5YO Mare Determinedly Holds Off Accomplished Girl in 5F Sprint
BALTIMORE – Joel Politi’s multiple stakes-winning Maryland homebred Bosserati, unraced in 5 ½ months, launched her comeback in grand style with a determined head victory over Accomplished Girl in Friday’s $100,000 The Very One presented by Guinness Open Gate Brewery at Pimlico Race Course.
The 26th running of the five-furlong The Very One for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting on the turf was the fourth of six stakes, three graded, worth $1.05 million in purses on a spectacular 14-race Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Day program headlined by the 101st edition of the 1 1/8-mile fixture for 3-year-old fillies.
Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard for the victory in place of jockey Sheldon Russell, who took off his mounts after being unseated by High Paf prior to the $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) one race earlier. Both High Paf and Bosserati are trained by Russell’s wife, Brittany Russell.
It was the second stakes win of the day for Ortiz, following Candied in the $125,000 Allaire du Pont Distaff. The 5-year-old Bosserati improved to 3-for-4 lifetime at Pimlico, the only loss coming when ninth in last year’s The Very One.
Bosserati broke running and was hustled to the front by Ortiz, going the first quarter-mile in 22.45 seconds and the half in 46.21 pressed by fellow multiple stakes winner Accomplished Girl. The two leaders straightened for home together and raced side by side the length of the stretch with Bosserati refusing to let Accomplished Girl past.
Gift of Gab emerged from a three-way photo finish in third, a neck ahead of Loon Cry. It was another head back to 40-1 longshot Anaita followed by Shoshanah, Simply Stated, Moonlit Kiss, Mendys Honey, Admiral Hopper, Maggie’s Girl and Pinotslilgirl. Main-track-only entrants Pleasant Embrace and Mudslide were scratched.
Bosserati won the 2023 Stormy Blues and last fall’s Maryland Million Turf Sprint at Laurel Park, both going 5 ½ furlongs. She had not tried five-eighths since last year’s The Very One, and improved her record to 6-1-4 from 16 career starts.
Brittany Russell has been Maryland’s leading trainer by wins in 2023 and 2024, becoming the first woman to earn the honor. She is also the only female to win multiple meet training titles in the state, with nine at Laurel and Pimlico.
Purchased out of a 1977 Maryland 2-year-old sale in Timonium for $22,000 by Maryland horsewoman Helen Polinger, The Very One went on to become one of the best race mares in training from 1977-81. A former claimer turned Grade 1 winner, she won 22 races and more than $1.1 million in purses from 71 starts, with eight graded-stakes wins including the 1979 Dixie (G2) at Pimlico and 1981 Santa Barbara Handicap (G1).
$100,000 The Very One Quotes
Winning Trainer Brittany Russell (Bosserati) — “Just saved my whole week. Tough game. We had a couple of bad ones in a row here and I’m just happy that she ran good. She showed up. We’ve had a long day.
“Irad (Ortiz Jr.) rode her great. She likes it here at home. I felt like we had her ready today.”
Winning Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. (Bosserati) — “I just let her be her. She likes to be on the lead setting the pace. We broke good and she rolled. Turning for home and in the stretch, she doesn’t want to give up the lead. I wasn’t even using her. She was just nice and relaxed and full of run.”