Malathaat, Clairiere Clash in Shuvee at Spa

If you want flashy, then mosey down Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's shedrow and bypass the stall of the 4-year-old filly Malathaat .

The daughter of Curlin   isn't going to win the window-dressing contest if you look at her past performances. Her résumé is impressive, no doubt. Seven wins in 10 career starts deserve more than a double take.

Shadwell Stable's Malathaat is certainly one of the headliners in the $200,000 Shuvee Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course, a 1 1/8-mile race July 24 that drew a field of four. She has to share the Shuvee marquee with Stonestreet Stables' Clairiere , trained by fellow Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen.

Clairiere, also by Curlin, beat Malathaat by a head in the June 11 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park | BloodHorse.com Track Profile">Belmont Park.

"It looks like a good race," Pletcher said of the Shuvee.

Back to Malathaat. She has raced in grade 1 company six times, winning three of them. 

Last year, Malathaat won the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland by a head. In the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), the margin of victory was a neck. At Saratoga last summer, she lost the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) by a head, then came back to take the Alabama Stakes (G1) by a whopping—for her—margin of victory of 1 1/2 lengths.

The 2021 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1)? A third, beaten a half-length.

You get the idea. She does what she has to do. Nothing less. Nothing more.

"She tends to get distracted a little bit even though her race record is as good as it is," Pletcher said. "It seems like, in her mind, when she's done her work, she doesn't have to do it anymore. She gets a head in front, she thinks that is the end of the game."

Before the Ogden Phipps, Malathaat won the Baird Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) at Keeneland in her seasonal debut on April 22 by three-quarters of a length under regular rider John Velazquez.

"She really pulled herself up in the Doubledogdare," Pletcher said. "It was a little more subtle in the Phipps, but Johnny said that getting close to the wire, she kind of saw something. Might have cost her the race."

Since the Phipps, Pletcher has made an equipment change. In the Shuvee, Malathaat, who will break from post 3, will wear blinkers.

"We've kind of had that in the back of our minds for a while," Pletcher said. "We've worked her a couple of times with them and she seems to be a little more focused."

Clairiere, who will be ridden by Joel Rosario, has won two of three starts this year, but has yet to win at the Shuvee distance. She has tried 1 1/8 miles three times with her best finish being a third in the CCA Oaks last summer. She is next to Malathaat in post 4. 

Also entered in the Shuvee is Phoenix Thoroughbred III's Crazy Beautiful  and Louis Lazzinnaro's Exotic West .

Trained by Kenny McPeek, Crazy Beautiful, a gray daughter of Liam's Map  , has hit the board in 13 of her 18 starts and possesses the speed to be close to an expected slow pace.

"She has won over a million ($1,038,240)," McPeek said. "This is a really tough race, but she is a hard knocker. Unfortunately, she has been a notch below grade 1s. This is a grade 2, but probably should be a grade 1."

The stakes-winning graded-placed Exotic West, by Hard Spun  , has three wins, three seconds, and a third in nine starts since claimed by trainer Gary Sciacca.