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Embur’s Song winning the |
Fares Farm’s Embur’s Song set solid fractions on the way to a track record performance in the $125,000 Doubledogdare S. (G3) April 22 at Keeneland (VIDEO). The 4-year-old daughter of Unbridled’s Song hadn’t raced at Keeneland since her smashing maiden debut almost exactly a year ago, when she won by 13 1/4-lengths.
Unbridled’s Song is once again a top 10 North American sire, with over $1.7 million in progeny earnings this year. His 11 stakes winners this year include Grade 2 winners Mission Impazible (New Orleans H.) and Honor Vivian (Gay Dalton H.).
The 1 1/16 mile Doubledogdare, on the Polytrack, marked a return to the Polytrack after a couple of starts on the Gulfstream Park dirt over the winter. Embur’s Song was on the muscle right out of the gate, going up by a length and a half after four furlongs in a sensible :47.75 seconds. Johnny Velazquez let his mount out a bit on the turn, widening to about three lengths. The lead shrank in the stretch, but the bay filly had enough to win by a neck in an excellent time of 1:41.62, earning her a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
“It’s whatever she wants to do,” said Velazquez about going to the lead right away. “I tried to settle her down as good as I could without fighting her too much. She wants to be where she wants to be, and hopefully I have something left to run down the lane. And she did. She held on.”
“It looked like on paper that she might be the only speed,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “She behaved really well today, and I think that made the difference.”
“I thought Johnny (Velazquez) rode a great race, kind of spread it out at the three-eighths pole and gave her a little advantage.”
Embur’s Song sold to her owner Fares Farm at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale for $170,000. Out of the winning mare Embur Sunshine, Embur’s Song is a half-sister to the Canadian stakes winner Ten Flat and the stakes placed Dawn Raid and Embattle.
The Doubledogdare was the first graded stakes win for Embur’s Song. The $75,000 payday improved her lifetime earnings to $244,940 and her record to 7-3-1-1.
