Daisy Flyer Comes Flying Late with Nail-Biting Rally in Lake George

[Wandering Eyes]

It was overcast and foggy, but weather was not going to stop her as Daisy Flyer (Mshawish) flew home in the final yards to take the GIII Lake George Stakes at Saratoga.

Sent to George 'Rusty' Arnold as a juvenile, she ran a flat eighth last summer on unveiling July 21 at Ellis Park, but produced her first inkling of the dramatic final kick in her Sept. 5 graduation at Kentucky Downs when she won the photo by a head. When her connections stepped her up into the GII Miss Grillo Stakes at the Belmont Big A meeting that October, she never left the back half of the field, finishing ninth. Allowed some time away after that effort, she returned Mar. 1 at Gulfstream Park in the GIII Herecomesthebride Stakes, and roared home in the lane to run third in a blanket finish, beaten less than a long neck for it all as an 87-1 long shot.

While she wasn't the favorite here, the betting public definitely took notice of her after those efforts, and sent Daisy Flyer off carrying 7-1 odds for this breakthrough attempt. Near the back in fifth but closer than in her previous starts, she saved all the ground going into the backstretch and was asked to close the distance as they swung through the far turn after six furlongs in 1:10.02. Rallying relentlessly from the outside as 7-5 favorite Classic Q (Classic Empire) tried to hold them off, Daisy Flyer made good on her name to overhaul that longtime leader in the final strides, winning by a neck. The betting choice hung on for second by a nose over Reining Flowers (Midnight Storm).

“I was trying to get her up to be second and all at once she made that little late spurt, and it all worked out,” said Arnold. “She's a filly we obviously liked to bring her back from Mar. 1 to now and run in a graded stake, but she had trained the right way and backed it up.”

When asked about a next start, the conditioner said, “She'll be going farther. Her next start is in the Dueling Grounds Oaks [Sept. 10] at Kentucky Downs going a mile and five-sixteenths. We had to get her eligible for it–it's an invitational and I don't think she'd quite done enough and now she has.”

 

Upset in the Grade 3 Lake George pres. by @DrinkSurfside!

DAISY FLYER gets her first stakes win as she flies down the stretch at 7-1 under Jose Lezcano for trainer Rusty Arnold. pic.twitter.com/ObUmF77KXo

— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) July 26, 2025

Pedigree Note

Hailing from a salty European female family, Daisy Flyer was bred top to bottom for grass racing and claims a fleet of successful relatives. Three of her elder half-siblings earned Listed and/or Graded black-type, and the sisters in that trio have gone on to broodmare careers, namely Turf War (War Front)–a winner producer in Japan–and Scarabea (American Pharoah), whose most recent is a 2025 filly by Authentic. The lone brother in that bunch is 11-time winner, GIII Essex Handicap-third Time for Trouble (English Channel). Dam Starstruck now boasts six winners from six to the races, and her latest of racing age is a juvenile colt named Turf Star (Caravaggio). She has a 2025 filly by Channel Cat to her tally.

Starstruck is a daughter of multiple highweight mare Agnetha (Ger) (Big Shuffle), an English Group winner and placed in the G1 Phoenix Stakes. The second dam was herself a full-sister to MGSW-Ger Areion, who went on to become a six-time leading sire in Belgium and Germany as well as being crowned a leading broodmare sire in Slovakia.

Saturday, Saratoga
LAKE GEORGE S. PRESENTED BY SURFSIDE-GIII, $175,000, Saratoga, 7-26, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:40.19, fm.
1–DAISY FLYER, 120, f, 3, by Mshawish
         1st Dam: Starstruck (Ire) (MGSW, $299,423), by Galileo (Ire)
         2nd Dam: Agnetha (Ger), by Big Shuffle
         3rd Dam: Aerleona (Ire), by Caerleon
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-George R. Arnold II; J-Jose Lezcano. $96,250. Lifetime Record: 5-2-0-1, $218,902. *1/2 to Time for Trouble (English Channel), GSP, $689,734; 1/2 to Scarabea (American Pharoah), MSP, $190,290; 1/2 to Turf War (War Front), SW, $111,550. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Classic Q, 122, f, 3, Classic Empire–Lovely Em, by Scat Daddy. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($40,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). O-Gary Barber, Blue Crevalle Racing and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners; B-Winning Bloodstock (KY); T-Mark Casse. $35,000.
3–Reining Flowers, 120, f, 3, Midnight Storm–Mi Fiori, by Congrats. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Four G Racing LLC; B-4G Racing LLC (KY); T-John Alexander Ortiz. $21,000.
Margins: NK, NO, 1 3/4. Odds: 7.20, 1.40, 13.60.
Also Ran: Lavender Disaster, Aterradora (Ire), Good Long Cry, Pookie. Scratched: Kay Cup, Play With Fire, Pretty Lavish (Ire), Princess Attitude.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Daisy Flyer Comes Flying Late with Nail-Biting Rally in Lake George appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

View the full article