A look at the Lake Placid Stakes
The Lake Placid Stakes is a Grade 2 event for three year old fillies that is held at the Saratoga Racecourse in Saratoga Springs. It has a purse of $150 000 and this year, the contender field was filled with talented and noteworthy horses. Spectators ensured that they were at the racecourse early to secure their seats and tickets, and patiently waited to the eighth race of the day, where the race favorites fell short of performing and Shared Account came out of nowhere to win the Lake Placid Stakes on a less than ideal rain soaked track surface.
Most spectators at the Lake Placid Stakes were keeping their eyes on Keertana, Mary’s Follies, Consequence and Kiddari. Mary’s Follies was eventually scratched by her trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr., narrowing the field and leaving many racing fans unsure of how the race would be run. Keertana had won four of her nine career starts and was a very serious and threatening competitor, and many had high hopes for the daughter of Smarty Jones, who was trying her abilities on turf for the first time in her career. With so much talent in the starting gates, there was great excitement surrounding the Lake Placid Stakes on Friday, 21 August 2009.
But it was to be Shared Account who was the best horse on the day, taking the lead over her other six contenders in the stretch. Trained by Graham Motion for Sagamore Farm, Shared Account was ridden by Edgar Prado, and managed to keep the strong attack from Keertana at bay long enough to win the 2009 Lake Placid Stakes. On an extremely soft turf, due to rain, Shared Account performed comfortably, but Motion is curious to find out how she would perform on firmer turf or even try her abilities on a Polytrack. Shared Account was followed home by Keertana in second position and Katara in third. Edgar Prado commented after the race that Shared Account had felt comfortable all the way around and added, “When I asked she gave me a nice kick. She was dead fit today. Graham pointed that filly for this race – he was very confident.” Shared Account ran a wonderful race and took home $90 000 for her owners, Sagamore Farm.
