After Vigilantes Way's first 11 career starts, trainer Shug McGaughey was saying that the best is yet to come for the Phipps Stable homebred. The 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro filly's performance in the $165,000 Eatontown Stakes (G3T) June 20 at Monmouth Park may be the start of that.
Perfectly positioned by Paco Lopez to chase soft early fractions, despite leaving from post 12, Vigilantes Way showed an impressive closing kick to win the 1 1/16-mile turf event for fillies and mares 3 and up by 2 1/4 lengths. It marked her first graded stakes victory and came before a season-high crowd of 12,562 on Father's Day.
"I thought Paco rode a good race," said McGaughey. "He got her away from there from the outside and had her in good position. I knew she would finish. She had trained very well before she went down there. It was just a matter of whether she would take the shipping on a hot day like today. She obviously did. I'm very proud of her."
Able to break alertly with Vigilantes Way, Lopez sat behind pacesetter Valletta through tepid fractions of :24.54, :48.70, 1:12.12, and 1:35.87 for the opening mile. Lopez asked his filly coming out of the final turn and she responded in a big way, surging past Valletta, who held for second. Crystal Cliffs and Counterparty Risk finished in a dead heat for third another half-length back.
The final time was 1:41.90 on the firm course.
"Sometimes this horse has speed, sometimes not," said Lopez. "The post position (12) is something I usually don't like but today it worked to our advantage. I was able to get out there and get in a good position behind (Valletta). It set up nicely for us.
"Shug told me to do whatever I felt I needed to do. She is usually in the top three early and I knew she would finish. She has a strong kick. It looked like there was a lot of speed in the race but they went kind of slow so I was happy with the position I was in throughout the race. I didn't have to make up a lot of ground."
Vigilantes Way returned $9.20 on a $2 win ticket. She increased her earnings to $282,014 and improved her record to 5-2-3 from 12 starts. Her last performance, a close second to Mean Mary in the Gallorette Stakes (G3T) May 15 at Pimlico Race Course, encouraged McGaughey heading into the Eatontown.
"I thought her last race at Pimlico was a really good race because she kind of got jumbled up at the start and got out of position," said McGaughey. "She only got beat a half-length by Mean Mary, a multiple graded stakes winner. Now maybe we can go on and get her stretched out, maybe to a mile and an eighth. She's handy. She might be able to get it. When that will be I don't know. But today I am very pleased with the way she ran and very proud of her.
"Getting a graded stakes win is important, especially for a filly with a pedigree like hers. It's as good a pedigree as you are going to find. So now she's a graded stakes winner. Hopefully, it might lead to something even better."
Bred in Kentucky, Vigilantes Way is out of the graded stakes-placed Unbridled mare Salute, a daughter of champion and multiple grade 1 producer Personal Ensign. Salute is also the dam of grade 1 winner and sire Mr Speaker , grade 3 winner Fire Away, and grade 3-placed Snap Decision. She delivered a Flatter filly in January.
