Photo by NYRA/Coglianese Photos/Chelsea Durand
La Verdad, the remarkable five-year-old sprinter that has won 14 of her 20 career starts, may get a chance to shine on racing’s biggest stage in the $1,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (gr. I) on October 31st at Keeneland.
Trained by Linda Rice, La Verdad has won all four of her starts this year, including the July 29th Honorable Miss Handicap (gr. II) at Saratoga. The daughter of Yes It’s True is scheduled to make her next start in the September 26th Gallant Bloom Stakes (gr. II) at Belmont Park, a race in which she finished second in 2014.
The Belmont Park Notes for September 20th on the New York Racing Association website had some interesting notes about La Verdad:
La Verdad missed her chance at a Grade 1 win at the Spa when a minor issue forced the 5-year-old New York-bred to skip the Grade 1 Ballerina on August 29, a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” contest.
“We could pay her into it,” Rice said of the Breeders’ Cup, a route La Verdad’s connections opted to miss last year to give the Lady Sheila Stable-owned filly more time off. “This year, she’s pretty fresh and in better form and it’s in Kentucky, which I think is a better ship for East Coast horses, they do better in Kentucky than they do in California. It’s seven-eighths, but if she runs a big race in this next one, we’ll probably put her in the Breeders’ Cup.”
A talented field of fillies and mares is expected to face La Verdad in the Gallant Bloom, including Expression, Room for Me, Street Story, Wavell Avenue, and Willet. Frivolity and Kiss to Remember are possible starters.
