Windy Walk Upsets Grade 1 Winners in $140,000 Rampart

Front-Running Winner over Soul of an Angel, Power Squeeze

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Richard Perkins’ 3-year-old homebred filly Windy Walk, supplemented into her second stakes attempt, set a relaxed pace and had plenty left to hold off Grade 1 winners Power Squeeze and Soul of an Angel and spring a 14-1 upset in Thursday’s $140,000 Rampart at Gulfstream Park.

The 46th running of the one-mile Rampart for fillies and mares 3 and up co-headlined a post-Christmas Day program with the $140,000 Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up going 1 3/8 miles on the grass.

Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione for trainer Chris Davis, Windy Walk ($30.20) completed the distance in 1:38.01 over a fast main track to extend her win streak to four races, none of which have come by more than a length.

Soul of an Angel hadn’t raced since giving trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., the Championship Meet’s three-time consecutive leading trainer, his first Breeders’ Cup victory Nov. 2. Prior to that, the 5-year-old mare won the Princess Rooney Invitational (G3) to earn a free trip to California; both wins came under Drayden van Dyke, who rode again in the Rampart.

Joseph breezed Soul of an Angel twice since the Breeders’ Cup, the most recent a half mile move in 53.71 seconds Dec. 22.

“He [Drayden Van Dyke] said they went slow on him. We didn’t do a ton with her. We thought we could get through it, and we didn’t get through it. If anything, it’s my fault she got beat,” Joseph said. “She just got beat. She was vulnerable. I knew we had her vulnerable, and she got beat. Obviously, we would have liked not to have gotten her beat, but she got beat fair and square.”

Windy Walk, sixth behind multiple stakes winner Miss Justify in the one-mile Wilton this summer at Saratoga, broke alertly and found herself alone on the lead when Dazzling Move, expected to be up front early, stumbled from the gate. The opening quarter-mile went in 25.82 seconds with Charlie’s Wish – a stakes winner on dirt, turf and all-weather Tapeta, racing in the two path while second followed by Dazzling Move, Power Squeeze and Soul of an Angel.

The top two remained unchanged after a half in 49.30 as Power Squeeze moved up into third and Soul of an Angel still the trailer. Windy Walk held her spot inside straightening for home as Alabama (G1) winner Power Squeeze, racing for the first time since finishing behind Thorpedo Anna in the Sept. 21 Cotillion (G1), tipped outside to move into second.

Gaffalione set Windy Walk down for a drive as Power Squeeze closed in and Soul of an Angel came with her usual late run widest of all. Windy Walk dug in at the challenge to win by a neck while Soul of an Angel came up a head short of runner-up Power Squeeze.

“It was just depending on the break,” Gaffalione said of his pre-race plans. “[Dazzling Move] looked like she had a little bit of speed, but when she stumbled I just gave my filly her head and we were able to get away with nice easy fractions.

“I was fairly confident around the turn. She was throwing her ears back and forth and felt like I had a little bit left,” he added. “I was just hoping we could hold off the late rush, but she gave me everything she had. I’m just so proud of her.”

Dazzling Move and Charlie’s Wish completed the order of finish. Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained stablemates Save Time, a 3-year-old maiden, and Intrepid Daydream, fourth in Gulfstream’s Dec. 21 Sugar Swirl, were scratched along with Unsolved Mystery.