Stopchargingmaria a Title Contender After Alabama Win

Stopchargingmaria powered to victory in the Alabama Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Stopchargingmaria recorded her second Grade 1 victory in a row with an impressive three-quarter-length score in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
The win moved the Tale of the Cat filly into the discussion for the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly. However, Stopchargingmaria still has some ground to make up to catch Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable, who won four starts to begin the year before a fifth-place finish against males in the $1-million Haskell Invitational Stakes.
“She’s in the mix [for championship honors] now,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said of the championship hunt. “We’ve got to keep winning. I'm not sure the Cotillion [Stakes on Sept. 20 at Parx Racing] is the race we’ll choose. Maybe we’ll go to the Beldame [Stakes on Sept. 27 at Belmont Park]. We’ll just have to see how [Stopchargingmaria] comes out of this. It probably will be one of those.”
Stopchargingmaria seized command from pacesetter Size with about a quarter-mile left in the Alabama and then had enough stamina in reserve to hold off fast-finishing Joint Return as the even-money favorite.
2014 ALABAMA STAKES

Courtesy of NYRA
Stopchargingmaria completed 1 ¼ miles under John Velazquez in 2:05.14. The dark bay or brown filly improved to six wins in 10 career starts and extended her winning streak to three for Pletcher and owner Mike Repole’s Repole Stables.
“As a kid in Queens I could never afford to get up here,” Repole said of Saratoga. “I never had a car that could go three hours. I’ve always watched the big races.
“For someone that’s only been in the game for about 10 years, and only really five years with some quality horses, you want to win the Jim Dandy. You want to win the Travers. You want to win the Coaching Club [American Oaks]. You want to win the Alabama. How lucky and blessed am I to say, ‘Wow. Not only have I been in these races, but I've won all four?’ It might be a good day to retire.”
Repole won the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes and Grade 1 Travers Stakes in 2011 at Saratoga with Stay Thirsty.
Stopchargingmaria entered the Alabama off of consecutive wins in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes in May and the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks in July. She has amassed $1,414,000 in purse earnings in a little more than 13 months of racing.
Bred in Kentucky by Harvey Clarke and Brookdale Farm, Stopchargingmaria is out multiple stakes winner Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook.
Joint Return edged past Miss Besilu by a half-length for second in the field of nine 3-year-old fillies.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
STOPCHARGINGMARIA TAKES COMMAND IN ALABAMA

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire