Filly rings her Belle in Ashland

Darley Stable homebred LITTLE BELLE (A.P. Indy) quickly showed to the front in

Saturday's $500,000

Ashland

S. (G1) at Keeneland, was passed by Bsharpsonata (Pulpit) in the stretch,

but fought back to take her third straight win by a neck under Rajiv Maragh. Sent off the 16-1

fifth pick in the seven-horse field, the Kiaran McLaughlin-trained bay paid

$34.20, $11 and $5 to her faithful backers while keying the $177.40 exacta, $455

trifecta and $2,809.80 superfecta (2-4-5-7).

"She's been improving dramatically through each start this year," said Neal

McLaughlin, assistant and brother to the winning trainer. "We just felt like she

deserved a chance to really step up and see how good she could be. So this was

the spot we picked. It was a tough one, but we wanted to know if we had a

Kentucky Oaks (G1) filly on our hands or not."

Little Belle gunned to the front when the gates opened, running three and

four wide entering the first turn but moving closer to the rail in the

backstretch. With Bsharpsonata close on her heels, the sophomore lass set splits

of :24 4/5, :49 1/5 and 1:13 2/5 into the stretch. Bsharpsonata kicked into

overdrive in upper stretch and passed the longtime leader to look like a clear

winner for a moment. Little Belle wouldn't be denied, though, suddenly

coming again on the inside and retaking the advantage to finish 1 1/16 miles on

the Polytrack in 1:43 3/5.

"My filly likes competition," Maragh replied when asked if he was worried

when Little Belle was passed. "I would rather be head and head with a horse than

open up because sometimes she tends to wait on horses. I was pretty confident

when (Bsharpsonata) was beside me because I knew my horse hadn't really kicked

in yet and given me the burst that she was going to give me.

"She will run all day. She'll run around the track twice. That's no doubt."

Bsharpsonata ran a winning race in defeat, giving back $5.60 and $3.60 at 5-1

for finishing 2 1/2 lengths clear of Proud Spell (Proud Citizen). The 9-5 second

choice was worth $2.40 in the show spot, and it was another head back to Life is Sweet (Storm Cat). Country Star (Empire Maker),

the even-money favorite, followed in fifth while Absolutely Cindy (Arch) and African Violet (Lemon Drop Kid)

completed the order under the wire.

Little Belle began her career at Aqueduct in October, running fourth in an

maiden. She improved her finishing position by one spot in each of her next

three races to finally break through with a first victory in a February 1 maiden

on the inner dirt. Having finally put it all together, the bay lass remained at

Aqueduct to take the Busher S. in her stakes debut last out, and boosted her

earnings to $406,060 with this one while moving her line to 6-3-1-1.

The Kentucky-bred miss is the first registered foal out of the stakes-placed

Dubai Belle (Mr. Prospector) and has an unnamed yearling full sister. Little

Belle's granddam is multiple highweight Flagbird (Nureyev), who is herself a

daughter of Grade 2 winner Up the Flagpole (Hoist the Flag).

Among Flagbird's siblings is 2003 Broodmare of the Year Prospectors Delite

(Mr. Prospector), who is the dam of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft (A.P.

Indy), Grade 1 queen Tomisue's Delight (A.P. Indy), Group 3-winning sire

Monashee Mountain (Danzig) and multiple stakes winner Rock Slide (A.P. Indy).

Flagbird also counts Grade 1 victress Runup the Colors (A.P. Indy) and Grade 2

hero Top Account (Private Account) as half-siblings.