A stakes winner at 3 and 4, JOY was determined to get another at 5 as she battled through the stretch to take the All Brandy S. on Maryland Pride Day at Laurel Park on Saturday, Aug. 22.
The daughter of Pure Prize, descending from Dark Hollow’s legendary foundation mare SAFELY HOME, got the decision by a head for her first win of the year, and first since scoring in Belmont Park’s Perfect Sting S. last summer. Racing exclusively in stakes company since the Perfect Sting S., JOY finished third in last year’s All Brandy S. and earlier this summer was third in Delaware Park’s Justakiss S. Trained by Graham Motion, she went off as the 11-10 favorite in the All Brandy’s field of nine Maryland-bred and/or Maryland-sired fillies and mares, was settled off the pace by Julian Pimentel, then made a sweeping move around the far turn, hit the front in midstretch and dueled with stakes winner Vielsalm to the wire in the mile and an eighth turf test.
In recording her fifth win, JOY upped her earnings to $248,544. She is one of two stakes performers for her dam SAFE JOURNEY (by Flatter), who is out of Hall of Famer SAFELY KEPT’s stakes-placed half-sister Safe At the Plate. SAFE JOURNEY has also produced 2015 stakes-placed 3-year-old Combat Diver.