It wasn't what anyone expected, but it served the purpose.
With Alpha Delta Stables' homebred Raging Sea favored at overwhelming 1-9 odds in the $250,000 Beldame Stakes (G2), on paper it looked like a paid workout for a 4-year-old filly coming off a grade 1 win over last year's champion older dirt female. And at the top of the stretch, when the Chad Brown-trained daughter of Curlin drew alongside 22-1 shot Batucada, the outcome seemed a foregone conclusion.
But regardless of what the tote board said, the Beldame turned out to be a thriller as Batucada dug down and battled until the final strides when the heavy favorite was able to eke out a head victory in the Oct. 6 stakes for fillies and mares at Aqueduct Racetrack.
While the Beldame may not have been the mismatch it seemed, off Sunday's win and a previous victory over Idiomatic in the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course it earned Raging Sea a trip to Del Mar for the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) where a victory could net her an Eclipse Award.
"We wanted to pick an easier spot rather than go up against Idiomatic (who won Sunday's grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland) and I think she got tested," said owner/breeder Jon Clay. "She got a really good workout for the Breeders' Cup. As long as she doesn't get hurt between now and November, I think we're going. It will be very exciting."
The victory was the third straight for Raging Sea, all in grade 1 or 2 company, and sixth in the last seven starts for the daughter of the Storm Cat mare Stormy Welcome who has earned $1,198,478.
"I love having homebreds perform well on the track," Clay said. "She was also an RNA and I was going to sell her. So, I am glad I have her."
Raging Sea was fifth in the field of six about five lengths off the lead through moderate fractions of :23.98 and :48.31 in the 1 1/8-mile test. Joseph Morgan and Carrie Brogden's Batucada got the first run on her and grabbed the lead turning for home with Raging Sea sweeping toward her from the outside. The favorite ($2.20) led by a half-length at the eighth pole but Batucada was stubborn and the margin became paper-thin until the final strides when Raging Sea and Flavien Prat crossed the wire in 1:50.41.
"I'm happy to get maybe a soft bounce out of the way off (the Personal Ensign) and hopefully circle back to that race at Saratoga if you're going to go out West (to the Distaff) and tackle the best," Brown said. "Someone might read that and say, 'Off of that? Why would you go go out there and tackle those?' But like I said, I view it as I handicapped a bit of a bounce into this race, and I was relieved to sort of escape with a victory knowing that she felt her last race.
"I'm confident with the four weeks I have and her not having to run a fast figure today that she'll be able to again hopefully circle back to that Saratoga race. That race, with the right pace setup, is good enough to at least be competitive out there."
Batucada, a 4-year-old Union Rags filly trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., was coming off a string of three all-weather starts and had not been on dirt since May when she captured an allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park.
It was 4 1/2 lengths back to Klaravich Stables' Signal From Noise, an Arrogate mare trained by Brown who was third.
