“You see her on a daily basis, and she’s full of herself all the time,” Hamilton Smith, who trains Roanan Goddess for Mens Grille Racing, said afterwards. “She’s not a problem with training. She’s smart and she just feels good, and she’s aggressive.”

It was Laurel Park’s first day of racing after four consecutive cancellations, as a snow-freeze-thaw cycle left the track muddy. It also left it with a serious rail bias, and no rider profited from that more astutely than did Barbosa, who won three races, two for Smith.

“Everything’s been on the rail all day,” Smith said. “I won a race earlier, and he went to the fence: well-ridden.”

Roanan Goddess entered the Xtra Heat with two wins in six career outings, but at first glance, her two stakes tries didn’t offer much: sixth- and fourth-place finishes, both times several lengths back. But a deeper dive suggested a filly on the improve, one who’d finished seven lengths behind winner Cap Classique the first time they tussled, then five, and then less than three.

“Two of her races, she had a little trouble,” Smith noted, pointing to a stumbling start in one and a wide journey in another. “I’m not saying she would have won, but she should have been a little closer.”

In the Xtra Heat, the betting public mostly focused on Heart (1.30-1), for trainer Brittany Russell, and Reconcile (2-1) for Linda Rice. Both entered with just a single start, the former having won a Laurel maiden event and the latter having scored at Aqueduct.

When the gates opened, Rodriguez got Reconcile in gear quickly, and she led by a half-length over C C Royal after an opening quarter-mile in 22.86 seconds. Roanan Goddess, meanwhile, was biding her time a couple of lengths back in third.

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C C Royal stuck around willingly, and she was just a length back after a half-mile in the six-furlong contest. In the lane, though, she gradually gave way, and Roanan Goddess pounced, sneaking up to Reconcile’s inside in upper stretch. Reconcile veered in and bumped with Roanan Goddess. But the Leofric filly was tenacious and surged past her rival to the win.

Running time for the six furlongs was 1:11.82. Reconcile held second, while C C Royal finished third. Heart, up close early, finished fourth, seven lengths back.

Roanan Goddess paid $6.80 to win as the third choice, and the exacta returned $11.40 on a one-dollar wager.

Roanan Goddess, a $60,000 auction purchase, now has three wins and just shy of $150,000 in purse earnings from seven career starts. 

“She’s a tough little nut, she really is,” Smith said. “She always tries, and we’re very proud of her. She’s a very small filly, and she gives you all she’s got.”

NOTES The trophy to the winning connections of the Xtra Heat was presented by Kenny Taylor, co-owner of Xtra Heat. Xtra Heat. The Laurel-based Xtra Heat won 26 career races, 25 in stakes company and earned nearly $2.4 million in a career that ended in 2003. She was named to racing’s Hall of Fame in 2015… The day’s other stake, the seven-furlong Spectacular Bid for three-year-olds, scratched down to three runners and went to Guanare, who is now three-for-three in his career after a pair of wins in New York to launch his career.. Guanare is trained by Rick Dutrow for P and G Stable and was ridden by Romero Maragh… Multiple graded stakes winner Messier, recently shifted to Dutrow’s stable, was upset as the 7-10 favorite in an allowance race by late-running Yodel E. A. Who, who rallied up the rail from last to win by over a length…

Today's photos by The Racing Biz

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