BALTIMORE, MD., 05/16/15  – Given a calculated ride by jockey Javier Castellano, Watsdachances collared Emotional Kitten in the final sixteenth of a mile and pulled away to win the 64th running of the $150,000 Stella Artois Gallorette Handicap (G3) by one length Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.

Sent off at 2-1 in a field of 11 older fillies and mares, Michael Kisber, Nelson McMakin and Bradley Thoroughbreds’ Watsdachances ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:40.79, just .47 off the turf course record set by 4-year-old Precious Kitten in 2007.

Castellano kept Watsdachances in reserve while 50-1 long shot Oscar Party took the field through an opening quarter-mile in 23.69 seconds before being passed by Token of Love, who went a half in 47.42 and six furlongs in 1:11.34.

Watsdachances swung outside for a clear run down the stretch, reeling in a game Emotional Kitten for her second graded-stakes victory and first since the 2012 Miss Grillo (G3). It was the third career Gallorette win for both Castellano and trainer Chad Brown.

Castellano also won with Ozone Bere in 2006 and Zagora in 2012. Zagora was trained by Brown, who also captured the 2013 Gallorette with Pianist.

GALORETTE QUOTES

Winning co-owner John Batter of Bradley Thoroughbreds (Watsdachances): “She’s a horse that always gives her all. Coming in we didn’t think there was a lot of speed. We wanted to be a little closer today. She’s usually a deep closer. Coming home, we let her run and she did it for us. She came in training really well and we were confident in her ability to run in this race.”

Winning jockey Javier Castellano (Watsdachances):“I was kind of worried a little bit. Hard Not to Like, she scratched. I didn’t see much speed in the race. Usually my horse comes from behind. I don’t want to change anything. She hadn’t run for eight months. She put me in a good spot in the race. I didn’t want to be too far back or too close to the pace. I think I put her in a good spot in the middle to give me a good run and she did. She did excellent today and she galloped out beautiful.”

Trainer Wesley Ward (Emotional Kitten, 2nd):“She ran good and we got beat on the square. No excuses. Still we were hoping to win.”

Jockey Joel Rosario (Emotional Kitten, 2nd):“I thought I had it. She broke in the first three and had a nice spot. She took the lead turning for home and then that other horse came on running very strong on the outside and we finished second best. My horse moved very nicely and responded very well. She loves the turf and she ran hard.”

Trainer Tom Proctor (Sistas Stroll, 3rd):“We had a great trip. We just got outrun.”

Jockey Drayden Van Dyke (Sistas Stroll, 3rd):“We had a good run, although Joel Rosario on [Emotional Kitten] intimidated us the entire stretch. My filly might have run even better if that hadn’t happened.”