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Musical Romance upsets Filly & Mare Sprint at 20-1
There were more keys to victory than just a ground-saving trip. Musical Romance was also fortunate to avoid the trouble encountered by the two race favorites, Turbulent Descent and Switch. Turbulent Descent, at 7-5, took the worst of it as trainer Mike Pupye described. "She got slammed leaving the gate. She got slammed leaving the backside," Pupye said. "Then it made her eager and she pulled her way right up to the leader -- moved too early and then she flattened out after all that. She couldn't sustain a good run. She just didn't have a good trip at all. It's her first bad race. (This is) the wrong day to have it, but it happens and we've just got to move on." Meanwhile, 3-1 second choice Switch, the runner-up in last year's Filly & Mare Sprint, broke well but dropped back to trailed the field after a quarter-mile. Though she gradually cut into her deficit, conceding more than nine lengths early put her into a situation she might not have run into as she made her bid. "There were a lot of things going on early in that race," jockey Joel Rosario said. "I waited with her because they were all together in a group and there was trouble. On the turn when I made my move, two horses in front of me started to back up. I had to pull her up. It probably cost me the race. She was really running when I had to grab her." Musical Romance broke alertly from post 5, dueled with Golden Mystery through a quarter of :22 2/5, then was taken back a bit approaching the far turn as Tamarind Hall and Pomeroys Pistol moved up to threaten Golden Mystery. However, Musical Romance was only 1 1/2 lengths off Golden Mystery when that one hit the half in :45 3/5.
Shotgun Gulch was found to off in her left forelimb by the veterinarians and was a late scratch near the starting gate. "All the horses are observed before they go into the starting gate, and also if the jockey has a question regarding the horse, it's also addressed to the vet," explained Dr. C. Wayne McIlwraith, the the on-call veterinarian for the American Association of Equine Practitioners. "The veterinarians at the starting gate noticed that the horse was off on the left forelimb, and so they advised the stewards, who agreed to scratch the horse. "It's not serious," he added, "but the horse will be evaluated by a veterinarian at the back side. It was a very mild lameness, but it's enough where it's not safe to race." A mainstay in overnight stakes over her home track of Calder, near Miami, Musical Romance accumulated black-type scores in the U Can Do It Handicap, Ema Bovary Stakes and Barb's Dancer Stakes this season. However, she's also shown to be more than a just a provincial power. In addition to her runner-up effort in the Princess Rooney, Musical Romance registered a neck win in the Grade 2 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes on September 10, and last time was second by a head in the Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes. Her record now stands at 33-9-5-7, $1,217,850. Bred in Florida by Ocala Stud, Musical Romance was a $22,000 two-year-old in training purchase the OBS April sale. Sired by Concorde's Tune and produced by the winning Slew Gin Fizz mare Candlelightdinner, she hails from the family of Grade 1 winners Rigoletta, Collect the Cash and Stately Victor. The latter was entered to run in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Turf.
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