Tamarind Hall, a 15-1 shot, drew off to win the Bed o’Roses Handicap (gr. III) (VIDEO) July 3 at Belmont Park, with a pair of other outsiders filling out the frame. Hilda's Passion, the 3-10 favorite in the seven-horse field of older fillies and mares, finished sixth.
With a passionate amount of money placed on Hilda’s Passion to show, Tamarind Hall paid $33.80 to win, but $53 to show. Kid Kate, 23-1 runner-up paid $53.50 to show, and third-place finisher Spa City Princess returned $64.50.
Starlight Racing and C.E. Glasscock’s Hilda’s Passion came into the Bed o’Roses off a win in the 6 1/2-furlong Vagrancy Handicap (gr. II) June 4 and had earlier won a pair of graded stakes at Gulfstream Park. The 124-pound highweight, she was spotting her rivals anywhere from seven to 11 pounds
Tamarind Hall, on the other hand, made her last start against allowance foes at Finger Lakes and earlier this year ran for a $15,000 claiming tag at Aqueduct. She carried 117 pounds, including a four-pound overweight for jockey David Cohen, while making her graded stakes debut.
It made little difference in the seven-furlong Bed o’Roses as Eklektikos Stable's Tamarind Hall tracked the early pace set by Curlina, who rang up early fractions of :22.62 and :45.55. Tamarind Hall burst between Curlina and Hilda’s Passion at the quarter pole, and was gone. She hit the wire in 1:23.82 while 5 1/4 lengths clear .
Bred in Florida by Eugene Melnyk, Tamarind Hall is a 4-year-old daughter of Graeme Hall out of the Forest Wildcat mare Turner’s Hall.
“In the post parade she was so strong,” Cohen said. “Whatever I was, 15-1, she didn’t give me that feeling. I could have moved at any time. There was a nice gap between Javier (Castellano on Hilda’s Passion) and Ramon (Dominguez on Curlina) on the turn and I kind of got her into that to put her in position. When I asked her to go into that hole, she just responded. She went right through it and opened up by 3, 4, 5 lengths within jumps.”
The Bed o’Roses winner is trained by Jeremiah Englehardt.
“Ever since I got her back to Finger Lakes she’s just been a different horse from the winter,” he said. “In her last race she ran a real big number and she came out of it just as good. Honestly I really thought we’d be running for second. I didn’t think there was a shot of beating Hilda’s Passion.”
With the victory, Tamarind Hall is now 7-1-2 from 18 starts. Her $90,000 first-place earnings popped her career total to $198,204.
The 4-1 exacta paid $571 and the 4-1-5 trifecta paid $3,704.
Christine Daae ran fourth and was followed by Curlina, Hilda’s Passion, and Comic Marvel.
