Congrats filly undefeated with UAE 1,000 Guineas win

Polar River’s explosive stretch run carried the 3-year-old daughter of Congrats to victory in Thursday’s $75,000 UAE 1000 Guineas Trial as the filly dominated her foes by five lengths while just missing the 1,400 meter track record by less than one second.

Winner of her debut by a whopping 14 lengths on Dec. 5 over the same Meydan Racecourse, Polar River sat just behind the speed on Thursday evening, then split horses at the top of the lane to rocket away from her competition, finishing the distance in 1:24.26.

“I was delighted with her tonight,” said winning rider Pat Dobbs. “It was only her second career outing and she will have learned an awful lot as she ran in snatches and was quite green at times. She will be even better over the extra 200 meters in the UAE 1000 Guineas and is a very smart filly.”

Polar River was bred in Kentucky by Bob McCann, Mark Kelder and Doug Richards, who also campaigned her dam, the Empire Maker filly Bayou Tortuga, a sister to a pair of six-time stakes winners in Tortuga Straits and Tortuga Flats.

Congrats, who is standing this year at WinStar Farm for $20,000, was a top-10 sire last year with 145 winners and progeny earnings of more than $6.7 million.