By Steve Sherack

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The graveyard of champions strikes again.

Tracy Farmer homebred La Cara (Street Sense) shot out to the front and never looked back, splashing home a three-length, wire-to-wire winner in Friday’s GI DK Horse Acorn S. at rainy Saratoga.

Look Forward (Bolt d’Oro) chased her around the track in second, finishing a neck better than third-place finisher Scottish Lassie (McKinzie).

Previously unbeaten GI Kentucky Oaks heroine and 1-4 favorite Good Cheer (Medaglia d’Oro) suffered her first career defeat finishing fifth.

Sent to the front by Dylan Davis, La Cara led her five rivals by a length through fractions of :23.40 and :47.08. The 7-1 chance began to open up her advantage approaching the quarter pole as Good Cheer was spinning her wheels beneath Luis Saez and kept on rolling down the stretch to pull off the upset.

La Cara followed her front-running win in the GI Central Bank Ashland S. at Keeneland with a disappointing ninth-place finish behind Good Cheer in the Kentucky Oaks. La Cara’s resume also includes wins in last year’s GIII Pocahontas S. at Churchill Downs and Tampa’s Suncoast S. earlier this term Feb. 8. La Cara broke her maiden by eight lengths last summer at the Spa.

“She likes it on the lead,” winning trainer Mark Casse said. “She loves it here. She won her maiden at Saratoga last year. In the paddock, Dylan (Davis) said she could handle this kind of mud and was going to be just fine. I was just watching the splits and I thought when he got away with a half in :47 that was pretty good. I never get too excited until they go under the wire. The Oaks was disappointing, but we never lost faith in her.”

Good Cheer wasn’t off to the sharpest of beginnings and only beat one home after racing toward the rear throughout.

“She wasn’t traveling,” trainer Brad Cox said. “You could tell at the half-mile pole (jockey Luis Saez) was getting after her a little bit. The winner was obviously well in front. It just wasn’t her day. Graveyard of champions, weather and tracks are a great equalizer.”

Pedigree Notes:

La Cara is one of 13 Grade I winners for Street Sense. He is also the sire of 2014 Acorn winner Sweet Reason. The Street Sense x Bernardini cross is also responsible for fellow top-level winners Maxfield and Speaker’s Corner.

Cara Caterina (Bernardini), a full-sister to GISWs To Honor and Serve and Angela Renee, brought $500,000 from Farmer as a KEESEP yearling, but never got her picture taken in eight career attempts for Casse.

La Cara is her first foal. She produced a full-brother to La Cara in 2024.

“I bred her, I’ve seen her and been with her every day of her life,” Farmer said. “You dream about this. I’ve won the Whitney twice here, so I’ve won several Grade I races here. But this is the best, and today is the best.”

Friday, Saratoga
DK HORSE ACORN S.-GI, $500,000, Saratoga, 6-6, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:49.20, sy.
1–LA CARA, 120, f, 3, by Street Sense
                1st Dam: Cara Caterina, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Pilfer, by Deputy Minister
                3rd Dam: Misty Hour, by Miswaki
O/B-Tracy Farmer (KY); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Dylan Davis. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 11-5-2-0, $1,156,083.
2–Look Forward, 120, f, 3, by Bolt d’Oro
                1st Dam: Troublesome, by Into Mischief
($285,000 Ylg ’23 KEESEP). O-Reddam Racing LLC; B-Woods Edge Farm, LLC & Ballyfair Bloodstock (KY); T-Michael W. McCarthy. $100,000.
3–Scottish Lassie, 120, f, 3, by McKinzie
                1st Dam: Bodebabe, by Bodemeister
                2nd Dam: Zaharias, by Grand Slam
                3rd Dam: Scarlet Tango, by French Deputy
($50,000 Ylg ’23 KEESEP; $85,000 2yo ’24 OBSMAR). O-Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish LLC, Corms Racing Stable and Jorge R. Abreu; B-Winchester Farm (KY); T-Jorge R. Abreu. $60,000.
Margins: 3, NK, 4 1/4. Odds: 7.70, 12.90, 9.40.
Also Ran: Bless the Broken, Good Cheer, Quickick. Scratched: Shred the Gnar.