HALLANDALE BEACH - Multiple graded stakes-winner Lady’s Island made her last start for Averill Racing and Matties Racing a winning one Saturday at Gulfstream Park, notching her 18th career victory in the $100,000 Lady’s Turf Sprint.

    The race, scheduled for five furlongs on the grass, was transferred to the sloppy main track due to afternoon rain, as was the co-featured $100,000 Suwannee River.

    A winner on turf as well as dirt, Lady’s Island is entered in next week’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale.

    “She’s been so good to me, so good to the barn, so good to the connections," trainer Georgina Baxter said. "She’s been so beautifully campaigned by the owners, and we’re going to miss her not only as a racehorse but as a horse. She’s such a pleasure to be around. It’s bittersweet. I’m just so pleased that she went out on top, because she deserves it after all she’s done and achieved.”

    The 7-year-old daughter of Solera Farm's Greatness was the 6-5 favorite in a field of six. She broke a step slowly but quickly recovered to take the lead inside Hear My Prayer and never looked back on her way to a victory by three-quarters of a length under Emisael Jaramillo.

    “There’s always nervous moments," Baxter said. "I’m nervous from this morning. When she got the lead and looked relaxed, I wasn’t really worried. She always pulls through. She never lets us down.”

    Lady’s Island, who had made a successful title defense in the Gr. III Sugar Swirl in her previous start, ran five furlongs in :58.87 seconds. Miss Auramet closed under Jose Ortiz to finish second, a half-length ahead of Hear My Prayer.

    The mare bred by Bailey Bolen wound up her fabulous career with a record of 18-5-4 in 35 starts and earnings of $665,575. She won at Gulfstream, Tampa Bay Downs, Saratoga, Delaware Park and Gulfstream West, and included seven black-type stakes. In one span, from Jan. 4 of 2019 through May 16 of 2020, she raced 13 times, winning 11 and finishing second in the other two. 

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