On Rainbow Bridge stalked the early pace of Making It Happen before surging to victory down the lane in Saturday’s $125,000 Nandi Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by David Cotey for Triple K Stables, the dark bay daughter of Bold Executive arrived at the six furlong ‘Poly’ stake off a decisive score in the Shady Well Stakes under regular rider Skye Chernetz.
Emile Ramsammy sent Making It Happen to the lead marking splits of 22:51 and :45.39 as Paladin Bay, under Gerry Olguin, and On Rainbow Bridge tracked her early pace.
Making It Happen’s lead diminished through the turn as On Rainbow Bridge, Paladin Bay and Lia’s Miracle raced into contention, and it was Chernetz and On Rainbow Bridge who burst to the lead and held off a game Paladin Bay to score a 1 1/4-length win in a final running time of 1:10.36.
Chernetz was aware of the threat of Paladin Bay in the late stages of the Nandi.
“I heard him there but my filly pinned her ears,” said Chernetz. “She’s very smart. She’s so classy and does everything right. There was a lot of pressure, but she handled it so well.”
On Rainbow Bridge has blossomed into a multiple stakes winner following a troubled trip in her debut when a rail-rallying third.
“In that particular race (her debut), a horse came over on her and startled her,” explained Cotey. “We have an older horse in the barn and about two weeks later (after the debut) we put her on the inside of that horse and worked her. A week later, we sent her to the gate for training and I sent two horses with her and we worked her in-between horses bursting out of the gate. It was a real nice experience for her and she handled it like it was nothing.”
On Rainbow Bridge banked $75,000 in victory, while improving her record to 2-0-1 from three career starts.
She returned $5.50, $3.20 and $2.30, pairing with Paladin bay ($4.40, $3.10) for a $23.30 (6-4) exactor. A 6-4-1 (Lia’s Miracle, $3.20 to show) triactor was worth $70. Lexie Lou completed a $1 Superfecta (6-4-1-8) worth $310.70.
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