Berkeley, Calif. (March 17, 2018)-Mother of Dragons and jockey Julien Couton sat in midfield before making a powerful move to the front in late stretch to win the $50,000 Camilla Urso Stakes for older fillies and mares at Golden Gate Fields.
“She is so versatile; you can go to the lead or sit off the pace with her,” said Couton. “She was working absolutely terrific heading into this race. She gave me everything she had today.”
Mother of Dragons was purchased for just $3,000 as a yearling and has earned $84,915 for her owner and trainer Andreas Psarras. The daughter of First Dude broke her maiden and won a pair of allowance races over the Golden Gate Fields tapeta surface before earning her first career stakes victory in The Camilla Urso.
Cash Prize, who set the pace and fought gallantly for second, suffered a fatal injury a sixteenth of a mile after the finish and fell, unseating jockey Rocco Bowen. Bowen was moving his extremities after the incident and was taken to Highland Hospital in Berkeley for further evaluation. Jockeys Pedro Terrero and Silvio Amador, also unseated from their mounts, were able to walk off the track under their own power.
Alliford Bay, a winner of 2 stakes races, kicked off her 2018 with a third-place finish for the Blaine Wright barn, while Snow Cloud finished fourth at odds of 45-1. Mother of Dragons paid $10.00 to win.
-30-