Experience carries the day in the Smark Stakes

In a race where the oddsmakers gave the edge to two unraced maidens, experience proved to be the determining factor in Viriginia’s highlight race this week, the Smark Stakes. Lady Of The Best(IRE) , the longshot in this short field, went wire to wire, to grab her third victory in here last four starts. This was also her second consecutive stakes victory. This victory moves her up to 28 in the turf sprint rankings, and 54 in the route ranking, the one that matters for horses with possible Breeder’s Bowl aspirations.

Lady Of The Bests(IRE) took control from the gate. She was closely shadowed by Dayfly’s Kid, the other previously run filly in this field. This speed battle went on through half the race, an while Lady Of The Bests(IRE) managed a short edge, it didn’t look like she was going to be able to shake her shadow. And the early speed battle looked like it was going to setup up a closer in the second have. By the third call though, Lady Of The Bests(IRE) had open up a one length cushion, and she added another half down the stretch to win this one by a length and a half. Dayfly’s Kid held on to second place, hanging tough down the stretch.

Nexis Sake made an attempt to close things up in the stretch, but the gap was just too much for her in this short sprint. She claimed third place, four and a quarter lengths behind the winner. First races are usually not the best of gauges, and we could be hearing about this horse somewhere down the line.