HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida – Saffie Joseph Jr’s Three Witches held off a late bid by favorite Maryquitecontrary to win the feature Grade 3 US$200 000 Princess Rooney Invitational Stakes on her added-money debut at Gulfstream Park here Saturday.
Barbadian trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.Going off at odds of 10-1, the four-year-old brown filly got a clean trip under jockey Leonel Reyes, to reach the wire by half-length in a time one minute, 22:89 seconds, and get the better of the three-year-old and upward fillies and mares in race nine over seven furlongs.
Maryquitecontrary finished second after her late charge failed while 3-5 chance R Adios Jersey ran third.
For Three Witches, owned by e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, the win was her third in seven starts.
“She wasn’t far off on numbers if ‘Mary’ didn’t run her best,” said the Barbadian Joseph.
“I think Mary fired. I thought she was going to get us. Most of the time when she gets in that spot, she runs down horses.”
He continued: “She’s run some decent races where she showed some glimpses of hope and then she’d disappoint after a couple races.
“We gave her a break and she came back to win well. Today, she put it together. Obviously, she had to make a jump, and she did.”
Longshot Poiema stormed to the front to set the pace, laying down fractions of 22:17 seconds for the quarter mile and 44:37 for the half-mile, R Adios Jersey chasing from second, 22-1 bet Olivia Darling in contention in third and Reyes keeping Three Witches out of trouble in mid-pack.
R Adios Jersey attacked on the final turn but Maryquitecontrary came with a flying run on the outside to make things interesting at the top of the stretch.
Almost unnoticed, however, Three Witches slipped to the front and held well despite pressure from the favorite.
With the event designated a Breeders’ Cup win-and-you’re-in race, Three Witches now has a chance to enter the historic weekend at Santa Anita next month, and Joseph said that decision would be left to the owner.
“The Breeders’ Cup, we’ll talk about. It’s another jump up. She earned the right to go,” Joseph said.
“We’ll have to decide. [The owner] is going to make that decision. I’ll give him feedback on how she’s doing, but he’ll make the call.”
The win was one of two on the day’s card for Joseph after he also captured race five over 6-1/2 furlongs with 3-1 choice Catalytic, beating the two-year-old maidens by 5-1/2 lengths.
