Life Imitates Art won a stirring stretch battle in Saturday’s $100,000 Dania Beach S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park to give the newly-turned 3-year-old son of More Than Ready his first stakes victory.
Life Imitates Art has had some very tough beats in his young career, but came out on top Saturday with a stellar move between horses at the top of the Gulfstream turf stretch, then out-dueled a hard-charging Isotherm in the final furlong to win by a head in 1:30.42 for the 7 ½-furlongs on the firm turf.
“It worked out perfect,” jockey Joel Rosario said of his trip. “I was trying to save some ground, we had a lot of horse. I was waiting and then hopefully the horse in the front would come in and then maybe I could go out, but he decided to stay outside and then I went outside the other horse. I was just looking for some room. He’s a nice horse, trying really hard.”
“He really put it together,” added trainer Chad Brown said. “Joel fit the horse perfectly and gave him a great ground-saving trip. When he called on the horse, the horse really responded and I’m really proud of him. We’ve always thought he was one of our better horses. They’ve got a good turf series here (at Gulfstream) and we’ll take a look at what’s next. I’m really happy for the owners (Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence), they’ve allowed me to be patient with the horses.”
The winner is now 2-3-0 in five starts and has amassed $150,750 in earnings. The colt is out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Habiboo, a multiple graded stakes-placed sister to the top-class sprinter Street Boss.
Life Imitates Art is More Than Ready’s 151st black type winner and 64th graded winner, ranking him second among all North American sires.
