Summer in Saratoga finished her season the same way she began it – with a Stakes victory over the Fair Grounds when she rallied from last to win the $75,000 Blushing K.D. Stakes by a neck over Bellagamba on December 26.
The victory marked the fourth Stakes score of the year for the five-year-old Hard Spun mare. She began the season with a win in the Tom Benson Memorial Stakes over the same strip in March; she most recently captured the G3 Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes at Keeneland in October.
Settled at the rear of the field early, Summer in Saratoga and jockey Corey Lanerie were content to let rivals Advocating and Catch a Bid set the pace. Summer in Saratoga began her rally on the far turn, swinging to the outside to launch her bid. She continued to close on the tiring leaders as she raced five-wide down the center of the course, eventually taking a slight lead with less than a sixteenth of a mile to go. Summer in Saratoga then held off the late bid of Bellagamba to win by a determined neck.
Bred by My Meadowview LLC in Kentucky, Summer in Saratoga is out of G1 Vanity Handicap winner Love Theway Youare, who was also placed in the G1 Santa Margarita. Love Theway Youare is out of Listed winner and G3-placed Diversa, who also is the dam of Stakes-placed Dirty Swagg. Interestingly, this is also the family of G1 winner Gretzky the Great (by Nyquist), multiple G2 winner Tower of Texas (by Street Sense) and G2 winner Street Sounds, by deceased Darley stallion Street Cry.
Hard Spun is wrapping up yet another banner year at stud. In addition to Summer in Saratoga, Hard Spun was represented by G1 winners Silver State (Met Mile) and Aloha West (Breeders’ Cup Sprint), and G3 Stakes winner, Antoinette.
Hard Spun will stand the 2022 breeding season at Jonabell Farm for $35,000, stands and nurses.
