Jacaranda completed another two year-old black-type weekend for her sire Congrats at Aqueduct on Sunday.
The unbeaten filly won the G3 Tempted Stakes (1600m) by more than three lengths to become the 17th stakes winner for the Vinery shuttler.
The $250,000 event was staged less than 24 hours after Congrats filly Top Decile finished an unlucky second in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita.
Jacaranda (2f Congrats – Baffled by Distorted Humor) took the Tempted Stakes wire-to-wire in her stakes debut for trainer Michael Hushion. The chestnut charged out of the gates and distanced herself from the field before coasting home under a hand ride by Jose Ortiz.
“I’ve worked her in the mornings and she’s a very nice, relaxed filly,” Ortiz said. “She had a lot of trouble the first time out but still won. She got a little tired at the end today but it was her first time at a mile.”
Jacaranda had endured a rough trip on debut at Belmont Park in September before drawing off to a five-length victory. “I guess it bodes well for her going further,” Hushion said. “There were some very, very talented fillies behind her.”
Bred in Kentucky by Vinery, Jacaranda is a half-sister to this year’s G1 Florida Derby winner Constitution. She sold for $250,000 at the Keeneland September sale and has already repaid the majority of that price-tag with earnings of $195,000 for owner Barry Schwartz.
Sunday’s Group 3 was a consolation for Congrats after his filly Top Decile flew home to be beaten a half-length by long-shot Take Charge Brandi in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Saturday.
Top Decile (2f Congrats – Sequoia Queen by Forestry) won her maiden at Saratoga in August and adds the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to her other Group 1 placing in the Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland.
“I got through the first turn without losing much ground but we had to go about three-wide on the second turn,” jockey Rosie Napravnik explained. “She was running against the bias but finished well. She’s a good filly.”
Top Decile collected $360,000 for her owners Seth Klarman and Bill Lawrence at Santa Anita. She cost $110,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September yearling sale and in just three starts has returned $490,000.
“She ran her eyeballs out,” Lawrence said. “She’s done nothing wrong. To be able to make that kind of move from the outside and go that many more lengths, you’ve got to be happy.”
Congrats (A P Indy) has climbed up to fourth on the North American 2YO premiership table with $1.38 million in prizemoney. The 12th individual winner from his first crop of Kentucky bred two year-olds had arrived on Friday when Dreaming Of Leah won her maiden at Philadelphia Park.
Vinery stands Congrats for a $22,000 (inc gst) service fee.