Laragh Wires Field in Churchill's Edgewood

May 02, 2009 by Churchill Downs Notes Team

IEAH Stables, Gary Tolchin and Pegasus Holding Group Stables’ Laragh took the lead shortly out of the gate and never looked back to win the 25th running of the $115,300 Edgewood for 3-year-old fillies over the Matt Winn Turf Course by 1 1/4 lengths over Magical Affair.

Ridden by Edgar Prado, Laragh carved out fractions of :23.57, :48.43 and 1:13.04 while racing on an uncontested lead. Favored Magical Affair, under Julien Leparoux, closed ground late to salvage second with Banker’s Choice finishing another 3 ¼ lengths back in third under Calvin Borel.

Trained by John Terranova, Laragh returned mutuels of $7.40, $3.80 and $3. Magical Affair paid $3.40 and $2.80 with Banker’s Choice returning $4.80 to show in the field of 10.

Laragh, winner of the Grade I Hollywood Starlet last December after a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, covered the mile and a sixteenth on a “good” turf course in 1:43.88.

The victory was worth $67,911 and increased Laragh’s career earnings to $581,876 with four wins in eight starts.

EDGEWOOD QUOTES

EDGAR PRADO (rider of winner Laragh):  “She is a very nice filly who has a lot of natural speed. We didn’t want to take her out of her game. We went to the lead and she was nice and relaxed. I was just hoping she would have enough at the end and she did. The main thing with her is to get her to relax. Today she showed us an extra gear and I was very happy to see that.”

JOHN TERRANOVA (trainer of winner Laragh): “This was our first preference and we just entered the race for tomorrow (the Eight Belles) in case something weird happened. We wanted to keep our bases open, but this was the spot we were aiming for and she ran huge today. As long as you don’t fight her, she’ll give you everything she’s got. Edgar (Prado) rode her perfectly. She’s big speed and she can carry it. When I saw the half in :48 it was all over.”

JULIEN LEPAROUX (rider of second-place finisher Magical Affair):  “My horse started off slow, but once we get rolling we made up some nice ground. It was going to be tough to catch the winner but I was happy with her effort and she fought hard to get the place spot.”