Sopran Basilea took advantage of an opening along the inside rail on her way to posting a hard-fought neck victory over Ever Summer to win the G3 Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park on Saturday, 1 July.
A multiple Graded Stakes winner in Italy earlier in her career, the five-year-old Night Of Thunder mare was making just her second U.S. start, having finished second in the G3 Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico in May.
Breaking cleanly out of the starting gate, Sopran Basilea was settled at the rear of the seven-horse field as outsider Ever Summer set the pace. Ever Summer continued to lead the way up the backstretch and into the far turn, then shook loose from the field as they hit the top of the stretch.
In the meantime, Sopran Basilea looked for racing room as she hugged the rail, finally shooting through an opening with a furlong to run. Sopran Basilea then reeled in Ever Summer in the shadow of the wire to get the victory by a hard-fought neck.
Bred by Aidan Sexton in Ireland, Sopran Basilea is a daughter of the King’s Best mare Kathy Best, a half-sister to three Stakes winners in Italy including Champion Kathy Dream.
Night Of Thunder has sired 19 Stakes performers in 2023 including G2 winner Global Storm, Group hero Isaac Shelby, who also was a close second in G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Highfield Princess, who was twice placed at G1 level at Royal Ascot last week.
