La Crete gamely battled Fannie And Freddie the length of the stretch before finally edging clear in the final strides to win the Listed Silverbulletday Stakes by a length at Fair Grounds Jan. 22.
The three-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, who races as a homebred for Stonestreet Stables, was making just her second career start in the Silverbulletday. La Crete, a half-sister to the talented G1-winning Clairiere, broke her maiden in her debut last fall at Churchill Downs.
La Crete was sent to the lead right out of the gate by jockey Joel Rosario. The bay filly set the pace throughout the early stages of the race. Rival Fannie And Freddie moved to challenge La Crete on the far turn, and the two raced head-and-head as they entered the stretch.
The duo continued to battle through the stretch, with Fannie And Freddie gaining a slight advantage, but La Crete gamely fought back in the final yards to post the one-length victory. It was three lengths further back to third-place finisher, Bernabreezy (by Bernardini).
Bred in Kentucky by her owner, La Crete is out of the three-time G1-winning Bernardini mare, Cavorting, who banked over $2 million on the racetrack when scoring victories in the G1 Ogden Phipps S., G1 Personal Ensign, and G1 Test. La Crete is the mare’s second foal; her first foal, Clairiere (by Curlin), has earned over $1.2 million so far, with her biggest victory coming in the 2021 G1 Cotillion Stakes.
Medaglia d’Oro was represented by 20 Stakes winners in 2021. Topping that list is the outstanding Golden Sixty, the two-time Horse of the Year in Hong Kong and recent winner of the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile for the second straight year. Other Graded Stakes winners last year include Dream Lith (G2 Golden Rod), Rockefeller (G3 Nashua), Navratilova (G3 Valley View), Vigilantes Way (G3 Eatontown), and G2 Shannon Stakes hero Yonkers (in Australia).
Medaglia d'Oro will stand the 2022 breeding season at Jonabell Farm for a fee of $100,000, stands and nurses.
