Zaajel Gives Pletcher a Birthday Gift in Mother Goose
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Zaajel pulls away late to win the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park
Aside from past performances and speed figures, astute handicappers should also keep biographical information at their fingertips.
While the sight of trainer Bill Mott winning a race on his birthday has become an annual tradition at Saratoga Race Course, fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher enjoyed a rather memorable 54th birthday of his own June 26 as he celebrated with a longshot victory in the $242,500 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) at Belmont Park.
Shadwell Stable's Zaajel gave Pletcher a record-matching sixth victory in the graded stakes for 3-year-old fillies as she pressed favored Always Carina on the turn and then took charge in the stretch to post a 1 1/4-length victory.
Adding to the festivities for the birthday boy, Pletcher also won the Bashford Manor Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs with Double Thunder and spent the day with his family celebrating his daughter Hannah's graduation from high school.
It was surely a happy birthday, with Zaajel the icing on the cake.
"She ran fantastic," said Rick Nichols, vice president and general manager of Shadwell.
The betting public was somewhat of a party pooper, as it sent off the homebred daughter of Street Sense as the 18-1 outsider in a field of five, no doubt focusing on her seventh in the April 30 Edgewood Stakes (G2T) in her turf debut and a prior sixth in the Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) in her last two races. What they overlooked was a sharp victory in the Jan. 30 Forward Gal Stakes (G3) in just her second career start.
"She was training very, very well for the race and Todd was very happy with her. This fit right in with her training program and Todd suggested it. It seemed like a good idea to me," Nichols said of the daughter of the Daaher mare Asiya .
Three Chimneys Farm's undefeated Always Carina was the 4-5 favorite off impressive maiden and allowance optional claiming wins for trainer Chad Brown by a combined total of nearly 14 lengths.
A winner by 9 3/4 lengths at a mile in her last start, Always Carina and jockey Flavien Prat set moderate fractions of :24.03 and :48.03 in her stakes debut with Zaajel in closest pursuit by a length in the one-turn 1 1/16-mile stakes. Turning for home, Zaajel ($38.80) bid for the lead and dueled with Always Carina to the eighth pole, where Zaajel and Joel Rosario opened a half-length lead and then pulled away to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:42.83.
"She ran really big today. She was very comfortable and happy," Rosario said. "I knew the horse on the lead was the horse to beat, and she did it. She ran a big race today. She was moving very well for me."
Saturday's victory tied Pletcher mentor D. Wayne Lukas with six Mother Goose victories.
Zaajel, a half sister to the grade 2-placed Ajaaweed , is the fourth foal and the fourth winner from Asiya, who also has a 2-year-old Mohaymen colt and weanling Blame filly.
Saddled by assistant trainer Byron Hughes, Zaajel improver her record to three wins in five starts with earnings of $228,640.
Always Carina held on for second by a nose over Stonestreet Stable's Clairiere , a daughter of Curlin trained by Steve Asmussen who was fourth in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) and second in the Fair Grounds Oaks, finishing about 12 1/2 lengths in front of Zaajel. Clairiere stumbled at the break of the Mother Goose and rallied.
"(Always Carina) certainly didn't run up to her capabilities today," Brown said of the homebred daughter of Malibu Moon . "Maybe switching her off and going a little too slow during the race—which she's not really used to—in hindsight, might have put her to sleep a bit. We'll have to see how she comes out of the race and see if there's any other reason. But my first thought is that maybe we should have just let her roll on the front. She fought on bravely for second but that wasn't how she had run in her first two starts, that's for sure."