MORE Than Ready filly Pianist went within a fraction of setting a new course record at Pimlico when she led from the front to win the Grade 3 Gallorette Stakes ( 1 116m) on the Preakness undercard on Sunday.
Already a stakeswinner, the Chad Brown trained filly pinged the lids to set up a clear early led under jockey Mike Smith.
She was never really challenged at any stage powering away from her rivals to win by 2 3/4-lens in a time of 1:40.60s, a shade off the current Pimlico benchmark time for the journey of 1:40.32s established by multiple Grade 1 winner Precious Kitten in the 2007 Gallorette.
“I thought the fractions were a little strong but I just left it to the riders. I said ‘You just judge the pace’,” trainer Chad Brown told ESPN.
“I didn’t give them any figures. She looked great, although it looked like Samitar wasn’t holding the track on the backstretch.”
Pianist was bred in Kentucky by the Grapestock breeding division of Tm Simon’s Vinery (USA) arm and is a daughter of Red Ransom mare Red Piano.
Pianist is one of 116 individual stakes winners sired by More Than Ready so far, it was her second black-type victory following the LR Given Stakes at Belmont last September.
