Musical Romance makes amends in the Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap on 7th July, 2012
Musical Romance aces the Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder Racecourse and makes her home-base proud with a victory in this Grade 1 event over the course of six furlongs on 7th July, 2012.
The five-year-old mare missed the victory last year in this race, when she lost to Sassy Image on 9th July, 2011, but made amends this time when she aced it in the capable hands of jockey, Juan C. Leyva.
The Bill Kaplan trained mare finished half-length ahead of David Fawkes’s charge Nicole H, while the Martin D. Wolfson trained, Nakano, finished in third place.
The Florida bred filly rode on the inside and followed pacesetter, Golden Mystery, who completed the opening quarter-mile distance in 21.80 seconds, and half-mile in 45.10 seconds.
Leyva made his move when a gap appeared, and guided the daughter of Concorde's Tune through it, after the eighth pole, she picked up the pace and was fighting for first place with Nicole H.
The two duelled all the way until the final dew strides, but it was Musical Romance, whose determination carried her through to the finish-line, as she completed the race in an impressive time of 1 minute and 10.92 seconds.
Regarding her victory, rider Juan Leyva discussed the tactics he used in the race and stated:
"Everything worked out perfect," Levya further added: "This filly loves being inside; she thrives on that kind of stuff. You don't get a lot of horses that want to be in there like that, and that no matter where you put her, she's going to run. Turning
for home, I was waiting in the pocket, waiting for room."
The winner, who was foaled by mare, Candlelightdinner, earned the prize of $233,120, while the runner-up was awarded $75,200.
Bill Kaplan who co-owns the mare with Pinnacle Racing Stable told the media that:
"She has all the talent in the world and all the soundness in the world, a great combination. If you look at her past performances, she never wins by a lot, but just by what she has to."
With this victory, Musical Romance has total earnings of $1,627,695.
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