Jennifer Caldwell 13y

Devilish Lady holds on in Azalea

Horse Racing

Cairoli Racing Stable's Devilish Lady just held off the late run of White Merlot by a head to earn her first graded victory in Saturday's $150,000, Grade 3 Azalea at Calder. The Antonio Sano trainee grabbed command entering the stretch and had enough left in reserve to finish up six furlongs on the good dirt in 1:11 3/5 under jockey Daniel Centeno.

"I've ridden this filly quite a bit in the past and we've been successful together so I know her pretty well," Centeno said. "She's been training very well since her last race and I knew today when she broke so sharp that would be tough. She was pulling me along on the backstretch and since speed has held up well enough I let her run along as she wanted to and I was confident they wouldn't catch her once we made the lead."

Just Louise opened up a half-length advantage over Devilish Lady soon after the gates opened, setting the opening quarter in :22 2/5. It didn't take long for Devilish Lady to take over, though, as she wrested control away to set splits of :46 and :58 3/5. The dark bay miss found company once hitting the lane in the form of White Merlot, who had been stalking the pace while down on the rail. White Merlot steadily whittled away Devilish Lady's lead but could never reach her rival, who was sent off the 9-1 second longest shot in the field.

"I have a lot of faith in this filly," Sano said. "I knew this was a difficult race today, but I know she is of the same quality of these fillies (in this race). Her last race wasn't really her distance (one mile) and she wasn't in top condition like she is today. I'll keep her going short, no longer than seven furlongs. For now, she'll get a short rest while we think about her campaign. We'll consider going to Saratoga."

Devilish Lady paid $21.40, $9.20 and $7.20 for her Azalea win, while White Merlot was easily best of the rest when taking second by 2 1/2 lengths over My Pal Christy. It was another 3 3/4 lengths back to May Day Rose, with Beso Grande and Just Louise completing the order under the wire.

Devilish Lady captured her career debut at Calder in May 2010, scoring by four lengths on that day, but fell into the claiming ranks following a well-beaten fourth in the J J'sdream Stakes next out. She didn't return to the winner's circle until September, when taking a claiming test at the Florida track, and switched barns soon after from Emanuel Tortora to Sano after being claimed for $16,000 from that race for her new conditioner's cousin Domingo Spadaro's Cairoli Racing Stable.

The dark bay miss seemed to turn a corner for her new barn, running third in the Cassidy Stakes before stringing together dominant wins in the Joe O'Farrell Juvenile Fillies, an allowance, the Sandpiper Stakes and the Gasparilla Stakes Based on those performances, Devilish Lady's connections decided to give her a shot in the Grade 2 Forward Gal at Gulfstream Park, but the sophomore filly was a well-beaten sixth on that occasion. Stepping back down in company, she posted a pair of runner-up efforts in the Suncoast Stakes and Florida Cup Sophomore Filly before taking the Cherokee Frolic Starter Stakes.

Devilish Lady entered the Azalea off a pair of fourth-place runs in the French Village Stakes and Regal Gal Stakes, and improved her career record to 17-8-2-2, $394,790, with this victory.

Bred in Florida by Lewis Family Stables Partnership Ltd., Devilish Lady is out of multiple stakes victress Devilish Brunette, making her a half-sister to multiple stakes-placed Captain Lindsay, a yearling colt by Alke and a 2011 filly named Red Brunette. Devilish Brunette is herself a half-sibling to dual stakes-placed Brunette Crusader, and this is the same family as multiple Grade 2 queen Hush Dear.

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