Fair Grounds Oaks Round 3 for Clairiere, Travel Column
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Photo: Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges Jr.
Clairiere wins the Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course
Stonestreet Stables' homebred Clairiere and OXO Equine's $850,000 yearling purchase Travel Column are set for their third straight meeting in the $400,000 Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) March 20 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The 1 1/16-mile Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) prep will serve as the tie-breaker following their last two outings.
The two first met in the Nov. 28 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs and raced toward the back of the field together after being crowded or bumped at the start. The Brad Cox-trained Travel Column came from further back in seventh that day to win by a length over Clairiere.
They met again in the Feb. 13 Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2) at Fair Grounds. Travel Column pressed the pace that day, took over at the five-sixteenths pole, and was caught late by the Steve Asmussen-conditioned Clairiere, who hit the gate at the start and rallied with a ground-saving trip. The margin separating them was a neck.
Like the Fair Grounds Oaks, which will offer 100-40-20-10 points, respectively, to the top four finishers toward a spot in the Kentucky Oaks, the Golden Rod and Rachel Alexandra were also run at 1 1/16 miles.
"Rubber match, right? With two quality fillies," Asmussen said ahead of Saturday's race. "The trip worked out perfectly for us in the Rachel Alexandra. At a mile and a sixteenth, I think the fillies are competitive. It's the same distance on Saturday. We feel really good about our prospects going forward."
Clairiere will break from post 6 under Joe Talamo, while Travel Column will depart from the outside post 8 with Florent Geroux up.
"I think she should get a good stalking trip from our post," Cox said of Travel Column. "There's no pace in the race. We're not going to sit back there and give someone the race. We didn't win (the Rachel Alexandra) but we were very, very pleased with the comeback and we expect her to move forward off that return. She's a very, very good work horse, and she's been training great since that race."
Video: Rachel Alexandra S. Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2)
Travel Column's recent works include a bullet five-furlong move in :59 1/5 March 6 at Fair Grounds. The Frosted filly is a half sister to multiple grade 1-placed Neolithic . OXO's Larry Best bought her out of the Denali Stud consignment to The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in New York.
Clairiere has her own strong pedigree, being a daughter of Curlin and the first foal out of Stonestreet's multiple grade 1 winner Cavorting.
Moon Swag and Souper Sensational, third and sixth, respectively, in the Rachel Alexandra, also return Saturday.
Joel Politi's Li'l Tootsie will try stakes for the first time off two wins at Fair Grounds for trainer Tom Amoss. The Tapiture daughter broke her maiden second time out by four lengths when racing six furlongs Jan. 16 and returned to rally up the rail to win an allowance optional claimer at the Fair Grounds Oaks' distance Feb. 12. Luis Saez will ride Saturday from post 4.
"Looking the field over, the one thing that captures your attention, there's no real pacesetter in the race. These horses are all stalk and jump types," said Amoss, who also trained Politi's Serengeti Empress, the 2019 Kentucky Oaks winner and Rachel Alexandra winner. "If you look at our last route race, which is a complete contradiction to the two sprints in terms of style, you have to ask yourself 'What are you going to get this time around from Li'l Tootsie?' I strongly believe she's going to be much sharper out of the gate and much more involved with what's going on early in the race.
"I'm not here to tell you that she's going to be the pacemaker, because that's not really that important to me, I think she's very capable of running well from anywhere on the track, I just believe that she's going to break sharper and be a part of that first wave of horses. I think her God-given athleticism will come into play."
Two lightly-raced fillies from Gulfstream Park will invade Fair Grounds for Saturday's race.
Zaajel wins the Forward Gal Stakes at Gulfstream Park
Breaking from the rail with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. will be Shadwell Stable's homebred Zaajel. Todd Pletcher trains the Street Sense daughter, who in two starts broke her maiden by 7 1/4 lengths and circled the field to take the Jan. 30 Forward Gal Stakes (G3). The Fair Grounds Oaks will be a distance test for Zaajel after racing seven furlongs in her previous races.
Video: Forward Gal S. (G3)
"She came back and she's trained exceptionally well. We have Malathaat who we also have for Shadwell pointing for the Gulfstream Oaks (G2) and we didn't want to run the two of them together. We thought Zaajel was ready to go," Pletcher said. "It's not easy shipping in against some high-quality fillies who have a home court advantage as well but we like the way she's training and the added distance should be to her liking. We're excited about the opportunity and we like the spacing if she does run well with it hopefully being good timing to come back in the Kentucky Oaks. You never expect one to dominate their debut quite like that, but we were not surprised that she was able to win in her debut. She had trained with good intentions and she gave us the impression in the morning that she was the type that wouldn't necessarily need a race to figure it out."
In post 5, Jose Ortiz will be aboard Juddmonte Farms' homebred Obligatory. The Bill Mott-trained Curlin filly rallied to break her maiden in her second start going a mile Feb. 7 at the South Florida oval.
Il Malocchio, third in the Feb. 6 Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, completes the field.
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Saturday, March 20, 2021, Race 13Entries: Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Zaajel (KY)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
122
Todd A. Pletcher
8/1
2
2Moon Swag (KY)
Adam Beschizza
122
Brendan P. Walsh
20/1
3
3Souper Sensational (KY)
John R. Velazquez
122
Mark E. Casse
15/1
4
4Li'l Tootsie (KY)
Luis Saez
122
Thomas M. Amoss
4/1
5
5Obligatory (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
122
William I. Mott
5/1
6
6Clairiere (KY)
Joseph Talamo
122
Steven M. Asmussen
2/1
7
7Il Malocchio (ON)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
122
Kenneth G. McPeek
15/1
8
8Travel Column (KY)
Florent Geroux
122
Brad H. Cox
5/2
