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La Mehana slips up the rail for G3 Waya score

by Mary Eddy

LSU Stables’ La Mehana made a late bid up the rail under Kendrick Carmouche to capture Friday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Waya, a 1 3/8-mile inner turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Christophe Clement, the 5-year-old daughter of Al Wukair notched her first graded win after finishing third earlier this year in both the Grade 3 Orhid at Gulfstream Park and Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay here, to go along with a third in the Group 1 Prix de Royallieu last September at Longchamp. She improved off a last-out fifth after stumbling at the start of the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial in July at Delaware Park.

“She’s a good filly,” Clement said. “She’s never run a bad race in the states. She ran very well [at Gulfstream] – she got unlucky; she stumbled that day. She has a small issue with the gate, but maybe she’s too old now to change anything. She stumbled really badly at Delaware.”

La Mehana emerged from post 2 in the six-horse field and was bumped by stablemate Avenue Niel to her inside as the expected pacesetter Idea Generation made the lead and reached the half-mile in 51.40 seconds over the firm footing, widening her margin past the wire for the first time with Immensitude tracking 1 1/2 lengths back in second.

Carmouche was patient aboard La Mehana and held her in last down the backstretch as Idea Generation did the heavy lifting through three-quarters in 1:16.96 and one mile in 1:41.80. Approaching the final turn, Beautiful Love was given her cue with an outside move by Hall of Famer Joel Rosario while post-time favorite McKulick was under a strong ride from Irad Ortiz, Jr. with plenty of work left to do from the rear of the field.

Carmouche cut the corner with La Mehana and the rail was wide open for him to send his charge through at the weakening pacesetter, who relinquished command to the oncoming Immensitude with 10 furlongs elapsed in 2:05.78. Avenue Niel and Beautiful Love inched closer down the center of the course, but it was La Mehana who had the superior momentum along the rail to get up in the final strides and nail Immensitude by a neck in a final time of 2:17.64.

Beautiful Love finished another 1 1/4 lengths back in third while a half-length better than Avenue Niel. McKulick and Idea Generation completed the order of finish. Surprisingly, Star Fortress and main track-only entrants Movie Moxy, Amanda’s Folly and Peak Popularity were scratched.

Clement said he was pleasantly surprised by the late surge from the often prominent La Mehana.

“I did think she was going to be a little bit closer, but she ran great. She’s never showed that good of a kick before. So, I guess when you wait, she shows a better kick. Maybe we learned something,” Clement concluded. “She was always very forward in all her races in Europe – with me, too. Today, Kendrick was very patient, he never gave up and she ran great.”

Carmouche said La Mehana felt like a winner throughout.

“They weren’t going as slow as they usually go. I thought they were going a little bit quicker than 25 [seconds] or 26 and 52 – I thought they were going at a pretty good clip and my horse was on the bit the whole time,” said Carmouche. “I had horse the whole way. I was just hoping everything opened up and everybody pitched out and she just exploded through there. She didn’t break as sharp as I wanted her to but that’s OK – Clement horses usually have a good run the last quarter if you tuck them in.”

Clement added a likely next target for La Mehana is the 11-furlong Grade 3, $300,000 Long Island on November 10 here.

Bred in France by S.A. Haras du Mezeray, La Mehana banked $110,000 in victory and improved her lifetime record to 16-6-1-3. The $430,503 purchase at the 2023 Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale returned $21.20 for a $2 win wager.

Alvarado said Immensitude, who was stretching out from a third-place effort in the one-mile and 70-yard Listed One Dreamer on September 5 at Kentucky Downs for Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott, put forth an admirable performance.

“She was stretching out that far for the first time and I thought she was going to be laying up close. I sat a nice trip right behind the leader and when I asked her turning for home, she responded very well,” Alvarado explained. “To be honest, I never thought somebody could come through the rail at that point – I thought if somebody comes, it would be on the outside. My filly ran a very good race – she never quit on me. She gave me all she got. She just got outrun the last few jumps.”

Live racing resumes Saturday at the Big A for a lucrative 12-race card that features two Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” events in the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne [Juvenile; Race 8] and Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette [Juvenile Fillies, Race 7]. The card is supported by additional graded events in the Grade 3, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby Invitational in Race 5 and the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint in Race 6. First post is 12:10 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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