Stopchargingmaria Strikes in Distaff Thriller

Stopchargingmaria holds off Stellar Wind for victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
By Tom Pedulla, America’s Best Racing
LEXINGTON, Ky. –  Stopchargingmaria withstood a steward’s inquiry and an objection in edging Stellar Wind by a neck in the $2-million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Friday, highlighting the first of two days of Breeders’ Cup competition at Keeneland Race Course.
Stopchargingmaria placed trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Javier Castellano in the winner’s circle for the second time in a four-race Breeders’ Cup Friday card that attracted 44,947 fans to Keeneland, a record attendance for a first day. The attendance mark underscored the tremendous excitement created by the 32-year-old event’s first appearance in a region known for breeding and raising many of the world’s finest thoroughbreds.
Earlier, Pletcher and Castellano provided an unbeatable team when heavily favored Liam’s Map rallied to take the Dirt Mile by 2 ¼ lengths over Lea.
Pletcher’s powerhouse stable has often struggled in the year-end championships. Despite Cup earnings of $14,309,650, he arrived here with only seven winners from among 108 starters. He had been blanked the last two years at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.
That led to a significant change in philosophy. He took advantage of his relative proximity to Keeneland, compared with the West Coast, by shipping his Breeders’ Cup horses here for a full month of training on a surface not all that familiar to most of them.
“Who’s to say they wouldn’t have run the same if they shipped in from New York?” Pletcher said. “But we’re feeling good about the decision now.”
STOPCHARGINGMARIA AND STELLAR WIND LOCKED IN BATTLE

Pletcher helped bring the mother-daughter team of Louise and Kiki Courtelis of Town and Country Farms together with New York-based Mike Repole after Repole decided to sell Stopchargingmaria at the end of last season rather than press on with her as a 4-year-old.
Although terms of the sale were never disclosed, Pletcher indicated that Repole was well-compensated. Town and Country Farms was amply rewarded, too. It will ultimately have a Distaff winner to add to a band of 35 or so broodmares.
Pletcher had Stopchargingmaria, a 4-year-old daughter of Tale of the Cat, as ready as she could be. To add to Pletcher’s big day on a clear, but bracing autumn afternoon, Curalina, his blossoming 3-year-old, took third in the Distaff.
Favored Wedding Toast, who had been winning in front-running style, had her three-race winning streak snapped in a race packed with early speed. She faded to 11th, beating only three opponents, in a disappointing end to her career. Another top mare, Sheer Drama, was compromised by starting outside in post 14. She did well to take fourth.
Stopchargingmaria appeared to come out slightly on Stellar Wind as both dug in during the stretch run but a review by the stewards showed no reason to reverse the order of finish. “In a race like this, they’ve got to look at it,” said Pletcher, who indicated he was always confident the result would stand.
Victor Espinoza, who rode Stellar Wind, lodged an objection. “I thought it cost me the race,” he said of the contact. 
Stopchargingmaria won for the third time in five starts this year and for the ninth time in 16 career starts. The winner’s $1.1-million share of the purse hiked her earnings to $2,924,000.
“Stopchargingmaria is the most extraordinary runner I’ve ever known,” said Kiki Courtelis. “She gives 150-percent every single time. I don’t think she knows she can lose.”
Stopchargingmaria returned $16.20 for a $2 win wager. She completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.98.
In addition to bringing his horses in early, Pletcher was delighted with his decision to train the winner up to the Distaff after she weakened to fourth in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes, which was won by Sheer Drama on Aug. 29 at New York’s Saratoga Race Course.
Pletcher said of Stopchargingmaria: “She tends to run some of her best races fresh. I felt confident she would train well enough.”
Plans call for Stopchargingmaria to undergo an extensive physical to determine if it will be in her best interests to continue racing or be retired to become a broodmare in nearby Georgetown, Ky.
“I know mentally she wants to do it,” Courtelis said. “If she checks out physically, she’ll go back to Todd.”
Clearly, he will know what to do from there.
DISTAFF REPLAY

Courtesy of Breeders' Cup