Smooth G3 victory for Dickinson

Dickinson won going away in the G3 Suwannee River Stakes over nine furlongs on turf at Gulfstream Park, USA, on Saturday, February 11.
 
The five-year-old Medaglia D’Oro mare has been a revelation since switching from dirt to turf last year and this was her third victory from four starts on the surface.
 
Drawn eight of the nine runners, Dickinson broke well on the outside under Paco Lopez to race in third.
 
She dropped back to fourth on the far side and fifth on the bend, before being switched to the inner where she ran on well to lead with around a half-furlong remaining and score by a length and a quarter from Elysea’s World in 1m 45.38s.
 
The winning trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said: “Dickinson is from a great family and it was important that she won her first Graded Stakes today.
 
“I am hopeful she can move up to Grade Two and Grade One races. There are no firm plans at the moment and we will discuss what to do next.
 
“It was not my plan how the race worked out, I told Paco to go, but I am happy with the way he rode it.
 
“She finished strong and he rode a great race. I liked it when Paco ducked down to the rail where there was room. He had plenty of mare and it just worked out.
 
“She was a little disappointing on dirt and we thought with her pedigree it was worth trying the turf. She won impressively at Parx and then again in New York.
 
“In her last race, she did not have much luck, finishing fourth, but she ran well and it helped her win today fitness-wise. Everything has been very positive since that run and she proved it today.”
 
Paco Lopez added: “My race was perfect. I was in perfect position and I wanted to wait because I saw (Javier) Castellano moved a little early (on Sandiva).
 
“When I asked Dickinson to run, the rail opened and my filly went flying through there. I got lucky this time. Sometimes you have horse and nowhere to go but this time we got lucky.”