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Pommes Frites looks crisp in Athenia Haras Santa Maria de Araras' homebred POMMES FRITES (Dynaformer) rated in second in the early going of Sunday's $112,300 Athenia H. (G3) at Belmont Park, and as soon as Jose Santos let her loose leaving the far turn, she inhaled the pacesetter and kept on strongly to cross the wire three-quarters of a length in front. The Bill Mott trainee completed 1 1/16 miles on the firm inner turf in 1:42 4/5, racking up her third stakes victory of the season. The 4-5 favorite paid $3.80, $2.70 and $2.20 while keying exotics worth $14.60 (exacta) and $48.20 (1-2-6 trifecta). "Jose rode her perfectly," Mott said. "It was like she was on the lead. It showed she can rate and still finish effectively. She tries hard every time and really dug in through the stretch." Chaibia (Ire) (Peintre Celebre), the lone three-year-old in the field, closed boldly but had to settle for runner-up honors, returning $4.20 and $3.10 as the nearly 7-2 second choice. Another three-quarters of a length back came the nearly 7-1 Dream Lady (Old Trieste), who made headway along the inside for third to furnish $3.40 to show. The pacesetting Virden (Tactical Cat), who had opened up a daylight lead through splits of :25 2/5, :49 and 1:13 3/5, faded to fourth. Isabel Away (Skip Away), Bright Abundance (Quiet American) and Thetactics Ofdance (Tactical Advantage) rounded out the order under the wire. Marchonin (Dixieland Band) dropped far back after six furlongs and was pulled up in the stretch. Pommes Frites' scorecard now stands at 16-8-2-1 with earnings totaling $432,466. The four-year-old dark bay has had a productive year, capturing the Beaugay H. (G3) at Aqueduct and Dr. James Penny Memorial H. at Philadelphia Park as well as recording excellent seconds in the Just a Game H. (G2) and Noble Damsel Breeders' Cup H. (G3) last time out. The Kentucky-bred is out of the winning Relaunch mare Dolce Amore, who has since produced an unnamed yearling filly by Lido Palace (Chi) and a weanling full brother to Pommes Frites. This is the family of Argentinean Group 1 winners Bleding (Arg) (Utopico), Sings (Utopico), Big Board (Arg) (Lode) and Honey Rose (Arg) (Lode), who was second in the September 26 Kentucky Cup Ladies Turf S. in her U.S. debut. The female line traces to Belle Sauvage (Big Game), the second dam of champion and influential sire *Vaguely Noble.
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