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My Typhoon lashes Ballston Spa Live Oak Plantation's MY TYPHOON (Ire) (Giant's Causeway) enjoyed a perfect set-up in Saturday's $200,000 Ballston Spa H. (G2), carving out soft splits on an uncontested lead on her preferred firm turf, and the classy Bill Mott trainee took full advantage to post a wire-to-wire victory at Saratoga. The blueblood broke alertly beneath new rider Garrett Gomez, and when no one else was particularly eager to act as the pacesetter, she strode to the front and posted fractions of :24 3/5, :48 4/5 and 1:12 4/5 while maintaining a comfortable 1 1/2-length advantage. Into the stretch, My Typhoon delivered a lethal burst of speed to spurt away from the field by three lengths, getting the mile in 1:35 3/5. The only danger was the late closing Karen's Caper (War Chant), but the winner had enough in reserve to keep her at bay by three-quarters of a length at the wire. By finishing 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf in 1:41 3/5, My Typhoon added another handsome feather to her family's already well plumed cap. "There was no plan to go to the lead," Gomez said. "We didn't see a whole lot of speed in there, so I just took it. She's a real nice filly. When she made the front so easy, I wasn't going to hold her back. From there, she did the rest. She won pretty easily." Karen's Caper had rated kindly in fourth in the early going, and once asked for effort, the bay displayed a fine turn of foot to make the stretch run interesting without giving the winner a real scare. It was another 1 1/2 lengths back to Asi Siempre (El Prado [Ire]), who rallied to secure third by a neck from 6-5 favorite Sweet Talker (Stormin Fever). Sixty Rocketts (Belong to Me), Ozone Bere (Fr) (Verglas [Ire]) and Art Fan (Lear Fan) completed the order of finish. Stella Blue (Fr) (Anabaa), the expected pacesetter, was scratched. As the 3-1 second choice, My Typhoon paid $8.10, $4.60 and $3.20. The 9-2 Karen's Caper returned $5.80 and $5.40, and Asi Siempre gave back $4.10 at odds of 5-1. The exotics were worth $52 (exacta) and $173.50 (7-3-1 trifecta). My Typhoon improved her mark to 13-6-2-2 with a bankroll totaling $629,361. This was her fifth career stakes success, following victories in the Mint Julep H. (G3), Mrs. Revere S. (G2), Virginia Oaks and Hilltop Breeders' Cup S. She has also placed in four stakes, chief among them the 2005 Garden City Breeders' Cup S. (G1). Last time out, she didn't relish the yielding turf when she wound up a close fourth in the Diana H. (G1). Bred by Sunderland Holdings in Ireland, the winner is out of 1993 French highweight older mare Urban Sea (Miswaki), who captured that year's edition of the famed Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1). Urban Sea has excelled herself as a broodmare as well, producing 2001 European champion three-year-old colt Galileo (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), now a promising young sire; 2002 Italian highweight Black Sam Bellamy (Sadler's Wells); Group 3 winner Urban Ocean (Bering [GB]), a highweight at three in Ireland in 1999; English Group 3 winner and classic-placed All Too Beautiful (Sadler's Wells); and English stakes winner and dual classic-placed Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra). She has an unraced juvenile filly named Cherry Hinton (Green Desert). Urban Sea is a half-sister to King's Best (Kingmambo), winner of the English Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) in 2000.
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