‘Hard Not to Like’ This Diana Winner
Updated: July 25, 2015 at 11:10 pm
Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner of Speedway Stable went to $1.5 million to secure 2014 GI Jenny Wiley S. winner Hard Not to Like (Hard Spun) at last year’s Keeneland November Sale (click here for story), and their investment paid dividends once again as the 6-1 shot rallied resolutely to nip Tepin (Bernstein) in Saturday’s GI Diana S. at Saratoga. Kitten’s Queen (Kitten’s Joy), a rabbit for favored Stephanie’s Kitten (Kitten’s Joy), once again outfinished her stablemate to be third. The chalk settled for a non-threatening fifth.
“This horse is much better now and is only improving,” offered Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who was celebrating a graded stakes double after taking the GIII Sanford S. via DQ one race earlier aboard Uncle Vinny (Uncle Mo). “As the distance of the races got longer, the better the horse became. The horse is a little small and doesn’t have the speed to stay with the other horses in the first part of the race. The longer the race went on, the longer her strides became.”
Saturday, Saratoga
DIANA S.-GI, $500,000, SAR, 7-25, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8mT, 1:45.22 (NCR), fm.
1–HARD NOT TO LIKE, 123, m, 6, by Hard Spun
1st Dam: Like a Gem (MSW, $554,216), by Tactical Cat
2nd Dam: Its a Ruby, by Rubiano
3rd Dam: Likeashot, by Gun Shot
($1,500,000 5yo ’14 KEENOV). O-Speedway Stable LLC; B-Garland E. Williamson (ON); T-Christophe Clement; J-John R. Velazquez. $300,000. Lifetime Record: 20-8-3-2, $1,261,671. Werk Nick Rating: Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Tepin, 121, f, 4, Bernstein–Life Happened, by Stravinsky. ($140,000 Ylg ’12 FTSAUG). O-Robert E. Masterson; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $100,000.
3–Kitten’s Queen, 115, m, 5, Kitten’s Joy–High Chant, by War Chant. O/B-Kenneth & Sarah Ramsey (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $50,000.
Margins: NO, NK, 2. Odds: 6.20, 3.00, 26.75.
Also Ran: My Miss Sophia, Stephanie’s Kitten, Lady Lara (Ire), Waltzing Matilda (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Second in the 2012 GI Ashland S. while conditioned by Woodbine-based Gail Cox for her breeder, Hard Not To Like was transferred to Michael Matz for her 4-year-old campaign, and annexed the GIII Marshua’s River S. that January before going winless in six subsequent tries that year. She raced only twice in 2014, but took advantage of those appearances, annexing a Gulfstream optional claimer in February and defeating future stablemate Discreet Marq (Discreet Cat) in the Jenny Wiley in April.
Hard Not to Like’s first appearance for her new connections was somewhat bittersweet. She showed she still had plenty left in the tank when crossing the wire first in Tampa’s GIII Endeavour S. Jan. 31, but was DQ’d to second for interference. Third in an attempted Wiley title defense over yielding sod Apr. 11, she shipped out to Santa Anita to annex the GI Gamely S. going this trip May 5.
Hard Not to Like settled in a very distant fourth early as Tepin and My Miss Sophia (Unbridled’s Song) appeared to be getting sucked into a duel with Kitten’s Queen through hot opening splits of :23.54 and :47.20. The top three were still five or more lengths ahead of Hard Not to Like at the top of the lane, and Tepin was working hard to put away the pacesetter with a sixteenth of a mile to race. Hard Not to Like found her best stride at that point, and scurried home to get her nose down just in time while lowering the course record set by Shakis (Ire) (Machiavellian) in the 2007 GII Bernard Baruch H.
“I’m delighted she was ridden by Johnny Velazquez,” said winning trainer Christophe Clement, who took this race previously in 1997 and 2003. “He’s a top jockey, and there’s a reason why. He makes a difference. She got a superb ride and she’s also a very good filly. [At the eighth pole, I thought my chances] to get a place, pretty good; to win, slim. The last 50 yards suddenly I got a bit excited because I thought, ‘She’s going to get there!’ Remarkable ride from Johnny Velazquez. Life is good. We knew there was going to be a decent amount of pace. The ground is firm, and they never came back. They went fast all the way to the end.”
Tepin’s trainer Mark Casse was understandably less enthused, but proud of his charge’s performance.
“It’s a heartbreaker,” he said. “We’ve lost three or four Grade I’s this year by a nose. All I have to say is that she can run a mile and a eighth. All I’ve heard for the last two days is that she can’t go a mile and an eighth. She can go a mile and an eighth.”
The winner, who’s second dam is a half to GISW Firery Ensign, has a 2-year-old half sister by More Than Ready and a yearling full brother.