Feel Glorious Looks Great Late in Perfect Sting

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Tango Uniform Racing’s Feel Glorious looked great while flying home late to win Friday’s $100,00 Perfect Sting Stakes at Saratoga.

Breaking from post 5 under Junior Alvarado at 5/1 odds, Feel Glorious settled into mid-pack a lane off the rail heading into the clubhouse turn.

Piedi Bianchi hopped at the start and clipped heels with the 9/5 favorite Altea, but she recovered and swept to the lead before posting opening fractions of :24.21, :49.65, and 1:14.04.

Still in a close stalking position as she rounded the far turn, Feel Glorious tipped out while looking for running room and found space between rivals in mid-stretch.

Finding her best footing near the 1/16 pole, the Christophe Clement trainee overtook the stretch leader Chaleur late and crossed a 1/2-length clear in a final time of 1:42.09 for the 1 1/16-mile firm inner turf route.

“Coming into the first turn, I felt we were going a bit slow, so I tried not to fight too much with her and got to the rail,” Alvarado said. “I was a little closer in the race that way and I didn’t have too much to do at the end. … Every time I asked her for a little bit of run, she was there for me. When we turned for home, I got lucky to get that nice run on the outside and she showed a nice kick at the end.”

Chaleur was a 1/2-length and a head past Secret Message and Altea, respectively. Cafe Americano nosed out Piedi Bianchi to complete the order of finish.

Another Broad was a Main Track Only entry.

There was a steward’s inquiry and a jockey’s objection involving Chaleur and Altea, with the latter’s rider claiming interference near the 1/8 pole. Upon review, the stewards made no change to the order of finish.

Feel Glorious’ win was her first of the year after finishing third in the New York Stakes (G2) and the Matchmaker Stakes (G2) in her prior seasonal starts. The British-bred 4-year-old Bated Breath filly, who won two stakes in 2019 including the Winter Memories, improved her overall record to 16-5-3-3 with $398,734 earned.

“(Alvarado) probably felt it was never in doubt because he rode her with an enormous amount of confidence, so he probably felt he had a lot of horse underneath him the whole time,” Clement said. “It was a short field of good fillies and I think she was the fourth or fifth choice in the race, which surprised me because she trained very well and her 2 races this year were good races. I like her and I’ve always thought she was a very consistent filly. She’s on the way up and she is a better horse this year than she was last year.”

Feel Glorious returned $13.60 to win, $6.40 to place, and $3.30 to show. Chaleur brought back $5.80 to place and $3.70 to show, while Secret Message paid $3.70 to show.