firm in 1998, who dead-heated with Mint] when I first started training. I just can't believe she got there because they went so slow. That was a crazy performance.

"I thought we had [it won] right before the wire and right after the wire, but I wasn't sure on the line. All credit to Javier [Castellano]. He said he was going to be patient with her, and he was patient."

The Lake Placid was the second graded stakes win for the Chad Brown-trained Regal Glory, who took the Grade 3 Lake George at the Spa on July 18. Owned by Paul Pompa, Jr., the filly has never been worse than second in seven career starts, with five victories including the Penn Oaks at Penn National earlier this year and the Stewart Manor last fall at Aqueduct Racetrack.

"Both horses finished great to run into a slow pace like that," said Brown, who won last year's Lake Placid with Rushing Fall. "I thought Luis [Saez] did a great job."

Regal Glory returned $3.10 for a $2 win bet and now has amassed $431,750.

Blowout, also trained by Brown, held on the finish third, a neck back, with Amandrea another half-length behind in fourth. Vow to Recover checked in fifth, with Feel Glorious sixth.