La Cloche finished fastest of all in the Belmont Park homestretch to win the $150,000 Athenia Stakes (gr. III) this afternoon by 1 1/2 lengths.
Under a patient ride from Junior Alvarado, La Cloche settled back into sixth place early on while racing along the inside, some five lengths behind the pace-setting longshot The Underling. Thundering Emilia was in the tracking position, followed closely by Law of the Range and Laughing. Martita Sangrita was on the outside of La Cloche in fifth place, while Embarr and Ruthenia were the trailers.
Through fractions of 25.16, :50.27, and 1:15.29, The Underling and Thunder Emilia continued to show the way, but entering the homestretch Embarr made a menacing bid on the far outside to take command of the lead. Laughing was attempting to rally along the rail, but flattened out late. It appeared as though Embarr had won the race, but then La Cloche shot into contention on the far outside, bursting clear of the field with tremendous strides to win in truly authoritative fashion. The final time for 1 1/16th miles on turf was 1:45.15 seconds.
Laughing out-finished even-money favorite Ruthenia for third.
The winner is a daughter of Ghostzapper out of Memories of Silver, by Silver Hawk. Trained by Jimmy Jones and owned by Phillips Racing Partnership, she has now compiled a record of 5-3-0 from 18 starts.
-Keelerman
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