Moonlit Garden gate to wire in Summer Colony S.
August 20, 2018
Moonlit Garden, a 4-year-old Malibu Moon filly, scored her first stakes victory on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga with a front-running score in the $100,000 Summer Colony S.
The bay filly is the eighth stakes winner this year for her top-10 sire, joining the likes of Grade 1 winners Ransom the Moon and Magnum Moon.
Hustled out of the gate quickly by Jose Ortiz, Moonlit Garden went right to the lead, controlling the pace the entire way. After six furlongs in 1:12.35, she opened up her lead and easily held off a belated charge by A Place to Shine to win by 1 1/2-lengths.
The final time for the 1 1/8-miles was 1:50.02 on a fast main track.
Owned by her breeder Town and Country Racing, Moonlit Garden is out of the multiple graded stakes winner Winter Garden and is a sister to Title Contender, winner of two graded stakes, as well as the graded stakes-placed colt Matterhorn.
Sunday’s win upped Moonlit Garden’s earnings to $206,073.