Lady Shipman Too Tough in $100,000 The Very One

BALTIMORE – Ranlo Investments’ well-traveled multiple-stakes winner Lady Shipman made a triumphant return to Maryland with a commanding 2 ¼-length victory in the $100,000 The Very One Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.

Heavily favored at 2-5 and carrying co-highweight of 122 pounds in a field of 12 fillies and mares, Lady Shipman ($2.80) rated behind front-running Everything Lovely after breaking from the far outside, took over the lead turning for home and sprinted clear to win in 57.85 seconds for five furlongs on a turf course rated good.

It was the 11^th win from 15 lifetime starts and ninth stakes victory at six racetracks for Lady Shipman, who improved to 5-0 at the distance including a triumph in the Stormy Blues Stakes last April, her only previous trip at Pimlico.

Lady Shipman has now won three of four starts this year and two straight since running seventh as the favorite in the Al Quoz Sprint (G1) against males March 26 in Dubai, the only off-the-board finish of her career.

Runner-up behind Ageless’ track record-setting performance in last year’s The Very One, Joya Royal closed late to finish a head in front of Exaggerated for second.

The Very One Stakes Quotes

Winning Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin (Lady Shipman): (By phone) “She’s a star, Lady Shipman. She does everything right and just keeps winning.”

“She’s such a star and can handle good, soft, firm [turf]. The post position, 12 of 12, wasn’t ideal but it worked out great. Everything’s good.”

“She’s easy to ride. She makes jockeys look good and trainers look good. She’s a real pro.”

“We don’t really have a plan. This race was a little quick back. Because she was doing so well we decided to take a shot. We’ll just have to look ahead. I’m not sure what we’ll do next.”

Winning Jockey Joel Rosario (Lady Shipman): “She’s a nice filly. She broke just a little bit slow because she was way on the outside. I sent her a little bit, and she covered a lot of ground really quickly. And she kept going from there. The more that I asked her, turning for home, the more I asked her, the more she was giving to me. She’s a nice filly.

(On if she can go 6 1/2 furlongs in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint) “I think so. The more you ask, the more she’ll give it to you. The way she broke, the way she did it, it was very impressive to me.”

Pimlico Race Course