With her connections acknowledging that “she has some big shoes to fill”, Vedareo certainly looked up to the task in Sunday’s $200,000 Sorority S. at Monmouth Park, romping home a six-length winner in her two-turn debut.
The Swilcan Stable homebred took a major step forward in potentially emulating her older half-sister Vequist, who was the champion 2-year-old filly of 2020 after a campaign that included wins in the Frizette S. (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1).
Vedaro was bumped at the start of the one-mile Sorority, but soon made her way between horses and had the lead going into the first turn. Jockey Frankie Pennington had a snug hold on the dark bay filly through a half-mile in :47.16. Pennington relaxed a bit going into the final bend, and Vedareo widened her lead to three lengths at the top of the stretch. She was all alone in the lane and finished up a dominant winner in 1:38.43.
“She has some big shoes to fill but she is doing a phenomenal job at this stage of her career, and she is heading in the right way toward some good things,” said Pennington. First time going long you never know, but I knew if she was anything like her sister she would handle it.”
“Physically, she looks amazingly like (Vequist),” said Butch Reid, the trainer of both fillies.
Vedareo now has two wins in three starts and has earned $152,200. She is by Daredevil and out of Vero Amore, who tragically succumbed to colic earlier this year. Vero Amore’s latest produce is a yearling filly by Accelerate.
Reid added that future plans for Vedareo are yet to be determined.
“We’ll see where she fits now,” said Reid. “I never looked for anything beyond this race. We wanted to make sure she was good after the Saratoga race, so we took our time and looked at the calendar and this race fit perfectly for her.”