ROUNDUP : Sultry Song, Solar Splendor Give Kelly Consecutive Wins

He may be Sultry Song to the racing world, but to trainer Pat Kelly, he’s sweet music.

The 4-year-old colt gave Kelly his second Grade I stakes victory in a half-hour Saturday when he won the $500,000 Woodward at New York’s Belmont Park.

Kelly won the previous race, the $400,000 Man o’ War on turf with Solar Splendor, a half-brother to Sultry Song.

“I’m just happy to win the Woodward,” Kelly said. “My dad (Tom) won the first one in 1954 with Pet Bully, so it feels great.”

Sultry Song, winner of three of six starts this year, took the lead from New York-bred Thunder Rumble on the backstretch and held onto it to the wire, finishing 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Pleasant Tap.

Thunder Rumble, who went off as the 8-5 favorite, faded to fifth.

Kelly said Sultry Song probably would make his next start in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Oct. 10 before heading to Gulfstream Park and the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31.

“This horse thrives on racing,” Kelly said.

Sultry Song, ridden by Jerry Bailey, returned $19.20, $8.20 and $4.40 after covering the 1 1/8 miles in a slow 1:47. Pleasant Tap, the 9-5 second choice ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye, returned $4.20 and $2.60, and Out Of Place, a head back under Chris Antley, returned $4.20. Out Of Place was a nose in front of Strike The Gold.

The victory was worth $300,000 and boosted Sultry Song’s career earnings to $1,505,276 for Live Oak Plantation, which also owns Solar Splendor.

All of Sultry Song’s victories this year have been in Grade I stakes. He won the Whitney at Saratoga in his last outing on Aug. 29, beating Out Of Place by a nose. He also won the Hollywood Gold Cup on June 27 at Hollywood Park before finishing sixth in the Suburban, won by Pleasant Tap.

Kelly said Sultry Song was slow to recover from his trip to California, “and he went through quite an earthquake the day before the race out there,” explaining his poor form in the Suburban.

The fifth-place finish for Thumder Rumble was a big disappointment for trainer Richie O’Connell, who had seen the colt win his last two outings, the Jim Dandy and Travers at Saratoga, and take the lead in the 3-year-old division. This race was to have proved him as a real threat against older horses, and it obviously didn’t.

In the Man o’ War, Solar Splendor held on in the stretch and beat even-money favorite Dear Doctor for the second consecutive year.

Leading from start to finish, Solar Splendor ended a six-race losing streak.

Solar Splendor returned $12.60, $5 and $4.80. Dear Doctor, ridden by Cash Asmussen and trained by John Hammond, returned $3 and $2.40, and Spinning, ridden by Raymond Cochrane, paid $4.40. Time for the race was 2:12 2/5, just two-fifths of a second off Solar Splendor’s stakes record last year.

The victory was worth $240,000 from the total purse of $400,000 and gave Solar Splendor, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Live Oak Plantation, career earnings of $1,111,028.

Also at Belmont, Sky Beauty, a 2-year-old filly, won by 2 3/4 lengths over Educated Risk in the $120,800 Matron, and Strolling Along won the $120,200 Futurity for 2-year-old colts, another key prep for the Breeders’ Cup.

In an allowance race, Lite Light, who won five of her nine starts last year as a 3-year-old, returned to racing for the first time in nearly a year and finished second.

Lite Light was one of the top 3-year-old fillies last year until she bled after the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs Sept. 22, 1991. That and a series of minor training injuries kept her out of racing until Saturday.

Eliza posted a 12-length victory in the 61st running of the $224,750 Arlington-Washington Lassie at Arlington International Racecourse in Chicago.

Banshee Winds finished second in the mile race for 2-year-old fillies and Tourney took third in the field of six.

Eliza, owned and bred by Allen E. Paulson of Savannah, Ga., paid $3.80, $3.20 and $2.40. She was timed in 1:39 2/5 over a slow track before a crowd of 12,733.

In her two only other starts, both at Del Mar, Eliza won her debut handily and finished second in the seven-furlong Sorrento Stakes.