Stanwyck upsets Turnback the Alarm in stakes debut

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Moss' homebred Stanwyck made her stakes debut a winning

one in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000

Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Belmont Park. Overlooked at 21-1, the

four-year-old filly gamely withstood the late surge of even-money favorite

Centring to score by a head on the wire.

Alex Solis had the mount for trainer John Shirreffs.

Fantasy of Flight showed speed from her rail post at the break and set the

pace on a short lead, establishing opening splits in :23 3/5, :46 4/5 and 1:11.

Stanwyck settled into midpack during the early stages and started to advance

along the rail on the far turn.

Solis angled his mount out turning for home and Stanwyck rallied to grab a

short lead in midstretch as Fantasy of Flight gave way grudgingly. However,

Centring loomed a serious threat at that point as she closed rapidly from off

the pace. The late runner drew almost even with a sixteenth of a mile remaining,

but Stanwyck dug in determinedly to hold her rival safe to the wire, completing

the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:42 3/5 on the fast track.

"I had a beautiful trip," Solis said. "I saved ground and got a good position

down on the inside. I just had to be patient.

"At the three-sixteenths pole, I got out in the clear and she went by the

other filly (Fantasy of Flight) and had to wait a little bit. She picked it up

and finished strong to fight the other filly (Centring) down the stretch."

Stanwyck broke her maiden at Santa Anita last October, scoring by a nose in

her fourth career start. She concluded her sophomore campaign with a turf

optional claiming win on New Year's Eve.

After opening 2013 with a fourth against turf allowance rivals in late

February, the bay filly headed to the sidelines for a four-month freshening. She

returned to action in late June with a seventh in a turf optional claiming event

at Belmont Park and was exiting a fifth in another turf optional claiming event

at Saratoga on July 31.

Stanwyck switch back to the main track on Saturday while returning from a

87-day layoff.

"Her stay in Saratoga really helped her," Shirreffs said. "Training in

Saratoga on the hill in the back and on the Oklahoma training track really

helped her a lot. She has been at Saratoga since the end of the meet.

"This filly has trained so well in the morning. She just hadn't done it in

the afternoon, but she trained like a graded stakes horse in the morning. We

just had to transfer that form to the afternoon."

With the $120,000 payday, Stanwyck more than doubled her career earning to

$222,650 from a 10-3-1-3 line.

A daughter of Empire Maker, Stanwyck hails from the multiple stakes-winning

mare Set Them Free, a daughter of Stop the Music who is also the dam of 2005

Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo. Stanwyck also counts multiple Grade 1 winner

Tiago and Grade 2-placed Sea Jewel as half-siblings.

This classy female family also included French champion Baiser Vole, multiple

Group 2 scorers Squill and Tenue De Soiree; and stakes winner and Group 1-placed

Neverneyev.

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com