1st-Churchill Downs, $118,575, Msw, 5-24, 3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 1:35.89, ft, nose.
SWEET SERAPHINE (f, 3, Quality Road–Venetian Sonata, by Bernardini) debuted as a 2-year-old at Ellis Park last August, finishing a respectable third just 1 1/2 lengths behind a pair of classy fillies in last weekend's GIII Miss Preakness Stakes winner Echo Sound (Echo Town) and Evanescence (Munnings), who ran third in the GII Eight Belles Stakes on Kentucky Oaks day to start the month. Not seen since that effort and now coming off the nine-month layoff, the 2-1 favorite added Lasix Saturday to open the Churchill card. Drawn in the middle of the eight-horse field, Sweet Seraphine was content to lay off the pace and track up the outside out of the chute and onto the backstretch. Angling down to take the shortest route around the far turn, she really picked the bridle up past the quarter pole and bid between horses just off the rail to try and reel in late leader Shewontbudge (Army Mule). That pair came to the line together with Sweet Seraphine just getting her nose on the wire first to graduate second time out. Venetian Sonata, also the dam of Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), GSW, $222,670, GII Adirondack Stakes third Olive Branch (Speightstown) and GII Starlet Stakes runner up Flynn's Chance (Medaglia d'Oro), sold to Stonehaven Steadings for $170,000 at KEEJAN back in 2013 and has produced four winners from six to the track. The dam is herself a half to A.P. Sonata (A.P. Indy) who sold for $1.1m to Whisper Hill as a yearling and would produce MGSW Grand Sonata (Medaglia d'Oro) while another half-sister, In the Moonlight (Tapit), is responsible for GSW Ballerina d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro). This is also the family of champion 3-year-old filly and GI Kentucky Oaks winner Abel Tasman (Quality Road). Venetian Sonata's 2-year-old Curlin filly, now named Sonare, brought $425,000 at KEESEP last year and the mare reported an Uncle Mo filly this season. Sales History: $900,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $75,755. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O/B-Stonehaven Steadings (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux.
📸 PHOTO FINISH!
Sweet Seraphine gets her nose down at the wire to win Race 1 for @jose93_ortiz and @reredevaux! pic.twitter.com/WbOkNvXaOP
— Churchill Downs (@ChurchillDowns) May 24, 2025
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