Congrats’ top-class mare Haveyougoneaway won her fifth stakes, and first in a graded race with a gallant victory in the $200,000 Honorable Miss H. (G2) Thursday at Saratoga Race Course.
The neck victory set the 5-year-old up for a possible run at the year end championship, according to her trainer Tom Morley.
“We just got there in time,” Morley said of Haveyougoneaway’s late-race heroics. “The Ballerina [Grade 1, August 27, also at Saratoga] has to be a consideration. Off the back of today’s performance, you have to consider the Breeders’ Cup (Grade 1 Filly and Mare Sprint).”
Ridden by Kendrick Carmouche, Haveyougoneaway was away in good shape, just a few lengths behind a four-way tussle for the lead. With a brisk pace of 22 seconds flat and :45.04 for the half-mile, Haveyougoneaway was still in sixth coming into the stretch.
With 3/16ths of a mile to run, the chestnut mare kicked into gear on the outside and began to cut into Paulassilverlining’s lead. The two were on even terms with a sixteenth to run, but Haveyougoneaway had the momentum and won by a neck in a swift 1:09.94 for the six furlongs.
“I broke good and I was sitting behind the top four and being patient,” said Carmouche. “The favorite (Paulassilverlining) came inside of me. I let her take the spot I could have been in because I knew my filly would make up the ground. Right past the eighth pole I grinded a little and she really came home. This horse never really exploded like she did (today). That’s when I knew she would grind it out.”
The winner, owned by Sequel Racing, is now 10-4-6 in 25 starts and has earned $622,425. She is one of Congrats’ 115 winners to date in 2016, most of any sire standing in North America, as well as one of his seven stakes winners, four in graded stakes, this year.
