Artie’s Princess Conquers Bessarabian

TORONTO, ON – Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred Artie’s Princess took over command at the top of the stretch and held sway to conquer Saturday’s $175,000 Bessarabian Stakes (G2) at Woodbine.

Artie’s Princess broke from post 4 under Kazushi Kimura as the 5/2 favorite and challenged for the lead between the rail-riding Souper Escape and Jakarta, who held a slim advantage through fractions of :22.31 and :44.41.

Kimura backed out of the pace duel and saved ground heading into the far turn, but he tipped the Wesley Ward trainee out halfway through cornering and sent her off to challenge for the lead at the top of the stretch.

A late bid from Boardroom was just not enough to catch Artie’s Princess, who crossed a head in front while completing the 7-furlong fast synthetic sprint in 1:20.90.

“Basically, if I could go to the front, I wanted to go to the front, but I knew that just the two horses wanted to go to the front, and it looked a little bit fast,” Kimura said. “That’s why I was just patient, watched from behind. She was just so comfortable today.

Our Secret Agent took third over Amalfi Coast, while behind them came Painting, Jakarta, and Souper Escape to complete the order of finish.

Outburst was scratched.

Artie’s Princess’ win one-upped her inaugural stakes score last time out in the local Ruling Angel and improved her overall record to 7-5-1-0. The Ontario-bred 3-year-old We Miss Artie filly has now earned $257,366.

Artie’s Princess returned $7 to win, $3.80 to place, and $3.30 to show. Boardroom brought back $5 to place and $3.90 to show, while Our Secret Agent paid $4.30 to show.