A Soda with Espresso
In her previous race, Espresso D’Italia came up short with her deep closing style. With an even more impressive rally, she was able to come from nearly last to first to take the $250,000 Grade II Mistaken Soda Identity Stakes in an impressive and commanding style.
Espresso D’Italia is the first son or daughter of Madaglia D’Oro to win a graded stakes.
With the win, the Lasthope1 trained filly bucked two trends from all previous runnings of the Mistaken Soda. She was the only winner to go off at more than ten to one odds, paying $27.00 to win, and no other winner ever came from so far back in the pack.
Jockey O Sweeney took advantage of the expected pace battle between two talented and speedy fillies. BarrStabl’s Biter Hollandia took a short lead in front of JockeyMax5’s Northern Red and led for the first half of the race, until the latter took over the lead. Northern Red was a very game second and looks to be one to watch next time.
Another one to watch next time appears to be fourth place finisher Blaster6’s Raziel. After wins in her first two starts, the experience she gained against this graded group can only help her to continue her progress.
Co-favorite Special Gold showed early speed, but faded to 11th. The other co-favorite, Unbridled Mistress never got going and finished tenth.