Daddy’s Girl: Berenguela rewards Carby’s King, Fernando
Maryland– Nothing like making dear ol’ Dad proud. Or, in this case, Mom-Pop? Dad-Mom? Mama-Papa? Yeah, mama-papa! 🙂
Berenguela’s mama-papa is none other than Carby’s King, a Grade 3-winning Seeking The Gold horse who won a heap of dough for Fernando in his day. Carby’s King was a big graded performer too, posting sizzling numbers over a flat Monster Mile. He won 21 stakes races over six seasons and even appeared in the Breeders Bowl (10th in 2002 Sprint).
So, just what can a Daddy’s girl prove on the racetrack? Well, for starters, how ’bout win a Grade 3 for her very own?
And that’s what Berenguela did in last week’s Grade 3 $125,000 Annie Oakley Stakes. The sophomore filly sired by Tale Of The Cat captured her first graded stakes victory in fine off pace style.
Competitive and often close all season, she went off as a mild longshot in the full field of sophomore fillies. The closer inevitably benefitted from a free-for-all pace duel. A herd of longshots dueked it out through the opening quarters with only the mild pace cruiser, Empire Gold, coming away with a piece of the purse.
Instead, Berenguela relished her late charge around the far turn. The filly gamely flew on by her rivals and outran skirom’s fellow closer Northerly Nicole down the stretch.
“We only had the other closer to beat ‘coz the pacesetters were cooked,” jockey Emmit Walsh said. “I clucked at Berenguela to keep her mind on business though. She has a habit of not finishing the final furlong. She was much the best though — the trainer (Fernando) had her super fit.”
Final time for the nine main track furlongs was a zippy 1:48 flat, a super mark for Berenguela’s 6th career triumph.
Although the victory pushed her bankroll up over the $350k mark, she’s got a long way to go to catch her Mama-Papa’s $1.4M. Good luck, Carby’s King (and Fernando)!