Terra Promessa, Paid Up Subscriber Face Off in Shuvee

The Shuvee Handicap, long a prestigious grade 1 or grade 2 race run at Belmont Park in May, but run as a grade 3 event run at Saratoga Race Course since 2013, drew only three contestants for the $200,000 purse July 30.

Paid Up Subscriber and Terra Promessa are expected to be the favorites for the 1 1/8-mile test on the dirt in a field of fillies and mares that also includes Apologynotaccepted. 

The first race on the program follows a four-horse edition won by the Todd Pletcher-trained Curalina last year.

Paid Up Subscriber exits a runner-up finish to Songbird in the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at Belmont in June. The duo knocked heads around the track before the Chad Brown-trained chestnut conceded the race by a length.

Owned by Allen Stable and Peter Brant, she has a record of 4-3-2 from 14 starts, with her best victory in the Fleur de Lis Handicap (G2) at Churchill Downs last year. The 5-year-old Candy Ride   mare has kept top company throughout her career, with four placings in grade 1 races. 

The pace scenario could make the difference in the race, as all three have shown an affinity for being forwardly placed. 

Terra Promessa, trained by Steve Asmussen and owned by Stonestreet Stables, romped by 7 1/2 lengths in the Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course May 19. The Curlin   filly brings a 7-1-1 record from 12 starts to the event.

If there is moisture in the track, she might hold an advantage. The 4-year-old bay filly sailed to victory by 6 1/2 lengths over a sloppy track at Oaklawn Park last year in the Honeybee Stakes (G3). Two starts back, she ran second to multiple grade 1 winner Stellar Wind in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 14 at Oaklawn. 

BALAN: Terra Promessa Cruises to Allaire DuPont Victory

Apologynotaccepted, trained by Bill Mott, has outsider status and drew the rail. With Luis Saez aboard, she will likely be sent hard out of the gate. The Fusaichi Pegasus   mare has led at the first call in her last two starts. In the Fleur de Lis, she led at each pole but was passed by multiple grade 1 winner Forever Unbridled in the stretch and held second, well clear of the rest of the field.

She has never run over a wet track, though her sire enjoyed the going when he romped in the 2000 Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack. Owned by Alter's Racing Stable, Gary Barber, and Wachtel Stable, the 6-year-old sports a 4-2-1 record from 10 starts and is a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner Curlin's Approval.

The Shuvee Handicap is named after one of the finest fillies to grace the New York stage. Shuvee was the second horse to win the U.S. Filly Triple Crown, when she did so in 1969. The next year the Whitney Stone-bred and Anne Minor Stone-owned chestnut also became the first filly to knock off the boys in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which she also won the following year. Trained by Willard Freeman, she was named champion older female of 1970-71. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975.

Past winners of the race have included such standouts as Inside Information, Lady's Secret, Personal Ensign, Sky Beauty, Society Selection, Stopchargingmaria, and Storm Flag Flying.

Shuvee H. (G3)

Saratoga Race Course, Sunday, July 30, 2017, Race 1

• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 1:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Apologynotaccepted (KY)	Luis Saez	116	William I. Mott	3/1
2	2Paid Up Subscriber (KY)	John R. Velazquez	120	Chad C. Brown	1/1
3	3Terra Promessa (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	121	Steven M. Asmussen	6/5