Heavily-favored Eve Giselle staved off a bid from longshot Sassy City in the early part of the stretch and went on to record her first graded stakes victory in the $151,050 Endine Stakes (gr. III) (VIDEO) Aug. 20 at Delaware Park.
The 4-year-old daughter of Five Star Day stalked the early pace, took over on the turn, and turned back Sassy City en route to her one-length win. With Javier Santiago aboard for trainer Tim Ritchey, Eve Giselle covered six furlongs on the fast dirt in 1:08.84. She remained perfect in three starts at Delaware.
The bay filly is owned by Bean Counter Stables. She was bred in Florida by Terrapin Stables and is out of the Tale of the Cat mare Captiva Cat.
Cosmo Girl outhustled Ha Ha Tonka and Eve Giselle in a contested opening quarter-mile that went in :22.15. But it wasn’t long before Eve Giselle moved up to challenge from the outside, as did Sassy City and Ramon Vasquez. After a half-mile in :44.87, Eve Giselle turned for home with a narrow lead over Sassy City and those two dueled into the stretch.
But Eve Giselle, never relinquishing her advantage, found more along the inside and steadily edged clear for the decisive win. Sassy City was five lengths clear of third-place Ms Vanenzza.
Eve Giselle has never been off the board in nine lifetime starts, winning six races, including the Sweet and Sassy Stakes June 25 at Delaware. She was second last out in the July 15 Day Lilly Stakes at Penn National. Overall, she has earned $282,800.
Sent off at odds of 6-5 in a field of eight fillies and mares for the Endine, the winner paid $4.40, $3.40, and $2.20. Sassy City paid $13.80 and $7.20, and completed an exacta (10-5) that returned $53.20. The trifecta (10-5-4) was worth $170.80.
