Matareya Regrouping After Falling Short in Test

It didn't take long for trainer Brad Cox to know it would not be Matareya 's day. 

Just a quarter-of-a-mile into the seven-furlong Longines Test Stakes (G1), he watched the heavy 3-10 favorite toil in fifth on a wet, sealed track as a sinking feeling set in.

"The track was just not her thing," the two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer said a day after his filly's third-place finish in the Aug. 6 stakes at Saratoga Race Course. "Right out of the gate, I could see she was not taking (jockey Flavien Prat) up there like she usually does. I thought she would break with the opportunity to be in front if they wanted to, but that was never the case."

Godolphin's Matareya, a 3-year-old homebred Pioneerof the Nile filly, saw a four-race winning streak (three in graded stakes) come to an end in the Test. In her previous start, the daughter of the Bernardini mare Innovative Idea was a dominant 6 1/4-length winner of the June 11 Acorn Stakes (G1) at a mile.

Yet on Saturday, she became the latest victim of the Spa's legendary status as "The Graveyard of Favorites."

While Matareya mounted a rally on the turn and moved into second in the stretch behind the pacesetting Hot Peppers , she could not get past that rival and wound up third when 17-1 shot Chi Town Lady  motored past both of them to prevail by 1 1/2 lengths.

Though Chi Town Lady appeared to brush with Matareya as she surged past her, triggering a stewards' inquiry that did not impact the order of finish, Cox said it did not play a role in his filly finishing a neck behind Hot Peppers in third.

"They brushed but I don't think it affected a placing or was a reason for a change," Cox said. "I was hoping to never be in that position. I was hoping she would be drawing away at the sixteenth pole. It is what is. It wasn't her day. We'll check her out again in a few days and go from there."

Cox said Matareya will ultimately be shipped to Kentucky and while the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) remains the main target for her, he was uncertain of where she would make her next start. He also mentioned the Dec. 26 La Brea Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park for 3-year-old fillies as a year-end possibility.

Shedaresthedevil to Return to Kentucky After Hirsch Third

Matareya was not Cox's only runner to finish third as a favorite in a grade 1 stakes on Saturday.

His 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Shedaresthedevil  was also third while bidding for consecutive wins in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) at Del Mar.

Owned by Flurry Racing, Qatar Racing Limited, and Whisper Hill Farm, Shedaresthedevil led by a half-length after six furlongs, but the 4-5 favorite weakened in the stretch and finished third by about two lengths behind the victorious Blue Stripe  and Desert Dawn .

"I can't give her much of an excuse based on what I saw and what the jockey (Florent Geroux) said. She was traveling great and didn't give in," Cox said. "She just got run by. That's the whole story."

Cox said the early report from California was that Shedaresthedevil cooled out fine after the race.

"She came out fine and scoped good. She cooled out well and will ship back to Kentucky and we'll talk to the connections and make a plan," Cox said. "It wasn't what we expected at 4-5, but it wasn't that she tanked it. She was fighting to the wire and was third best."

Cox listed the Sept. 17 Locust Grove Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs or the Oct. 9 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland as options for the 5-year-old daughter of Daredevil  , who has won 10 of her 21 starts and earned $2,777,458.

"She's had 21 starts and most of those mares she faced Saturday had 9 or 10 starts," Cox said. "She has some miles on her. It's fair to wonder if she is as good as she was last year, but she's sound, happy and training well, and as long as she wants to do it, we'll march forward with her."