Temple City’s Valedictorian tallies third stakes win of 2019

Temple City’s classy 5-year-old mare Valedictorian turned in another outstanding performance in Saturday’s $150,000 Eatontown S. (G3) at Monmouth Park, defeating Maid to Remember (GB) by nearly three lengths for her second graded win and fifth stakes score overall.

Temple City stakes winners this year include his latest Grade 1 winner Bolo, who won the Shoemaker Mile (G1) at Santa Anita.

Valedictorian had already accounted for the Suwannee River S. (G3) and Sand Springs S., both at Gulfstream Park, before Saturday’s win. Hustled to the front by Paco Lopez, she locked up in an early duel with Conquest Hardcandy, with the duo opening up on the rest of the field by some eight lengths in the first half-mile.

Going into the final turn, Valedictorian took over from a fading Conquest Hardcandy, then opened up a sizeable margin in upper stretch to finish the 1 1/16-miles in 1:43.70 on the “good” turf.

“There are not too many like her,” said trainer Kelly Breen. “It’s really fun to have in our barn. She likes it here, but I didn’t know if she would like it today with all of the rain we had, although she did win on a yielding turf at Laurel. But I was concerned about the footing.”

Valedictorian, owned by Epic Racing, is now an excellent 12-6-3 in 28 starts and has earned $672,765. Bred by John Bowers, Jr., she is out of Smart N Classy, who also won the Eatontown.