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Hole helps 'Ozone' in Gallorette

Ozone Bere (gray on rail) found room in time to get the win in the Gallorette (MW/Horsephotos.com) The words "ozone" and "hole" in the same sentence usually raise environmental concern, but in Saturday's $100,000 Gallorette H. (G3), the opening of a hole on the inside in the stretch proved invaluable to Jean-Claude Seroul's OZONE BERE (Fr) (Verglas [Ire]) in her U.S. debut for trainer Christophe Clement. Given a ground-saving ride by Javier Castellano, the light gray four-year-old needed racing room to launch her rally, and a golden seam appeared in time along the rail. Ozone Bere slipped through to score by a head over Humoristic (Sefapiano) in a final time of 1:42 for 1 1/16 miles on the firm turf. In the early going, Ozone Bere rated kindly in midpack as longshot Queen Supreme (King of Kings [Ire]) dictated the pace, closely attended by Humoristic through splits of :23 4/5, :47 and 1:11. After the early leader threw in the towel coming into the stretch, Humoristic found herself a half-length in front, with 8-5 favorite My Typhoon (Ire) (Giant's Causeway) looming up boldly in second. Meanwhile Castellano had threaded his way through along the inside, and Ozone Bere appeared full of run in third behind the top two. As soon as the rail spot opened up, Ozone Bere dove into it, but Humoristic wasn't slowing down and made her rival work hard to scrape home by a head. One length behind in third came Art Fan (Lear Fan) in the middle of the course, a nose in front of My Typhoon.

"For her first time in the country, this filly did everything perfect," Castellano said. "She waited until just the right moment to move along the rail. She was calm and relaxed throughout the race."

"Our jockey gets all the credit for winning this race," assistant trainer Nicholas Bachalard said. "He timed it perfectly and was able to get through on the inside when he needed to."

Bet down from 20-1 on the morning line to post-time odds of 7-1, Ozone Bere returned $17.40, $9.40 and $7. The 6-1 Humoristic gave back $7.60 and $5.60 while completing the $153.80 exacta. Art Fan paid $6 at 8-1, rounding out the $1,077.20 trifecta. With favored My Typhoon in fourth, the 2-10-1-9 superfecta ($1) was worth $1,919.10.

Smart N Classy (Smart Strike) rallied from far back for fifth, trailed by Feelin' the Breeze (Belong to Me), Laurafina (Cozzene), Zona (Ity) (Mr. Greeley), Topiary (Arch), Miss Audrey (Grand Slam), Thetactics Ofdance (Tactical Advantage), Ernabel (Power of Mind) and a tired Queen Supreme. Amorama (Fr) (Sri Pekan) was scratched.

Bred by SNC Regnier and San Gabriel in France, the gray filly brought $92,000 as a yearling at the 2003 Deauville August sale. Out of Ajab Alzamaan (GB) (Rainbow Quest), the winner is a half-sister to French stakes winner and German Group 2-placed Shuwaib (Polish Precedent). The mare has since produced a juvenile full brother to the winner named Querglas Bere, who has failed to hit the board in three tries thus far in France.

Ozone Bere improved her record to 16-9-1-1 with a bankroll of $262,016. She was scoring her sixth career stakes victory, having captured the 2005 Prix La Coupe des Pouliches and Prix Ceres, and as a juvenile in 2004, the Prix des Jouvenceaux et Jouvencelles, Criterium de Lyon and Prix Delahante.

Her future plans are undecided.

"This is our first race in this country and we were not sure how well we would do," Bachalard said, "so we have not determined where she will run next."

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