Hungry Island savors Lake Placid upset; Winter Memories fourth

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."

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]).