Curalina, Include Betty Head CCAO Talent
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Well-traveled Curalina carries a three-race winning streak into the $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I) Sunday, July 26 at Saratoga Race Course, and seeks her second grade I victory in a row against the likes of fellow grade I winner Include Betty and grade II winner Keen Pauline.
After breaking her maiden in March at Gulfstream Park, then romping to an 8 1/4-length allowance win going 1 1/16 miles in May at Churchill Downs, the 3-year-old Curlin filly scored by a gutsy neck over By the Moon in the one-mile Acorn Stakes (gr. I) June 6 at Belmont Park.
Curalina put in her final prep for the Coaching Club American Oaks July 18, going four furlongs on the Saratoga main track in :48.76. That move followed a July 11 four-furlong breeze in :48.44 on the Oklahoma training track.
"We're very excited about the way she's been training," said Todd Pletcher of the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners color-bearer. "Her works up here have been especially good. Our concern in the Acorn was backing up to a mile. Then, she got sandwiched at the start and pinched back to last. The way she overcame that adversity to win was quite impressive. Stretching back out to two turns going 1 1/8 miles should suit her very well."
Hall of Famer John Velazquez will be aboard Curalina from post 3 in a field of eight sophomore fillies.
Include Betty, owned by Brereton C. Jones and Timothy Thornton, took the June 27 Mother Goose Stakes (gr. I) by 3 3/4 lengths to score her first grade I for trainer Tom Proctor. The daughter of Include employed a powerful five-wide move into the upper stretch to carry her to victory in the Mother Goose, improving off a runner-up finish to Keen Pauline in the May 15 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (gr. II) at Pimlico Race Course.
Like Include Betty, who drew post 5 under Drayden Van Dyke, and Curalina, Keen Pauline enters the 1 1/8-mile Coaching Club off a stakes win, as she hasn't raced since her wire-to-wire Black-Eyed Susan score. Prior to that, the Pulpit filly finished fourth going seven furlongs in an allowance at Keeneland.
"The Black-Eyed Susan had been our plan for a while," trainer Dale Romans said. "We used the sprint to set her up for the Black-Eyed Susan. She ran hard to win it, so we gave her time off to get her feet back underneath her. But her work on Sunday (five furlongs in 1:00 at Churchill Downs) was as good as a work can be, so we're looking forward to running her."
Stonestreet Stable homebred Keen Pauline will have Javier Castellano in the irons when she leaves from the 6 hole.
Treadway Racing Stable's Wonder Gal has maintained her consistency while competing at the highest level since the beginning of her career, when she broke her maiden in the Lynbrook Stakes in her first start. Since then she has been first, second or third in five of her six races, all grade I or II stakes; most recently finishing second to Include Betty in the Mother Goose. Irad Ortiz, Jr. rides from post position 7.
Another of of interest is Chide, who finished third in the Mother Goose when making just her fourth career start. A daughter Blame and out of the multiple graded stakes winning mare Yell, Chide won at first asking on March 18 at Oaklawn Park, finished second in a seven-furlong optional claimer on May 1 at Churchill Downs, and then scored in a 1 1/8-mile allowance a month later, also at Churchill.
"She certainly acted like she fit in in the Mother Goose, and acquitted herself just fine in her fourth start," said Al Stall, who also trained Blame. "You have to take your time with the Blames, and she's the spitting image of her father in her head, her walk ... she reeks of class and she's so easy to deal with. Come to think of it, her father was undefeated at Saratoga (winning the grade I Whitney and also winning the 2009 Curlin Stakes), so that's another positive."
Chide drew post position 2 and will be ridden by Joel Rosario.
Rounding out the field are grade I-placed Conquest Eclipse, winner of an optional claimer on June 15 at Churchill; Danette, who earned a third in the grade I Chandelier at Santa Anita Park last year and who enters Sunday's race off a maiden win at Belmont; and multiple graded stakes winner I'm a Chatterbox, making her first start since third in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) on May 1.
Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I)
Saratoga Race Course , Sunday, July 26, 2015, Race 10
- 1 1/8m
- Dirt
- $300,000
- 3 yo Fillies
- 6:07 PM (local)
| PP | Horse | Jockey | Weight | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danette (KY) | Junior Alvarado | 121 | J. Keith Desormeaux |
| 2 | Chide (KY) | Joel Rosario | 121 | Albert M. Stall, Jr. |
| 3 | Curalina (KY) | John R. Velazquez | 121 | Todd A. Pletcher |
| 4 | Conquest Eclipse (KY) | Shaun Bridgmohan | 121 | Mark E. Casse |
| 5 | Include Betty (KY) | Drayden Van Dyke | 121 | Thomas F. Proctor |
| 6 | Keen Pauline (KY) | Javier Castellano | 121 | Dale L. Romans |
| 7 | Wonder Gal (NY) | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | 121 | Leah Gyarmati |
| 8 | I'm a Chatterbox (KY) | Florent Geroux | 121 | J. Larry Jones |