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Satin Nights Does Dam Proud in Juvenile Fillies Turf
Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 14 years 3 weeks agoIt was the beginning of a great day of racing for the progeny of the great broodmare Fiji Nights when her final foal, Satin Nights prevailed in the $750,000 Grade I Steward’s Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf by a slim neck over fast closing Pressure Point. The black filly bred and owned by LaDonna King raced the grassy course at New Orleans Park in 1:35.86.
Satin Nights, a diminutive but formidable daughter of former Steward’s Cup Turf Mile champion and burgeoning sire, Iron doesn’t bear much physical resemblance to her dam, Fiji Nights who was twice voted champion female turf horse during her career before ultimately being elected into the Hall of Fame. During this year’s Steward’s Cup, Fiji Nights three year old daughter, Velvet Night (by another former champion and Hall of Famer A Crown Awaits) would emulate her dam by winning the Steward’s Cup Filly and Mare Turf. In addition, Fiji Night’s most famous son, Night Shade, sired Perfect Night who began the memorable race day by winning the Turf Sprint and putting his current undefeated winning career one victory short of matching that his grand dam accomplished by the time she retired.
Satin Nights won two of her first three races and finished second in an allowance race before taking a seven week break before making her stakes debut in the Cup, interrupting it with a sharp four furlong work on the turf just over a week before her big race.
Three generations in a race horse’s family and it doesn’t get much better than that on the biggest day of racing. And Satin Nights did her part of living up to the family heritage starting as soon as the gates opened to begin the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
The filly piloted by Ava Fox grabbed the lead and quickly established a ¼ length advantage over In It to Win It and Suzune. She opened up her lead to 1 ½ lengths in the long backstretch over those two horses while Pressure Point positioned herself near the back of the field. Sweeping off the wide turn and heading for the homestretch, Satin Nights held onto a 1 ¼ length lead over Suzune while both Stop Flirting and Pressure Point began to make their stretch runs hoping that the speed would fall apart. However, Satin Nights kicked it into another gear and refused to back down while Pressure Point came flying down the stretch eating up the turf with each stride. Satin Nights responded gamely to some urging by Fox and prevailed to capture the race. Pressure Point finished close behind in second, leading Stop Flirting by about a neck.
Satin Nights had plenty left to trot over to the winner’s circle for the award ceremony and photograph taking. It’s not clear where the future will take this powerful young filly who had just won a great race because horse racing is a sport that’s filled with both peaks and valleys which are unpredictable in nature. But on this day, the final daughter of a great broodmare did her mother proud in winning the Steward’s Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.