By Stephanie Corum – October 1, 2014
When three fillies were scratched (two by the track veterinarian and one by her trainer) only four 3-year-old fillies were left to contest the Delaware Park Arabian Juvenile Filly Championship S. (G3) sponsored by Rosebrook Farm.
The solid favorite, Love To Dance, led wire to wire in the 1 mile and 70 yard stakes worth $20,000. Galloping along easily from the start, she saved ground along the rail. Throughleap, Taylors Touchof Class and Special P raced three across behind her down the backstretch. Heading into the turn, the trio moved as a team to make it 4 across, with Special P going wide the entire time. Love To Dance shook free of her rivals and inched ahead. Then heading into the stretch, jockey Carol Cedeno let the filly out a notch and she responded willingly. It quickly became clear that no one was going to catch Dianne Morris’s filly. She opened up 6 lengths on second place finisher, Taylors Touchof Class, owned by Cre Run Enterprises LLC. A nose is all that separated Special P (owned by Mark Powell) in third and Throughleap (owned by Jon Henningsgard) in fourth. The final time was 1:57.47.
Ron Martino trained the grey filly who claimed her first stakes win in this race. Her overall record stands at 1/8(3-2-0)1-0, $24,821. She was bred in Florida by Bill Waldron and is a daughter of Darley Champion Our Machine and out of stakes-placed winner Shall We Dance BW. Love To Dance is the first foal to race out of Shall We Dance BW, who is a ¾ sister to Darley Champion Cath (by Burning Sand).