New Normal finished strongly in the final furlong to come home a 1 1/4-length winner in the $102,219 Alywow S. (VIDEO) at Woodbine on June 5. The 3-year-old daughter of Forestry earned her second career stakes win; she won the Grade 3 Natalma S. in September as a juvenile.
Forestry now has seven stakes horses in 2011 and is ranked fifth on the General Sire List. His biggest splash this year came with Preakness (G1) winner Shackleford, who will start as one of the top choices in next Saturday’s Belmont S. (G1).
New Normal was in midpack of seven for most of the 6 1/2-furlongs of the grassy Alywow. She was still some four lengths out of it with just a furlong to go, but the Mark Frostad trainee exploded in the final furlong under Patrick Husbands to win in a hand ride, stopping the clock in 1:15.87.
“There was a ton of speed in there, so the instructions to Patrick were to let her come away from there and get herself comfortable,” said Patrick Lawley-Wakelin, racing manager for owner/breeder Robert Evans. “I thought at one point she wasn’t going to get there. Then all of a sudden, she’s got a super, super turn of foot and obviously she showed it today. She’s got a lot of class.”
New Normal is now 3-0-0 in six starts, earning $213,910.