Godolphin swept the stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Churchill Downs, with the lightly raced Ragtime affirming her quality with a win in the Grade 3, $300,000 Dogwood Stakes, and Eclipse Award champion Immersive scoring her first win of 2025 in the $175,000 Seneca Overnight Stakes.
Ragtime ($3.96), a blaze-faced homebred daughter of Union Rags, won her first two starts at Saratoga by a combined eight lengths, then stepped far up in class for the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 2. The filly rallied eight wide into the stretch, briefly led, and was caught just a neck by Kilwin. Off that effort, trainer Bill Mott removed her blinkers for Saturday's race - and the filly saw and ran down all challengers.
Ragtime was away a step slowly, but Junior Alvarado didn't panic and hurry his filly, who was sixth of seven after the opening half-mile. Pacesetter Delightful Claire, second in the Grade 3 Prioress last out, had rattled off splits of 22.84 and 45.55 seconds on the fast track. She was confronted by Mega Mil midway on the far turn, and multiple graded stakes winner Echo Sound was looking for room on the inside tracking behind those two.
Alvarado brought Ragtime five wide into the stretch, and the filly rallied in near tandem with Strong State, who had been last, on the outside. She overpowered that one down the lane, drawing clear to a 2 1/4-length victory. Strong State edged Delightful Claire by a half-length for second.
Ragtime stopped the clock in 1:22.35 for the seven furlongs.
“She really ran a big race today,” said Kenny McCarthy, Mott’s Kentucky assistant. “The team in New York did a great job with her before she came to Kentucky. Junior did a great job not to panic after breaking slowly. She was able to have a target to run at and finished up really well.”
Seneca Overnight
One race earlier, Immersive scored her first win as a 3-year-old in her third start off a long layoff, posting a front-running two-length win in the Seneca Overnight.
"With all she had accomplished as a 2-year-old, there's a lot of weight on you moving forward," trainer Brad Cox said. "The first two starts weren't bad runs, they just weren't what we were looking for."
Immersive, a homebred by in-house sire Nyquist, secured the divisional championship last year by winning all four of her starts, including three Grade 1s, highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Bone bruising kept her from targeting the major spring races.
In her return, she finished second by a neck in the Monomoy Girl in June at Churchill, a race Cox felt she needed. Off that effort, however, Immersive was beaten 15 1/2 lengths by Scottish Lassie in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks in July at Saratoga. Cox said this week that he felt the Seneca Overnight would be a key sign as to if Immersive is "wanting to be a racehorse at the top level."
Immersive ($3.22), sent away favored in a field of five, broke well from the rail. Once she established the lead into the first turn, Florent Geroux rose in the stirrups to take a long hold, and the filly rolled through opening fractions of 24.10 and 48.16.
Midway on the turn, Immersive was confronted by Ivory and Ebony, who surged alongside her up a seam on the rail, with Liam in the Dust rallying in tandem on the outside. Ivory and Ebony floated the favorite out into the stretch and the two fought it out. Although Ivory and Ebony, making her stakes debut off a Saratoga maiden win for Dale Romans, did not give way easily, Immersive had her measure in the final stages.
"She responded very well," Geroux said. "I just gave her a little bit of a reminder and she responded very well. I feel there's more to come with her."
After Ivory and Ebony, it was 4 1/4 lengths back to Iowa Oaks winner Quickick in third. Immersive finished the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.64.
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