Grade Three Win for Sandiva

Improving Irish bred mare Sandiva (4m Footstepsinthesand x Miss Corinne, by Mark of Esteem) posted her second US stakes success when capturing the $150,000 Grade III Suwannee River Stakes at Gulfstream for Al Shaqab Racing. Already a Grade III winner in the UK and France, Sandiva has now really hit her straps for Todd Pletcher and scored a length win in the 1 and 1/8th mile contest on turf, her overall record now six wins from 13 starts. "I had a beautiful trip,” said winning rider Javier Castellano. “My concern was that I had to save some ground from the outside post. You want to get covered up so you can save some ground. It worked out perfect today. I covered up three, four lengths behind the other horses, I kept track of the speed. I covered her up the best I could around the first turn, and around the last turn I lost a lot of ground but my concern was on the first turn. It worked out beautiful, perfect." One of 41 stakes-winners worldwide for Footstepsinthesand, Sandiva is a half-sister to stakes-winner Wentworth from Miss Corinne.