At the sixteenth pole, Pipsy took the lead and held off Kairyu by a half-length.
Clichés, sometimes, come to life. Often, it's more important how you end than how you begin.
Following a poor start, Irish import Pipsy epitomised the other cliché of creating a strong first impression when she rallied to win the Soaring Softly Stakes (G3T) at the Belmont at the Big A meet on May 12, marking her North American debut.
"That's not how we had it drawn up at all," said trainer William Walden. "We had talked to the gate crew and they did what we asked – we asked them to keep their hands off her in there. There was a lot of commotion left and right of her and she was one of the first to load and got a little fractious in there."
That noise startled the $928,489 Woodford Thoroughbreds buy at the 2023 Tattersalls December Mare Sale, causing her to break like slow-motion steps. Furthermore, every setback in a six-furlong race becomes twice as difficult to overcome.
Jockey Flavien Prat eased the 3-year-old daughter of Kodiac, bringing her along the rail to save distance, even though she had fallen more than ten lengths behind the leader.
After his poor start, Walden commented afterwards that he thought it would be a lengthy flight back to Kentucky. Walden went on to win his first graded stakes race.
Pipsy was ranked ninth out of ten, so even as the field narrowed down the stretch, her chances seemed slim. However, Prat correctly assessed the filly and took her six wide into the stretch, when she showed the appropriate turn of foot that a horse with a price tag like hers should have.
Pipsy overtook compatriot Kairyu by half a length at the sixteenth pole and finished in 1:09.41.
"We went to Plan B," stated Prat. "I gave her a chance to see if she would get underneath me and she sure did. When I tipped her out, she made a great move."
Walden sees a lot of potential even though the trip wasn't perfect.
"Obviously, we've got some work to do at the gate, but our confidence in her is pretty high right now. She came home with an electric turn of foot. Flavien gave her a great ride," he noted.
$8.70 was paid on a $2 win ticket. Amidst Waves came in third place. There were three different race fractions: 22.42, 45.40, and 57.42.
Pipsy, a Noel Finegan-bred horse, has earned $141,684 from four starts and is currently 3-1-0. Her 2024 debut was in The Soaring Softly.
"We'll see how she comes out of this one and look at our options," remarked Walden "I wouldn't be afraid to stretch her out to a mile, especially after the way she did it today. She would definitely be forwardly placed at a mile, but we'll see how she comes out of it and go from there."