Satin Smooth Captures Seventh Straight
(Ascot) For many good horses the move from non-graded stakes into graded stakes is a quantum leap, and most fall short of being able to successfully handle the task. For Satin Smooth it was just another day at the office as she toyed with the field in the G2 Across the Pond Stakes, much as she had in her three previous non-graded efforts. This was her first true test for class and she passed it with flying colors.
A field of ten distance loving turf mares showed up at beautiful Ascot for this black-type affair held over thirteen grassy furlongs, with the punters settling on Junk Collector(IRE) as their favorite at a tepid three-to-one. Despite her six straight easy wins the crowd sent Satin Smooth off as the sixth choice at eight-to-one, a move most in attendance would soon regret.
Divine Divinity(IRE) and Well What(FR) came away from the barrier the quickest, and the leading pair set off at a leisurely pace almost as a team. Warrior’s Missle and Wexford County settled down in third and fourth position, several lengths behind the pacesetters, with Satin Smooth galloping along comfortably behind these two, with the rest of the field trailing behind. The race stayed unchanged until the field had gone about half the race when Divine Divinity(IRE) suddenly threw in the towel, leaving Well What(FR) alone at the front with a huge lead. At the three-eights pole the closers were on the move and Satin Smooth had cut Well What’s(FR) huge lead down to less than a length. As they hit the top of the straight the eventual winner cruised past the front-runner and set sail for home. With only the wind in front of her and the crowd’s roar in her ear, Satin Smooth galloped to the wire the easiest of winners. Only Gone Off Sake would make any threatening move at her, and even that late charge left that one almost three-lengths behind at the wire. Well What(FR) held on for third with Fandepgroom closing late for fourth.
Satin Smooth is a huge, well-made, seal brown daughter of Smarty Jones with a small crooked white star on her forehead. Three white stockings complete the attractive package and her connections had this to say about her. “We did right by this mare by giving her over a year off. She was such a big, ungainly mare that we simply had to wait until she grew into herself. We are certainly glad now that we waited. She is almost five now with only seventeen lifetime starts, and we hope that the best is yet to come. It took us awhile to figure out that she wanted to run long on the turf because her pedigree says sprint or mid-distance dirt. Sometimes we are a little slow to figure things out.”
The G2 Across the Pond Stakes is now seven straight wins for Satin Smooth, and her first graded stakes attempt. It was her fourth stakes score and her bank account now stands at almost $400K. She runs for Farm304 stables – which is part of the kingab group.