Ozara Best in $75,000 Monroe

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Bernies Blog

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Cheyenne Stable’s Ozara made a three-wide swoop to the lead on the turn into the homestretch to get the jump on stablemate Breath Away and drew away to a 1 ½-length victory in Saturday’s $75,000 Monroe Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Ozara ($6) and Breath Away, the 8-5 favorite in a field of nine fillies and mares assembled for the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes, are trained by Christophe Clement.

“They were the probably the two best fillies in the race and they ran like it today,” Miguel Clement, Clement’s son and assistant trainer, said.

Swoonatra, a 50-1 outsider ridden by Luca Panici, set up the showdown between the Clement stablemates by opening up a long early lead while setting fractions of 23.95 and 47.28 seconds for the first half mile over a firm turf. Breath Away, on the rail, and Ozara, to her outside, settled in third and fourth, respectively along the backstretch. On the far turn, Breath Away and Ozara advanced while overtaking De Regreso to loom as ominous threats to the tiring pacesetter. Ozara and jockey Emisael Jaramillo had the clearer path as jockey Paco Lopez had to check slightly behind the tiring Swoonatra.

Breath Away kicked in with a strong run in the stretch, but Ozara had already put the race away. The victorious 4-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Lope de Vegas ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:39.84. Breath Away finished 1 ¾ lengths ahead of Sensitivity and jockey Rajiv Maragh.

“This race made a lot of sense for both fillies. It’s a black-type event. They were both at Payson and they were training really well,” Miguel Clement said. “We expected them both to run well, which they did. The immediate plan was the race.”

Ozara, who captured the Wait a While during the 2023-2024 Championship Meet, won a Jan. 3 optional claiming allowance at Tampa Bay Downs off a nine-month layoff before coming up short in a sixth-place finish in the Honey Fox (G3) at Gulfstream March 29.

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco and Tango Uniform Racing’s Breath Away, a graded stakes-placed 5-year-old daughter of Bated Breath, is also a stakes winner over the Gulfstream turf.