Medaglia d'Oro Filly Delahaye Impressively Wires Gulfstream Allowance

5th-Gulfstream, $72,000, Alw (NW1$X), Opt. Clm ($25,000), 1-31, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:40.88, fm, 1 1/4 lengths.
DELAHAYE (f, 4, Medaglia d'Oro–Bella Carina, by War Front) sat a no-cover trip three and four wide on her debut over this course last February, but jockey Javier Castellano lost the crop with judgment day approaching and the filly went down to a narrow defeat behind the future MSP Love Appeals (Speightstown). Away for 8 1/2 months thereafter, the $550,000 Keeneland September yearling raced more prominently in an Aqueduct maiden and shot clear late to graduate by a handy 3 1/4 lengths at 65 cents on the dollar when last seen Nov. 5. Favored here at an arguably overlaid 9-10 and carrying the Three Chimneys colors for the first time, Delahaye tugged her way to the front without expending much energy and led her rivals along through sedate fractions of :24.01 and :48.92. Castellano sat hard against Delahaye around the turn, cut the ribbons once heads were turned for home and she easily held sway to the wire. She covered her final 2 1/2 furlongs in :28.20 and sprinted the final sixteenth in a very slick :5.50. Delahaye is the ninth winner worldwide from 11 runners bred on this cross, a number that includes the stakes winners Ticker Tape Home and Golden Canary. Ben Leon's Besilu Stables acquired the stakes-winning second dam Grand Prayer (Grand Slam) in foal to Medaglia d'Oro for an even $1 million from the Ned Evans dispersal at Keeneland November in 2011, a little more than a year after the mare's daughter Malibu Prayer (Malibu Moon) won the GI Ruffian H. for Evans and Mark Hennig. Grand Prayer's value appreciated further still when her Medaglia d'Oro foal of 2010, Valid, became a three-time graded winner and Grade I-placed on the dirt. Malibu Prayer is also the dam of the MGSP Grand Love, whose sire Gun Runner is out of Quiet Giant (Giant's Causeway), a $3-million purchase by Besilu from the same dispersal. Leon also paid a sales-topping $8.5 million for champion Royal Delta (Empire Maker). Bella Carina is the dam of a 2-year-old Not This Time colt that was bought back on a bid of $350,000 at Keeneland September last fall and a yearling colt by Gun Runner. She was not bred last season. Sales history: $550,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $104,650. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-William H Lawrence & Three Chimneys Farm; B-Three Chimneys Farm LLC (KY); T-Chad C Brown.

Delahaye and @jjcjockey in front in the 5th race for trainer Chad Brown. #GulfstreamPark #ChampionshipMeet pic.twitter.com/jqN5RATJhf

— Gulfstream Park (@GulfstreamPark) January 31, 2024