La Dragontea, Mutamakina Return for E. P. Taylor
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Photo: Woodbine/Michael Burns Photo
La Dragontea wins the Canadian Stakes at Woodbine
Opportunity can present itself in different places and locales.
Just ask trainer Christophe Clement.
When the New York Racing Association shifted the Flower Bowl Stakes (G1T) from the Belmont Park fall meet to a Sept. 4 date at Saratoga Race Course, it left the downstate meet with nothing above a grade 3 stakes for older fillies and mares on the turf.
With several graded-stakes caliber distaff turfers in his New York barn, Clement had to improvise and search for other options.
He found them north of the border at Woodbine.
Clement sent La Dragontea there for the Sept. 18 Canadian Stakes Presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2T) a month after he shipped Mutamakina to Woodbine for the Aug. 22 Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) and came away with a pair of stakes wins.
"With the Flower Bowl moved, I did not like my options in New York which is why I went to the races in Canada," Clement said.
Both runners will be on the road again this weekend when they will finally get their chance to earn grade 1 laurels in the CA$600,000 E. P. Taylor Stakes (G1T) for fillies and mares Oct. 17 at Woodbine.
"Both fillies are training well and I expect them to be competitive in Sunday's race," Clement said about the 1 1/4-mile turf stakes that attracted a field of 10, including last year's winner, Etoile .
Like Mutamakina, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Rebecca Hillen's La Dragontea started her career overseas before joining Clement's barn. Her United States debut was promising as she posted a gate-to-wire victory in a May 7 1 1/4-mile allowance race over Belmont Park's turf course, but she then finished sixth in an allowance optional claimer and fourth in the Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes (G3T), encountering some trouble in both losses.
After those defeats, Clement opted for an Aug 20 allowance optional claimer at Saratoga instead of the Flower Bowl and the daughter of Lope de Vega responded with a winning effort, rallying from sixth to win by two lengths.
With a grade 1 opportunity at Woodbine two months away, he then targeted the 1 1/8-mile Canadian, where the 4-year-old filly bred by Bartisan Racing out of the Sadler's Wells mare La Concorde reverted to up-close style in a race without much speed, chasing in second most of the way before drawing clear in the stretch to win by a length under jockey Joel Rosario.
"A distance of a mile-and-an-eighth to a mile-and-a-quarter should be ideal for her," Clement said.
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Mutamakina was group 2-placed in Europe for Al Shira'aa Farms, who shipped her to the U.S. and Clement for fall 2020 races and enjoyed a short but fruitful campaign in New York, finishing third by a half-length in the Zagora Stakes and winning the 1 3/8-mile Long Island Handicap (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Nathaniel mare bred by Widgham Stud opened her 5-year-old season in 2021 with a second in the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2T), but then a sixth in the New York Stakes (G2T) and a third in the River Memories Stakes prompted Clement to try the 1 1/4-mile Dance Smartly, where she prevailed by a half-length under Dylan Davis.
"She will stay a mile-and-a-quarter for sure and should go longer than that," Clement said. "She's a very nice mare and we're running at Woodbine instead of New York because it's a grade 1."
Though Rosario and Davis are based in New York, both riders will travel to Canada for Sunday's card. While each has experience with their mount, how the race unfolds should be interesting as both runners have done well while racing on or near the lead. There is relatively little pace in the E. P. Taylor, with Family Way perhaps another that should be up close early.
"I will leave it to the jockeys to do whatever they need to do," Clement said. "The key part is that the fillies are running comfortably."
Though one of his fillies may return home as a grade 1 winner, Clement said neither would be a candidate for a trip to the West Coast for the Nov. 6 Maker's Mark Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) at Del Mar.
"They are not the kind of horses that would go to the Breeders' Cup," said Clement, who mentioned a return in the Long Island could be an option for Mutamakina.
Clement's duo will be outnumbered Sunday by a trio of starters from trainer Chad Brown.
The four-time Eclipse Award winner has entered Etoile, Kalifornia Queen , and Great Island .
Etoile, a daughter of Siyouni owned by Peter Brant, Mrs. M. V. Magnier, and Mrs. Paul Shanahan, is coming off a second to Mutamakina in the Dance Smartly and has a mark of a win and two seconds in three Woodbine starts.
Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and First Row Partners' Kalifornia Queen, a Lope de Vega 4-year-old, was third last time out in the Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T), and Alpha Delta Stables' Great Island, a Scat Daddy mare, was second in the aforementioned Flower Bowl.
Family Way will also cross the border to run in the E.P. Taylor after winning the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon Stakes, a $501,000 test at 1 5/16 miles.
Owned by Hunter Valley Farm, Debra O'Connor, and Marc Detampel and trained by Brendan Walsh, the daughter of Uncle Mo has won 4 of 11 starts and will be seeking her initial placing in a graded stakes.
There will be some other familiar faces from the Canadian and Dance Smartly, namely two Ontario-breds in Ivan Dalos' Court Return and Al and Bill Ulwelling's Merveilleux .
Court Return, a Court Vision mare trained by Josie Carroll who was second in the 2020 E.P. Taylor, was second in the Canadian and fourth in the Dance Smartly, while Merveilleux, a Paynter filly trained by Kevin Attard, was fourth in the Canadian and third in the longer Dance Smartly.
Some foreign flavor will be provided by group 3-placed Waliyak , a Le Havre filly trained by Roger Varian for Fawzi Abdulla Nass, and Keyflower , a 3-year-old Kheleyf filly who was a minor stakes winner in France for Team Valor International and Gary Barber and trainer Mauricio Delcher Sanchez.
Woodbine, Sunday, October 17, 2021, Race 8Entries: E. P. Taylor S. (G1T)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Waliyak (FR)
Jack Mitchell
124
Roger Varian
8/1
2
2Etoile (FR)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
124
Chad C. Brown
5/2
3
3Court Return (ON)
Luis Contreras
124
Josie Carroll
15/1
4
4Kalifornia Queen (GER)
Flavien Prat
124
Chad C. Brown
6/1
5
5Family Way (KY)
Kazushi Kimura
124
Brendan P. Walsh
15/1
6
6Mutamakina (GB)
Dylan Davis
124
Christophe Clement
5/1
7
7Merveilleux (ON)
Antonio A. Gallardo
124
Kevin Attard
15/1
8
8Great Island (KY)
Rafael Manuel Hernandez
124
Chad C. Brown
3/1
9
9Keyflower (FR)
Eddy Hardouin
120
Mauricio Delcher Sanchez
20/1
10
10La Dragontea (GB)
Joel Rosario
124
Christophe Clement
8/1
