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Forever Together had no trouble reeling in Precious Kitten in the First Lady
(Ed Van Meter/Horsephotos.com) |
Augustin Stable's FOREVER TOGETHER (Belong to Me) raced near the rear of
Friday's $400,000
First
Lady S. (G1) on Keeneland's opening day program, but put in ferocious rally
down the stretch to score going away by 1 1/2 lengths under jockey Julien
Leparoux. The Jonathan Sheppard-trained four-year-old was sent off the 5-2
second pick in the seven-horse field and rewarded her backers with payouts of
$7, $4 and $2.40.
Precious Kitten (Catienus) and Dreaming of Anna (Rahy) hooked up as soon as
the gates opened, with the former setting the pace through splits of :23 4/5,
:47 4/5 and 1:11 1/5. Dreaming of Anna wasn't far behind, glued to her rival's
flank on the outside, while Bayou's Lassie (Outflanker) patiently tracked in
third behind those two. All the while, Forever Together was rating in the back
down the backstretch. As Dreaming of Anna began to fade and Precious Kitten
maintained her lead, the powerful gray hugged the rail rounding the final turn
before angling to the outside. Circling the field, Forever Together blew past
Precious Kitten and drew off to finish a mile on the firm turf in 1:35.
Precious Kitten stayed on well to take second, finishing two lengths in front
of Rutherienne (Pulpit) to pay $3.20 and $2.10 as the 8-5 favorite. Rutherienne
was worth $3 as the 4-1 third choice. The exotics returned $20.80 (exacta),
$69.80 (trifecta) and $665.40 (6-1-3-5 superfecta). Bayou's Lassie followed in
fourth while Stormy West (Gone West), Dreaming of Anna and Roshani (Fantastic
Light) completed the order under the wire. Rosinka (Ire) (Soviet Star) was
scratched in favor of Saturday's Spinster S. (G1).
Forever Together captured her first three starts on dirt, culminating in a
two-length score in the 2007 Forward Gal S. (G1) at Gulfstream Park. After a
neck loss on Keeneland's Polytrack in the Beaumont S. (G2), Forever Together
could finish no better than third in four subsequent starts on dirt. It took a
switch to the turf for the four-year-old to return to the winner's circle, which
she did when recording a 1 1/4-length victory in the Reluctant Guest S. at
Arlington Park in May. Forever Together stepped up to take on Grade 1 rivals in
the Just a Game S. next out and didn't disgrace herself when third. She broke
through with a huge win in the Diana S. (G1) at Saratoga, then shipped to
Woodbine and ran third most recently in the Canadian S. (Can-G2). Her line now
reads 13-6-1-3 with earnings of $854,333.
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