Pop the Corks: Italian Soiree Pulls the Shocker in Coronation Cup

[Wandering Eyes]

Nothing like claiming your second lifetime win in a graded stakes at Saratoga, especially so when your last time on the board was a year ago at the venue.

A pricey $600,000 OBS March juvenile purchase in 2024, Italian Soiree (Uncle Mo) came with big expectations and her connections refused to throw in the towel despite their filly not hitting the board in the last five starts at the black-type level. Her 2025 attempts included a Feb. 8 seasonal bow in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs where she ran fourth as MGISW La Cara (Street Sense) ran off the screen. Gone until Apr. 27, she returned to the turf in New York when contesting the Memories of Silver Stakes and ran fifth as undefeated MSW Laurelin (Ire) (Zarak {Fr}) continued her streak. She was well beaten last out June 8 during the Belmont Stakes Festival when trying her luck in the six-panel Jersey Girl Stakes against another salty field of stakes fillies.

While her team believed in her, the betting public opted to look elsewhere here, and Italian Soiree went off carrying chilly 14-1 odds as the second longest shot on the board. Coaxed out but content to track from third, she was patiently handled through the bend by Luis Saez and when he asked the question, rally she did. Taking command a sixteenth out after being forced to wait on traffic in front of her, she inched away from the longest shot on the board, SP Laurice (Bolt d'Oro), to win by a length. GSW Abientot (Not This Time) came from last to claim third after hitting the near-side stall at the break.

“We had worked her on the turf, and she went to Canada and ran really well and even at Keeneland against some of the top turf fillies in the country, but the distance was always the question with her,” said Tonja Terranova, assistant to trainer John Terranova. “The owners had [Kentucky] Oaks vibes, as everyone does, and we tried to stretch her at Tampa [in the Suncoast] and had a little bit of a tough trip. But this is obviously what she wants to do.”

Terranova added that the Memories of Silver performance had a noteworthy excuse, saying, “She had trouble. She almost fell. She was hit severely and Johnny [Velazquez] just wrapped up on her, so that was the reason that it didn't look that impressive on the grass that day.”

When asked about a next target, Terranova said, “Let's just see how she is. She's a lighter filly so we let her tell us when she keeps her weight and when she's going to run.”

 

ITALIAN SOIREE ($31.20) gets her first stakes win in the Grade 3 Coronation Cup Stakes at 14-1 under Luis Saez for trainer John Terranova. pic.twitter.com/uPU56rP3ZQ

— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) July 11, 2025

Pedigree Note:

Italian Soiree is the second in her family to claim black-type behind full-brother Be Better. From their dam's last five offspring, four are full-siblings and all of them are winners. The lone half-brother Forced Errors (City of Light) was placed as a 3-year-old. Social Call, a half-sister to GSW Old Time Hockey (Smarty Jones) from the female family that produced MGISW Scat Daddy (Johannesburg) and his full-sister GSW & GISP Antipathy, has not had any foals since Italian Soiree. Her 2025 Forte foal was stillborn.

Friday, Saratoga
CORONATION CUP S.-GIII, $175,000, Saratoga, 7-11, 3yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.21, gd.
1–ITALIAN SOIREE, 120, f, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Social Call, by Smart Strike
2nd Dam: Grat, by A.P. Indy
3rd Dam: Likeable Style, by Nijinsky II
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($290,000 Ylg '23 FTKJUL; $600,000 2yo '24 OBSMAR). O-Hit The Bid Racing Stable, Morplay Racing LLC and Randall Hartley; B-Repole Stable, Inc. (KY); T-John P. Terranova II; J-Luis Saez. $96,250. Lifetime Record: 8-2-1-0, $227,048. *Full to Be Better, SW, $346,180. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Laurice, 120, f, 3, Bolt d'Oro–Major Z, by Candy Ride (Arg). 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($75,000 Wlg '22 KEENOV; $80,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; $460,000 2yo '24 OBSAPR). O-Bregman Family Racing LLC; B-Vehbi Hakan Keles (KY); T-George Weaver. $35,000.
3–Abientot, 124, f, 3, Not This Time–Ready Ready Ready, by More Than Ready. ($210,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). O-Tracy Farmer; B-Killora Stud, LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $21,000.
Margins: 1, NK, 3/4. Odds: 14.60, 14.80, 3.10.
Also Ran: Cloe, Gata Brazil, Make Haste (GB). Scratched: Flat Out Time, Spirited Boss, Twirling Beauty, You'll Be Back. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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