OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Luna Louska successfully carried her speed farther than she ever had previously, taking control soon after the start under Kendrick Carmouche and recording a 1 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Floral Park Stakes for female turf sprinters at Aqueduct.
A slow-starting Love Appeals, the 5-2 favorite, rallied for second, three lengths in front of Mrs. Gambolini.
Luna Louska, the lone 3-year-old filly in the field of nine, won for the fourth consecutive time, but first at six furlongs. Her three previous wins - two on turf and one on Tapeta - all came at five furlongs.
Carmouche, riding Luna Louska for the first time, said his filly was just gliding over Aqueduct’s inner turf course despite running early fractions of 21.44 seconds for the quarter and 43.55 for the half-mile.
“She was moving good, I didn’t take it away from her, I just l let her rock and roll,” said Carmouche, who won four races on Saturday’s 11-race Aqueduct card. “Around the turn, I slowed her down a little because she was just gliding, she wasn’t even touching the grass. At the top of the lane, she rebroke again, I said ‘Well, I don’t hear anybody coming, seemed like she put them away right away.' Wow. Speedy, real speedy.”
Luna Louska, a daughter of Complexity, ran the six furlongs in 1:08.13 and returned $11.94 as the fourth choice.
Luna Louska is owned by JR Ranch, Marquee Bloodstock and High Step Racing. She is trained by Gustavo Delgado.
Luna Louska hadn’t been out since July 4, when she won the Clarksville Handicap at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Training in Kentucky, Luna Louska suffered a cut on her hip when she vanned from Kentucky to Saratoga and was forced to scratch from the Galway Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds on Aug. 7.
Luna Louska remained in Saratoga for the remainder of the summer to train and how she was working gave her connections confidence she could handle the six furlongs.
“She was putting in all these good gallop outs, that gave us the feeling she wouldn’t have a problem going the six furlongs,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., assistant trainer to his father Gustavo Delgado said.
Delgado, who watched the race on television from Saratoga, said when he saw how relaxed Luna Louska was in the post parade he knew she would be ready to put in a big effort.
Delgado and co-owner Ramiro Restrepo, of Marquee Bloodstock, both said there are many options for Luna Louska, including the Grade 3, $175,000 Glen Cove for 3-year-old fillies here on Oct. 11 and the Grade 2, $400,000 Franklin Stakes for 3-and-up at Keeneland on Oct. 12 among them.
Meanwhile, Love Appeals couldn’t overcome her slow start to win, and she finished second in this race for the second consecutive year.
“She normally breaks like that,” said jockey Ricardo Santana Jr., adding that Luna Louska “was too quick. She was second-best.”
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