Interrupted wore down Speed Seeker to win the Lady Baltimore. Photo by Laurie Asseo.
Interrupted seemingly loves two things: the Laurel Park turf and jockey Matt Rispoli.
The four-year-old filly had both of them today, and the result — for the fourth time in four local starts with Rispoli up — was a victory, this time in the $150,000 Lady Baltimore Stakes.
“That’s why we ran her here,” said trainer Graham Motion when asked about the unbeaten ledger. Interrupted, a daughter of Broken Vow, has won five of nine races overall — but just one of five outside of the friendly confines of central Maryland.
“She really loves the course, and Matthew has such a good rapport with her,” said Motion, whose filly won by 1 ¼ lengths over the pacesetter Speed Seeker. “I also trained the mom [Alternate] and dad [Broken Vow] so it’s very exciting.”
Interrupted, a winner of the Penn Oak Stakes in May 2014 and coming off a victory at Laurel in an optional allowance July 24, broke from the rail and “was a little closer than usual,” said Rispoli, who rated the filly fourth behind fractions of :25.21, :51.46 and 1:17.45 set by Speed Seeker, who was pressed from the outside down the backstretch by Pink Poppy.
Entering the stretch, Rispoli roused Interrupted away from the inside for a clear run down the middle of the track outside Speed Seeker and Pink Poppy to get up in time for the $90,000 first-place prize. Pink Poppy was third.
“I was hoping the rail would open up, but when it didn’t I just swung her out,” said Rispoli, who took off his mounts at Monmouth Park Saturday to ride Interrupted.
And out and out. Interrupted drifted towards the outer rail as she made her rally.
“She does that once in a while,” said Rispoli. “When a horse is running like that, I don’t like to correct them. I knew I didn’t have anybody on my outside.”
Interrupted has now won five of nine starts for $250,205. Running time was 1:50 1/5 for 1 1/16 miles.
