Excellent G2 Victory For Dancing House

Dancing House ended up the convincing winner of the G2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap over seven furlongs on dirt at Laurel Park, USA, on Saturday, February 13.

The five-year-old daughter of Tapit, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, looks to be on the upgrade and came into this race following her second to American champion female sprinter La Verdad in the non-graded Interborough Stakes over a furlong shorter at Aqueduct on January 9.

Dancing House had Kendrick Carmouche up for the second consecutive outing and, overcoming a stumble emerging from the stalls, they soon raced a close second to Hot City Girl.

The Godolphin mare was sent to the lead turning in before being challenged and briefly headed with over a furlong to race by Lady Sabelia.

Dancing House rallied to regain the advantage and ran on powerfully to go clear, being eased close home. She won by a length and three quarters from the closing Clothes Fall Off in 1m 25.23s.

Kiaran McLaughlin commented: "That was great - Dancing House is doing very well back on dirt.

"She was given a great ride by Kendrick and ran on strongly.

"Dancing House has a similar profile to Penwith, who also won a G2 today. They are five-year-old mares having their second starts of the year following promising runs first up after long lay-offs.

"Both mares are improving and we look forward to having a good year with them.

"It was very cold at Laurel Park but great that racing was on as Aqueduct was called off because of the weather."

Kendrick Carmouche added: "Dancing House stumbled a little bit out of the gate, but she got her feet back and I wanted to be sitting second or third.

"Once she switched leads, I knew I had a really good chance of winning this race."

Dancing House was off the track for nine months before returning to action in January.