The Irish 3-year-old filly Kensington Lane, acquired by new ownership this spring in hopes that she could become a group/grade 1 winner, made good on those expectations by upsetting the $600,000 Belmont Oaks (G1T) July 4 at Saratoga Race Course.
A close fourth after the race's opening quarter-mile, Kensington Lane took a clear lead thereafter in the 1 1/8-mile turf contest under Joel Rosario and could not be caught. She cruised under the wire a comfortable 1 3/4-length winner over runner-up Faithful Departed, with third-place Fitz Right another half-length back. Their rallies came too late to pose a danger to Kensington Lane.
The winner was clocked in 1:47.77 on a firm turf course after she established fractions of :48.82, 1:13.17, and 1:36.45.
Kensington Lane was chilly on the odds board, drifting from her 10-1 morning line to start at 23-1 odds. This came despite her coming off a respectable fifth-place finish in the May 24 Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) at the Curragh, where she was just 2 3/4 lengths behind Irish One Thousand Guineas show finisher Abashiri, who ran eighth as the favorite in the Belmont Oaks. Kensington Lane paid $48.66 to win.
"We were a bit surprised she was such a big price. She was beaten by Abashiri last time," said Phillip Shelton, racing manager for co-owner Medallion Racing. "What we knew is she wants firm ground, and we thought the way she runs in Europe, a turning track would suit, and she just bolted up today. In this business, plans don't work out very often, but this time it did."
As for Abashiri, she may have expended too much early energy, rushing to take the lead a quarter-mile into the race after a tardy start. Jockey William Buick attributed that move to there being little pace in the race.
"At the half-mile (pole), she was struggling. She's probably not used to the sharp oval tracks, lacked that experience," he said of her first start in America.
Irish trainer Donnacha O'Brien ran Kensington Lane, a chestnut 3-year-old daughter of Starspangledbanner out of the Galileo mare Almost Always, in the Belmont Oaks for owners Agave Racing Stable, Medallion Racing, and Evan Trommer.
"We were expecting her to jump quick and have a good position," said Kieran Murphy, O'Brien's traveling assistant. "We were out of (post) 3, which was a help, and she has loads of pace."
European-trained fillies have now won five of the past nine runnings of the Belmont Oaks.
Kensington Lane improved to 3-2-0 in 10 starts with her victory, earning $330,000 to bring her career earnings to $411,281. Saturday's triumph was her second at the graded/group level after her win in the Athasi Stakes (G3) at the Curragh in early May. Her current owners then purchased her.
Plans initially called for her to head to American trainer Phil D'Amato in California for the Aug. 22 Del Mar Oaks (G1T), and Shelton seemed to still favor that plan immediately after the race. Other options include returning her to Europe or running in the Aug. 7 Saratoga Oaks Stakes (G2T) in New York.
"I'll have to talk to the partners and see what we want to do," he said.
Appropriately, a daughter of Coolmore Stud stallion Starspangledbanner won on the Fourth of July.
"He's a great sire and his progeny love American racing and firmer ground. It's just fortuitous it worked out that way," Shelton said.
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