Stuart Janney III and the Phipps Stable’s Carriage Trail, under a crafty ride from Kent Desormeaux, led practically all the way to win Friday’s $125,000 Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) at Keeneland by 1 1/4 lengths over Say You Will (IRE).

 

Desormeaux put Carriage Trail on the lead before the first turn and took the field through a leisurely first quarter mile in 25.27 seconds. The pace began to pick up as Carriage Trail led through a half-mile in :49.04 and six furlongs in 1:12.43 while maintaining a comfortable advantage over her six rivals.

 

Turning for home, Carriage Trail kicked clear, leaving closest pursuers Marquee Delivery and Panty Raid in retreat and having more than enough left to hold off Say You Will. A five-year-old homebred daughter of Giant’s Causeway out of the Seeking the Gold mare Manoa, Carriage Trail completed the mile and a sixteenth over Keeneland’s Polytrack surface in 1:42.51.

 

“This filly, I tell you, we started running about the mile pole,” Desormeaux said. “It wasn’t that much of a theft from there; she had to be a racehorse. She put ‘em away and regained the lead. When you see us quickening in the replay at the half-mile pole, she actually was able to get a second breather. When she cornered for home, she just took flight and started reaching for the wire.”

 

The victory improved Carriage Trail’s record to 10-4-1-2 with earnings of $228,566.

 

Carriage Trail returned mutuels of $21.20, $7,80 and $5.40. Say You Will, ridden by Julien Leparoux, returned $8.20 and $5 while Indescribable, with Edgar Prado up, finished another half-length back in third and returned $3.20 to show.

 

Glencrest Farm’s Panty Raid, making her 2008 debut after posting two Grade 1 wins in 2007 including the Juddmonte Spinster last fall at Keeneland, finished last as the even-money favorite.

 

“We were laying second and when it came time to run, she ran for about an eighth of a mile and that was it,” said jockey Garrett Gomez. “That’s about all I can say.”