Music Note, a highly regarded daughter of A.P. Indy, defeated the top filly of her division in Kentucky Oaks winner Proud Spell in Saturday’s running of the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park.
The trip for Proud Spell couldn’t have gone worse. Right out of the gate she stumbled and had to run harder than desired to get back into the thick of things. Meanwhile, Music Note was able to sit comfortably in a beautiful stalking position in third during the early going after stumbling badly at the start herself. She recovered a bit quicker than Proud Spell and was able to park herself just behind early pacesetter Never Retreat.
As the field entered the stretch, a fading Never Retreat caused Proud Spell to have to pull up in rather dramatic fashion for a moment, and then seek running room to the outside. Music Note used this opportunity to her advantage by pulling away from the field. Proud Spell was never able to catch her, and ended up banging into Never Retreat down the stretch - a move which ultimately caused her to be disqualified from 2nd to 3rd place.
I’m not sure if Proud Spell would’ve defeated Music Note without all the trouble. On the one hand Proud Spell was all over the place looking for running room and was never able to get it into a comfortable stretch run. On the other hand Music Note herself overcame trouble at the start of the race.
The up and down year for trainer Larry Jones and jockey Gabriel Saez seems to continue. Many will remember that Proud Spell was once being considered for the 2008 Kentucky Derby, but that Jones ultimately went with the ill-fated Eight Belles in that race.
Proud Spell will now find company atop the rankings for top 3-year-old filly as Music Note has definitely arrived on the scene and needs to be taken quite seriously. Music Note covered the 1 1/8 miles in the Mother Goose in 1:49.75. Rumors have Music Note next pointing towards the Alabama Stakes at legendary Saratoga on August 16th. Might we get a rematch between these two rivals that day? We’ll just have to wait and see. If nothing else the 3-year-old filly division just got more interesting.
RECENT COMMENTS