Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview.com report

Aurora Lights, under jockey Cornelio Velasquez, took advantage of a dull effort by favorite Justwhistledixie to win the Grade 3 Sabin Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., as part of the Fasig-Tipton Filly Festival program.

The festival also included the Davona Dale and The Very One stakes.

In the Sabin, Matchless Orinda and Amazing vied for the lead up the backstretch in the one-mile race as the other fillies, including Justwhisledixie and Aurora Lights, were stretched across the track a length behind the top two.

Matchless Orinda set fractions of 24.68, 48.21 and 1:12.69 for six furlongs. Aurora Lights, who was the widest of all, grabbed the lead coming off the turn and powered past Matchless Orinda and Amazing to win by two lengths. Matchless Orinda was a neck in front of Amazing to take second. Justwhistledixie was one pace down the lane as she settled for fourth.

“I thought there was more speed in the race, but it went slow and there was no pace so I stayed right there as best I could. And she finished the last quarter very fast. I rode this filly last time (in the Stage Door Betty) and she was in trouble the first half of the race but finished good, so I knew what I could expect from her today,” Velasquez said.

The 4-year-old daughter of Pulpit is trained by Eric Coatrieux and owned by Chiefwood Stables and has three wins in 10 starts.

“I think she can run on dirt as well as the synthetic (Polytrack at Woodbine). She got caught down inside in her last race and had some trouble (third in Stage Door Betty Handicap at Calder). We’ll look at the one more race for her here (Rampart Stakes (G2) on March 20) and then the two-turn race at Churchill during Derby week (La Troienne (G2) on April 30). We’ll try to stay away from the two big girls for now (Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta),” Coatrieux said.

Julien Leparoux, who rode Justwhistledixie, thought the pace was the problem.  “I had a good trip but there was no pace in the race and that hurt my filly’s chances.”

The Davona Dale got off to a match race as Bickersons and Amen Hallelujah were at each other’s throatlatch for the first six furlongs in 1:11.31, but Amen Hallelujah got the advantage at the quarter-pole and pulled off to a seven-length win in the one-mile race for 3-year-olds in 1:37.16.

Both fillies were coming into the race off wins, Bickersons in the Forward Gal at Gulfstream earlier this year and Amen Hallelujah in the Santa Ynez at Santa Anita Park in Southern California.

After Amen Hallelujah got the upper hand, Bickersons had nothing left in the stretch and was passed by both Joanie’s Catch and Mambo Fever, who were second and third. Amen Hallelujah was guided to her win by Julien Leparoux. She is trained by Rick Dutrow and owned by IEAH Stables. The daughter of Montbrook has four victories in seven starts.

“I brought her back from California just to run in this race. I’ve always thought she’d be better on dirt. She trains better on dirt than the synthetic. I really haven’t thought about what might be next,” Dutrow said.

Amen Hallelujah was making her first start on dirt after seven on synthetic tracks at Arlington Park, Keeneland, Hollywood Park and Santa Anita.

 “It was a good race for her. She ran very nice and easy today, and she went well over the track. That other filly (Bickersons) is a nice filly, and my filly went up to her real easy and kept going. It was a little tough to be down on the inside today, and I wanted to be a little closer in this race than I was with the filly (Justwhistledixie) in the last (the Sabin),” Leparoux said.

The Very One Stakes was run on a good turf course after a downpour hit the track late in the afternoon and that may have been a clue as Changing Skies, under jockey Kent Desormeaux, won the mile-and-three-eighths race over Nehantic Cat by a little less than a length. Cable was third. The final time for the race was 2:16.27.

In My Glory and Zaskar did all the work early as they set moderate fractions of 24.54, 49.12, 1:14.92 and 1.39.59 for a mile. But when the real running started, they were nowhere to be found. Closeout under Edgar Prado grabbed the lead with a quarter-mile to go, but couldn’t hold off a late charge from the top three and had to settle for fourth.

Changing Skies is trained by Bill Mott  and he said after the race, “They (Swettenham Stud in England – owner Ben Sangster) have sent me a number of nice fillies and we’ve been fortunate to win good races for them, including some Grade 1s. There are more opportunities over here once they get older. I was worried she might get a little rank early breaking from the outside post, but she settled nicely. We’ll definitely consider the Orchid here for her next start (March 28).”

Desormeaux was happy with the trip.  “She gave me a great ride. She was always in the bridle and distributing the confidence to me through the reins. And she was happy with the going. She’s a light filly, and they tend to stay on top of the ground, so she had no problem with the softer surface.”