Florida-bred R Disaster, a 4-year-old daughter of Awesome Slew, ran her rivals off their feet with an authoritative score in the $250,000 Gallant Bloom S. (G2) during the Belmont at the Big A meet on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Ridden by Jose Ortiz, R Disaster grabbed the early lead in the 6 ½-furlong fixture. She set a controlled pace in hand down the backstretch, getting the opening quarter in :22.10 and the half in :44.73. She tipped four wide at the head of the lane and drew off from her rivals in the stretch to win by 3 ½ lengths as much the best. In securing the initial graded stakes win of her career, R Disaster stopped the clock in a fast 1:14.78.

“She broke very alert and obviously she’s always very good from the gate. We got the one hold—that helps a lot,” said Jose Ortiz. “She was traveling very nice every stop of the way, and she was much the best. I give her all the credit. I was just the passenger.”

Owned by Averill Racing LLC, Two Eight Racing, and Anthony Mattera, R Disaster, who has never finished worse than second in 12 lifetime starts, improved her record to 12-7-5-0. The $137,500 winner’s share of the Gallant Bloom purse raised her lifetime earnings total to $563,680. Bred in the Sunshine State by Ocala Stud and J. Michael O’Farrell, R Disaster is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. The bay filly is produced from the hard-knocking Gottcha Gold mare Making Havoc, an earner of $335,425 during her racing career.

Awesome Slew is currently the fourth-ranked General Sire in Florida with progeny earnings this season approaching $2 million. The Awesome Again stallion boasts 37 winners this year and R Disaster is his leading earner in 2025. In addition to winning the Gallant Bloom and the Rehoboth S., R Disaster finished second in the Honorable Miss S. (G2) at Saratoga and was runner-up in both the Vagrancy S. (G3) and the Hurricane Bertie S. (G3). Last year at two, R Disaster finished second in the FTBOA City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.