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Summer Soiree rolls in Boiling Springs

Summer Soiree appears to have a bright future on turf following her dominant win in the Boiling Springs (Deja Puglisi/Equi-Photo) SUMMER SOIREE (War Front) was all alone in the stretch of Saturday's $155,000 Boiling Springs S. (G3) at Monmouth Park, recording a convincing 8 1/2-length victory in her turf debut. Making her second start for Team Valor International and Graham Motion, the three-year-old filly notched her second graded stakes win and improved her overall record to 10-4-0-3, $221,680. After weakening to 10th as the pacesetter in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Summer Soiree was overlooked as the 9-2 third choice in the nine-horse Boiling Springs and was forwardly placed from the start, racing a length back of the front-running Salary Drive (Mizzen Mast) through an opening quarter-mile in :24 1/5. She easily moved to the fore on the backstretch, passing the half-length point in :48 2/5 with a half-length advantage, and dominated the rest of the way.

The versatile filly was two lengths up after completing three-quarters in 1:12, and she kicked on the afterburners in the stretch, widening the lead to four lengths with a sixteenth of a mile remaining. Jockey Gabriel Saez was like a statue as she continued to draw off from her nearest rival in the latter stages, and Summer Soiree finished 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 4/5 on the good turf.

"I wanted to sit off a couple of horses early on and see how she relaxes," said Saez, who has been aboard in every one of Summer Soiree's starts. "After the first quarter-mile I put her in the clear and she wanted to go to the front. I wasn't going to fight her, just let her go on with it. She's something special."

Summer Soiree, who has now won three of her last four starts, was in complete control turning for home (Ryan Denver/Equi-Photo) "She's a real handful around the barn in the morning," Motion said. "When I saw her move to the lead early, I was a little worried, but I guess for no reason. I was happy to see her relax. Having sat off horses early on is going to help her a lot down the road." The winner paid $9.40, $6 and $5.20. The battle for the place was far more compelling, with My Sunshine Gal (West Acre) edging fellow late runner Hessonite (Freud) by a head. The runner-up was off at 11-1 and the third-placer at 9-1. It was a half-length back to the 14-1 Salary Drive in fourth, and 5-2 Artisanal (More Than Ready), Oak Marsh (First Samurai), Janicellaine (Ire) (Beat Hollow [GB]), Annabel Lee (J Town) and 5-2 favorite Pontenuovo (Fr) (Green Tune) came next under the wire.

War Prospector (War Front) was scratched, and main-track only contestants Coco Ecolo (Johannesburg) and R Gypsy Gold (Bernardini) remained in the barn.

Previously trained by Larry and Cindy Jones, Summer Soiree needed four starts before breaking her maiden by 6 1/4 lengths on the main track at Delaware Park last August. She followed that effort with a non-threatening third in the Blue Hen S. and completed her juvenile season with a third in an allowance/optional claiming event.

The bay lass began her sophomore campaign with a smashing 9 3/4-length score over entry-level allowance rivals at Oaklawn Park and then made a seamless transition to synthetics, winning the Bourbonette S. (G3) on Turfway Park's Polytrack by a 10 3/4-length margin. She was sold to new connections following the latter, and rebounded impressively from her aforementioned Kentucky Oaks setback on Saturday.

The Kentucky-bred was consigned twice by breeders Brereton and Bret Jones, first RNAing for $70,000 as a Keeneland November weanling, then for $72,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling. Summer Soiree is the first stakes scorer out of the winning Mazel Tov (Mazel Trick), who is also responsible for the unraced juvenile colt Very Lucky (Istan). Mazel Tov is herself a half-sister to dual Grade 3 victress Mil Kilates (Gold Alert), who was third in the 1997 Ruffian H. (G1).

This is the same female family as Peruvian champion and Group 1 winner India Brava (Fast Gold); Indian Horse of the Year Running Flame (Ind) (Steinbeck); and, most notably, back-to-back Eclipse Award heroine Shuvee (Nashua), who beat the boys in consecutive runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

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