Cavorting Wins Gr.1 Ogden Phipps Stakes

By: News Team

Kiaran McLaughlin-trained Cavorting put he $1,000,000 Gr.1 Ogden Phipps Stakes, featured on the Belmont Stakes undercard. The 4-year-old filly put her best foot forward, closing late on the stretch and finishing 2 ½ lengths ahead of Forever Unbridled and Joel Rosario.

Piloted by Florent Geroux, Cavorting trailed the field for three-quarters of the race while DesertValley (with Ricardo Mejias) ran through fractions of :23.37, :46.20 and 1:10.23 up front. Beginning her run as she rounded the final turn, the daughter of Bernardini galloped in the five path, kicking clear of Carrumba, Curalina and Sheer Drama. Her winning time in the 1 1/16-mile contest was 1:40.14 — less than one second above the track record.

The Gr.1 Ogden Phipps Stakes is part of the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge series, which grants the winner of each qualifying race a spot in a pertaining division in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on November 4-5 at Santa Anita Park (CA). Cavorting’s win grants the filly a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Longines Distaff, a 1 1/8-mile race run on the dirt.

Prior to Saturday’s win, she had never traveled farther than a mile and excelled as more of a sprinter.

“Sometimes she can be a little tricky… She can be aggressive in a race,” explained jockey Florent Geroux. “The question was the distance. She ran seven-eights and the mile, but today was the first time she went [this] distance, so it was really exciting.”

McLaughlin could not have been more proud of the filly, who gave the trainer his third win in the Ogden Phipps (he most recently won it last year with Wedding Toast). “Her pedigree indicated that she wanted to go further,” he explained. “[Florent Geroux] did a great job. One turn is great and we’re real happy to win the Phipps two years in a row… it was a great win.”

Purchased for $360,000 by Stonestreet Stables at the Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale back in November of 2012, Cavorting stands a record of 12-7-1-1 with $1,663,000 in career earnings. Saturday’s Ogden Phipps marked the filly’s second grade one victory, her first being the Gr.1 Test at Saratoga just last summer.

McLaughlin went on to win the Gr.1 Metropolitan Handicap with Frosted later on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes undercard (read story here).