Eleven Fillies Get Up To Take On Challenge In Kentucky
Race : Help…. Mike’s Fallen And Can’t Get Up Stakes – Grade II – $250,000
ID: 3861.0315
Track : Kentucky
Restrictions : Fillies and Mares, 4 years old and up
Distance : A mile and one quarter on the dirt
Eleven fillies and mares took to the track in the highlight of Kentucky racing this past weekend. The scene would be the Grade II Help… Mike’s Fallen And Can’t Get Up Stakes, set over a mile and a quarter over the main dirt oval. The track would be listed as fast for the eleven ladies to take to the field that Saturday afternoon, and the race would prove as a possible shocker to everyone attending. At the end of the mile and a quarter it would be the 7/1 shot out of the fourth post position that would command a three-fourths length victory at the wire. Crank Caller (IRE), trained by donrawl01, the only filly in the race not originated in the state of Kentucky, shocked the crowd gathered for the race as she powered forward to defeat the greatly overestimated favorite, Black Tuesday, owned by fairhaven2.
The race would begin the middle of the sunny afternoon with the eleven fillies going to the gate, all loading peaceably and then tensely waiting the moment that they knew would be coming. When the gates flew open and the fillies shot out onto the track, the early pacesetter of the race was Crank Caller (IRE), who was leading by a length and a half right out of the gate. Showing lots of early speed out of the gate wasn’t unusual for the five-year-old Sadler’s Wells mare and she left the field behind her to follow her through the race while she took on the open track out in front of her. Her closest competitor was whirlaway’s filly Monarc, the dark gray mare a length and a half behind in the early gongs of the race. Another three lengths behind the two front runners was the othello-trained, Braked. Another two lengths back was To Live Is To Die, run under 4gone. The rest of the field was fairly well stretched out with post-time favorite Black Tuesday trailing the pack by twelve and a half lengths at the break.
Crank Caller (IRE) lengthened her lead to two and one-fourth lengths over Monarc who was still running in second. Braked still clung onto third but had dropped much further back off of the two pace-horses, and was now six and a half lengths off of Crank Caller’s (IRE) lead. The rest of the field was far back in the race, with the nearest runners to the first three coming in the form of To Live Is To Die at nine and a half lengths off the pace and pbcash’s mare, Tough As Steel with eleven lengths between her and the front runner. Still trailing the field nearing the midway point in the mile and a quarter race was Black Tuesday, now lagging behind at nearly twenty lengths off of Crank Caller (IRE).
As the field moved into the final turn Monarc had started to gain some ground on Crank Caller (IRE) who looked like she may be showing the first signs of tiring in the vigorous front-running pace she had set at the start of the race. Just two lengths separated the two fillies now. Braked, still in third was far back at nine and a half lengths off the pace of the two front horses. This field would have to really get moving if anyone wanted to nose out Crank Caller (IRE) and Monarc for positions on the board. To Live Is To Die was managing to hold onto fourth but fifth place runner Tough As Steel was out of it now and began dropping back quickly on the outside of the turn. In her place, beginning to pour on the steam in the turn was Magpie Fever, owned by vawoman. Along with this filly trying to make an early jump on the front runners, Grandstand Delight, trained by al was starting to run now and was slowly but surely beginning to put away some of the other fillies. Race longshot, Brain Trick, run by bigarnie was running a surprise race, running much better than her post-time odds had indicated. Still trailing the field as they came off the turn and towards the wire was the favorite Black Tuesday.
It looked like it was probably going to be a two-horse show down the stretch as the pacesetting Crank Caller (IRE) tried to fend of the dark gray filly Monarc who was coming up quickly to her outside. Grandstand Delight had also made a big move in the turn and had gone around nearly the whole field in the turn and was running like the wind down the stretch. She was still a good distance away from the two front runners through and as the trio neared the wire it wouldn’t look like she would have enough room to get through to receive a win. They were just strides away form the wire now, Grandstand Delight was out of it but Crank Caller (IRE) and Monarc were going to fight it out tooth and nail to the finish. A final surge at the wire by Crank Caller (IRE) left her victorious by three-fourths of a length under jockey B. Alt in a time of 2:00 2/5 in what would be a new stakes record for the Help… Mike’s Fallen And Can’t Get Up Stakes (G2). Monarc finished second with C. Kendall aboard and Grandstand Delight rounded out the board for third.
Also rans: Magpie Fever, Brain Trick, Pointmambo, Tough As Steel, To Live Is To Die, Braked, Black Tuesday and Messy Missy.