Favored Roses for Debra , boxed in leaving the turn of the $300,250 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (G2), found daylight inside down the stretch and accelerated to catch overseas shipper Pandora’s Gift by a neck in track-record time.
The 5-year-old Liam’s Map mare zipped 6 1/2 furlongs on Tapeta at Presque Isle Downs in 1:13.92, eclipsing the prior mark of 1:14.57 set by Artie’s Princess in the Masters two years earlier.
Her affinity for the racing surface was apparent in the Masters, as jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. always seemed to have an eager and responsive Roses for Debra beneath him. All they needed was a place to run.
Third while tracking the pace of longshot She’s Fire after a quarter-mile in :22.51, she fell back to fifth after a half-mile in :44.98, but shortly thereafter, an opening materialized. The gray and/or roan mare shot through, though she would need the full length of the stretch to outfinish Pandora’s Gift, who edged ahead with a wide advance from fourth under Ben Curtis.
“I bided my time. I sat right behind the speed,” Ortiz said. “Turning for home, I’m full of force, but I have nowhere to go, so I just have to be there and wait, (be) patient, and try to find the hole. Turning up for home, I saw the rail open, so I (went) for it, and she responded really well.”
Roses for Debra’s Christophe Clement-trained stablemate, graded stakes winner Gal in a Rush , showed, 1 1/2 lengths behind the runner-up. She and Roses for Debra carried a co-high weight of 125 pounds, spotting 5-11 pounds to all the other starters.
A Pennsylvania-bred, Roses for Debra improved to 4-1-0 in five starts at Presque Isle, though Friday night’s race marked her first appearance at the Erie, Pa., track since 2022. Her past success gave Ortiz confidence.
“She used to run here, and she loves it,” he said.
Transferring to Clement’s barn prior to her 2023 season, her new trainer pointed Roses for Debra to turf sprints for owners Cheyenne Stable and John O’Meara, mainly in Kentucky and the Northeast. That focus has now resulted in four stakes wins, three graded. She also traveled to Southern California last year, finishing ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Santa Anita Park.
Three horses, all eventual champions, have gone on from the Masters to win the Breeders’ Cup FIlly and Mare Sprint (G1) at seven furlongs, most recently Groupie Doll , who took the Masters in 2012-13 and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on dirt those same years.
The others to do so were Musical Romance (2011) and Informed Decision (2009), though the latter took the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint when Santa Anita had a synthetic racing surface.
Having gone unplaced in one prior start on dirt, a race such as the five-furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 2 at Del Mar would appear the most likely option if Roses for Debra races in the Breeders’ Cup.
Bred by Blackstone Farm out of the unraced Bernardini mare Essential Rose, Roses for Debra was a $25,000 purchase from the Keeneland September Yearling Sale by Chris Drakos from the Dromoland Farm consignment. She is one of three stakes winners for her dam.
Roses for Debra is among three graded stakes winners in North America this year for Liam’s Map, the others being Starting Over and Deterministic . Liam’s Map stood this past breeding season for $40,000 at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky.