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Hungry Island savors Lake Placid upset; Winter Memories fourth A well-regarded three-year-old filly extended her winning streak to four with an impressive late kick in Sunday's $150,000 Lake Placid S. (G2) at Saratoga, but it wasn't Winter Memories (El Prado [Ire]). As the 2-5 favorite endured a rough trip before failing to land a blow in fourth, Emory A. Hamilton's homebred HUNGRY ISLAND (More Than Ready) stayed in the clear on the outside and rolled to a 2 1/2-length success. The royally-bred bay showed just why trainer Shug McGaughey had ample faith in her, and didn't swerve this acid test of class against the red-hot favorite. The 9-1 fourth choice in her graded debut, Hungry Island likewise rewarded her backers with $21.40, $8.50 and $12.20, with the show price reflecting the fact that Winter Memories wound up off the board. Regular rider Alex Solis settled Hungry Island at the rear of the compact field. In the early going, she raced just behind Winter Memories, who was flanked on either side by Trac N Jam (El Corredor) and Dynamic Holiday (Harlan's Holiday). When Dynamic Holiday crept forward in the pack, Hungry Island herself moved up on the outside to shut the door on Winter Memories, until the favorite moved up again to join Dynamic Holiday. Meanwhile, up front and away from the cat and mouse games, Bellamy Star (Bellamy Road) carved out a leisurely pace of :26, :51 4/5 and 1:17 on the yielding turf course. The stalking Kathmanblu (Bluegrass Cat) advanced to challenge Bellamy Star leaving the far turn. Winter Memories was also trying to mount an attack, but still found herself trapped in a pocket. Blocked by Kathmanblu and Bellamy Star in front of her, she was now hemmed in by Wyomia (Vindication) toward the inside, and by a resolute Dynamic Holiday to her outside. With Wyomia unable to hold her position, Winter Memories dove through along the inside and finally saw daylight. But she found surprisingly little. Winter Memories, plugging on at one pace, could not get near the surging Kathmanblu. Just when Kathmanblu struck the front, she was in turn assailed by Hungry Island, who was rallying boldly on the outside. Her well-timed charge carried her clear in a final time of 1:53 3/5. "My plan was to follow (Winter Memories) the whole way," Solis said. "I had a good trip, and tracked her, and got to the half-mile pole and then I waited a little longer and a little longer. I got out at the quarter-pole and she did her thing. She's a really nice filly and I knew she was going to handle this track fine because her last race at Belmont was real soft like this and she handled it really nice. She is very amazing, and I'm very proud of her." "I didn't know if (Winter Memories) would handle that ground," McGaughey said, "but I knew we would because we've run on it before. What I liked was, I think he was kind of messing with the other filly (Winter Memories) a little bit trying to keep her down on the inside of him and she was still able to finish that way going that far. "And like Alex just said, 'Everything I wanted her to do in the race, she did.' And she still gave him the kick." Kathmanblu reported home a half-length ahead of Dynamic Holiday, who was in turn a neck up on Winter Memories. Trac N Jam, Wyomia, and Bellamy Star rounded out the order of finish. The trio of main-track-only entrants, Believe in A.P. (A.P. Indy), Tiz the Argument (Closing Argument) and Indian Tale (Tale of the Cat), stayed home in the Rick Dutrow barn. Winter Memories' connections commented on the worst performance of her seven-race career. "I don't think she liked (the ground)," jockey Jose Lezcano offered. "She wasn't comfortable," trainer James Toner observed. "She was in tight all of the way. She was trapped in the whole time. She doesn't like to be between horses. They left (the race) on (the turf), and I was good with that. She won the Miss Grillo ([G3] last October) on soft ground. There are no excuses. When you win, you win; when you lose, you lose. It's Saratoga -- the Graveyard of Favorites." Hungry Island boosted her earnings to $216,980 from her 8-4-2-2 line, compiled exclusively on turf. A troubled third to Winter Memories in their mutual debut last summer at the Spa, the Kentucky-bred placed in her three subsequent attempts. Hungry Island broke through at last in a May 6 Belmont Park maiden and hasn't looked back since. She went last to first in both an entry-level allowance at Belmont on June 8, and in her three-length romp in the July 2 Recording S. in her stakes debut. The form was franked when Recording runner-up My Redbyrd (Royal Academy) captured the July 30 Hattie Moseley S. at Saratoga. "The filly that she beat the last time came back and ran pretty good here, so it wasn't like they were bums," McGaughey said. "I think this is a good filly. She's done everything we wanted her to do this year. She trained good after she won at Belmont and I really didn't want to rush her back in the Lake George ([G2] on July 27, won impressively by Winter Memories), so we waited and she took all that well." McGaughey added that Hungry Island would likely make her next start in the September 17 Garden City S. (G1) at Belmont. Hungry Island, a May 22 foal, is a half-sister to reigning Hal's Hope S. (G3) hero Soaring Empire (Empire Maker), most recently successful in the July 31 Majestic Light S. at Monmouth, and a pair unnamed fillies, a yearling by Medaglia d'Oro and a 2011 foal by Empire Maker. Their dam, the winning A.P. Indy mare Flying Passage, is a half-sister to Grade 2 victor Waldoboro (Lyphard) and Grade 2 queen Tara Roma (Lyphard), herself the dam of Grade 1 scorer Serra Lake (Seattle Slew) and multiple Grade 3 winner Cappuchino (Capote). Tara Roma also factors as the second dam of Grade 3 victor Coal Play (Mineshaft), the runner-up in the 2008 Haskell Invitational (G1). This is the family of current Grade 2 winner Al Khali (Medaglia d'Oro), the third-place finisher in the past two runnings of the Sword Dancer Invitational S. (G1), and Prix La Force (Fr-G3) hero Baraan (Dalakhani), last seen finishing a remarkable third in the June 5 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) (Fr-G1). Hungry Island's second dam is Grade 1 star Chic Shirine (Mr. Prospector), a full sister to champion Queena, who is in turn the dam of Grade 1 winner Brahms (Danzig) and Grade 3 diva La Reina (A.P. Indy). Hungry Island's third dam is Grade 1 victress Too Chic (Blushing Groom [Fr]).
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