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River's Prayer wins Rancho Bernardo Handicap, sets track record

River’s Prayer, a four-year-old filly stabled at the San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center and bred by Vessels Stallion Farm, won the Grade III Rancho Bernardo Handicap at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club August 17.

River’s Prayer, who was ridden by jockey Clinton Potts, finished half a length in front of second-place Strong Faith in the 6 1/2-furlong stakes race for fillies and mares three years old and upward. She had a winning time of 1:17:85, which set a record for all horses at that distance on Del Mar’s new Polytrack surface.

“We thought she had a decent chance,” said trainer and part-owner Paula Capestro. “We just weren’t sure how the Polytrack was going to affect her performance.”

River’s Prayer had won eight of her previous 15 races, but the Rancho Bernardo Handicap was her first on a synthetic surface. “It’s like running in pudding,” Capestro said.

Potts had ridden River’s Prayer for her previous eight races. “We talk about how the race is going to set up, but I don’t give my rider instructions on how to ride their horse,” Capestro said. “We sort of discuss our race, but I don’t tell him how to ride.”

Two scratches reduced the field to five horses. Potts and River’s Prayer broke first. “She’s pretty quick,” Capestro said.

After a quarter of a mile River’s Prayer was in second place, one length behind Lady Gamer. “We’ve been wanting to get her to lay off the pace. That’s been our goal, and she’s been doing that beautifully,” Capestro said.

At half a mile River’s Prayer was second, half a length behind Lady Gamer. River’s Prayer entered the stretch 1:11.21 into the race with a 1 1/2-length lead over Strong Faith, who had moved into second.

“She just took over,” Capestro said of River’s Prayer.

“Even though Strong Faith was coming on, River sensed her there at the hip and there was no gaining on her after that,” Capestro said. “She’s gotten real tough. If she senses that they’re coming on her, she just seems to put on another huge effort.”

Capestro also gives credit to Potts. “He rode her very nicely and measured her out,” Capestro said.

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has separate sets of track records for the old dirt track and for the new Polytrack surface. The track record River’s Prayer set is for all horses, both male and female. “It’s pretty cool to look at the program,” Capestro said of the record noted in subsequent 6 1/2-furlong races. “It’s hard to say how long this record will last.”

River’s Prayer was foaled on February 26, 2003. Her sire was Devon Lane and her dam was Cozzy Flyer. BC Thoroughbreds purchased River’s Prayer from Vessels Stallion Farm as a yearling for the price of $15,000. Capestro and her husband, Andy, were part of a group who purchased River’s Prayer from BC Thoroughbreds for $250,000; the current ownership also includes the Dallas-based Martin Racing Stable and the Bantry Farms ownership of Pasadena’s Jim and Michael Ewing.

“It’s been a journey,” Capestro said. “It hasn’t been all wine and roses. We’ve had our ups and downs for sure.”

River’s Prayer won her first two races, both at Hollywood Park in 2005, before finishing second in the ungraded Landaluce Stakes that year in Hollywood Park. She had led for most of the six-furlong Landaluce Stakes before finishing second by three-quarters of a length.

Her first Grade I stakes race was the Del Mar Debutante in 2005, in which she finished third. She then was shipped to Belmont Park for the Grade I Matron stakes race, where she finished fifth.

River’s Prayer ran one more race in 2005 before a nine-month layup. She returned to win the Fleet Treat stakes at Del Mar in July 2006. She also won the Cal Cup Dash in October 2006 at Santa Anita but finished last in both in the Grade I Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park in November and the Grade I La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita the following month.

The La Brea Stakes is currently the most recent loss for River’s Prayer. She won the Irish O’Brien Stakes at Santa Anita in March, the Grade III Las Cienegas Handicap at Santa Anita in April, the Great Lady Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 14, and the Grade I Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder July 7.

“I just think she’s coming up an incredible horse, one of those special ones you remember,” Capestro said.

The Rancho Bernardo Handicap had a total purse of $200,000, so the winner’s 60 percent share equated to $120,000 and brought the lifetime earnings of River’s Prayer to $921,957.

Capestro was planning to race River’s Prayer in the Breeders’ Cup, which was scheduled for October 26-27 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. The Breeders’ Cup will have a two-day format for the first time in its history and one of the October 26 races added to the Breeders’ Cup was the six-furlong Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

 

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