Daily Double: Mitole fillies take stakes at Saratoga and Woodbine

Mitole scored a pair of stakes winners on Aug. 10 when Halina’s Forte took the $150,000 Galway S. at Saratoga and Stormcast won the $250,000 Bison City S. at Woodbine.

Halina’s Forte is now a two-time stakes winner, while Stormcast was recording her first stakes victory. Mitole, who leads all Second-Crop sires with 54 winners of 79 races this year, now has four stakes winners in 2024.

Halina’s Forte, winner of the Ruthless S. at Aqueduct in February, needed the entire Saratoga stretch to get the win in Friday’s 5 ½-furlong sprint. She pressed the pace in third most of the trip and had two lengths to make up with a furlong to run. She dove to the inside and surged past Baraye in the final strides to win by a head in 1:04.24 on fast track.

“I was waiting for a space,” said winning rider Irad Ortiz, Jr.  “I was a little uncomfortable in between horses. I had some horse for sure. She wanted to fight but I had nowhere to go. I was waiting to see what happened in front of me and outside of me. I saw a little space inside there and I decided to go and she went through. She deserves more credit than me because she was great in there.”

Halina’s Forte is 4-2-1 in nine starts and has earned $331,870 for Rigney Racing. The 3-year-old was bred by Bill & Corinne Heiligbrodt and A. F. & B. Vanlangendonck.

At Woodbine, Stormcast had a much easier time of it, rolling to a front-running, 7 ¾-length score in the 1 1/16-mile Bison City. The 3-year-old filly established an early lead before relaxing nicely through the middle portion of the race. When asked in upper stretch, she drew off with authority to finish in 1:43.25 on the synthetic track.

Stormcast was second in Gulfstream Park’s Honey Ryder S. in May and is now 2-3-1 in six starts and has earned $202,870 for K E M Racing. The dark bay filly was bred by Dr. Tan Hyka.