Filippiada Relished the Mud for an Unappealable Victory in the Handicap Platería

The daughter of Il Mercato prevailed by 3 lengths over Sir Brave; Moon's Destiny failed to handle the footing and trailed the field

With the switch to the main track, everything changes in the Platería. On the turf, Moon's Destiny (Orpen, 58 1/2) is almost infallible, and she will face Filippiada (Il Mercato, 57) and Splash Park (Safety Check, 53) once again, her close pursuers in the Handicap Juan Alberto Maldotti. But with the rotation to the dirt, her rivals seem to possess better weapons to defend themselves."

The text, published in the preview of the first of Monday's two feature races at the Hipódromo Palermo, anticipated exactly what would end up happening. Moon's Destiny looked highly uncomfortable on the heavy track and finished last, with Filippiada shining at the other extreme to take the victory and Splash Park finishing third, overhauled in the final stages by Sir Brave (Lencelot, 52 1/2), who was the great revelation.

While in Argentina it is common for horses to switch surfaces as easily as jockeys, statistics are statistics and, in most cases, they tend to be right. Moon's Destiny sports an almost infallible record on the grass and, in the United States, for instance, she would have never run on any other footing. Here, on the contrary, these appear to be details that are overlooked.

Under those circumstances, Filippiada was far superior to her rivals, confirming the great form she is currently going through and, not by chance, shining over the exact same distance at which she captured the Clásico Manuel J. Güiraldes(G3) as a filly.

A lot of water has flown under the bridge since then for the defender of the stable La Familia Ingalls, who, quite some time ago, began putting together a consistent form close to that of her youthful days.

With Gustavo Calvente in her irons, Filippiada always traveled within striking distance of the pacesetter Dama del Armiño (Il Campione, 52), mastering her down the center of the track upon entering the straight and finishing with solvency to secure a 3-length advantage over Sir Brave, who left Splash Park a flank back in third, all after a final time of 1m25s34/100.

Bred by Haras La Pasión, the gray filly reached the fifth triumph of her career, moved closer to 56 million pesos in earnings, and served notice that she could soon be making headlines in the graded stakes ranks once again. Just like she used to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPcDr8Fm9UE