Elate Can Add to Mott's Big Day at Churchill Downs
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Photo: Adrianna Lynch
Elate after winning the 2018 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park
Hall of Famer Bill Mott knows he will be heading home from Churchill Downs this weekend with a trophy from a Triple Crown race and memories that will last a lifetime.
He also wouldn't mind having some more hardware to place in his luggage.
As the trainer of Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Country House, Mott is part of the 3-year-old's connections who will be honored at a June 15 ceremony during the Louisville track's Stephen Foster Downs After Dark program.
He will also be saddling starters in three of the graded stakes on Saturday's card and is hopeful of winning at least one of them.
"That's the plan," he said.
Mott will send out China Horse Club, WinStar Farm, and Head of Plains Partners' Yoshida in the featured Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) and Maram's Delta's Kingdom in the Regret Stakes (G3T), as well as the lone morning-line favorite in the trio, Adele B. Dilschneider and Claiborne Fam's Elate, who tops a field of six in the $250,000 Fleur de Lis Handicap (G2).
Elate (8-5 on the morning line)—who will be heavily bet along with Whispering Oaks Farm, Team Hanley, Tim and Anna Cambron, Bradley Thoroughbreds, and Madaket Stables' She's a Julie (2-1) and Merriebelle Stable's Blue Prize (2-1)—enters the Breeders' Cup Challenge stakes for the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winless this year. Yet with two grade 1 wins among her five victories in 14 starts, she certainly ranks among the better members of the older filly and mare division.
The shining moments for the 5-year-old homebred daughter of Medaglia d'Oro came in the late summer/early fall of 2017 when she won the Alabama Stakes (G1) by 5 1/2 lengths and then defeated older rivals by 8 1/4 lengths in the Beldame Stakes (G1). But chronic splint issues limited her to just two starts in 2018: a win in the Delaware Handicap (G2) and a loss by a neck to Abel Tasman in the Aug. 25 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1).
In her two starts this year for regular rider Jose Ortiz, Elate had the misfortune of running into Midnight Bisou, finishing second to her by a length as the even-money favorite in the Azeri Stakes (G2) and then winding up third behind her in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), both at Oaklawn Park.
Both of those races were at 1 1/16 miles, as was last weekend's Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park—captured by Midnight Bisou—and Mott believes the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Fleur de Lis can bring out the best in Elate.
"I think she can be a major player (in the division) if we can get her back to top form," Mott said. "We wanted the added distance of the Fleur de Lis over the Phipps and think it will get us back on track a little bit. She's coming up to the race good. She's worked well at Churchill. She hasn't won there, but that race was before she came into her best form."
Out of the Distorted Humor mare Cheery, Elate has one start at Churchill. She finished second, four lengths behind the winner, in an allowance optional claimer May 5, 2017, over a sloppy track.
She's a Julie thrived in her most recent appearance in Louisville, rallying from fourth to win the La Troienne Stakes Presented by Inside Access from Chase (G1) by a half-length May 3, with 2-1 favorite Blue Prize settling for third.
A daughter of Elusive Quality bred in Kentucky by Godolphin, She's a Julie has won three of her five starts at Churchill, with one second-place finish. She has captured three of her past four starts for trainer Steve Asmussen, including the 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park.
The 4-year-old filly out of the Dubai Millennium mare Kydd Gloves was bought for $160,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by Whispering Oaks and Carol Castille from the Blandford Stud consignment. She has six wins in 13 starts.
Blue Prize, the third grade 1 winner in the field, finished four lengths behind She's a Julie in the La Troienne while giving the winner two pounds. In the Fleur de Lis, She's a Julie will carry 124 pounds, conceding four pounds to the other five starters.
Blue Prize made her 2019 debut for trainer Ignacio Correas IV in the La Troienne, making her first start since finishing a solid fourth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs, winding up 1 1/2 lengths behind the victorious Monomoy Girl.
The Breeders' Cup Distaff was also contested at nine furlongs, an amount of ground that suits Blue Prize, as reflected in a mark of four wins and three seconds in nine starts at the distance.
The 6-year-old daughter of Pure Prize won last year's Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland while racing 1 1/8 miles.
By the Not For Sale mare Blues for Sale, Blue Prize has seven wins in 18 starts and $1,112,753 in earnings. She was bred in Argentina by S.A. Bioart. She picks up the services of four-time Eclipse Award-winning rider Javier Castellano for the Fleur de Lis.
Scheduled as the seventh race, the Fleur de Lis has an approximate post time of 9:12 p.m. ET.
Churchill Downs, Saturday, June 15, 2019, Race 7Entries: Fleur de Lis H. (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Skeptic (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
120
George R. Arnold, II
10/1
2
2She's a Julie (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
124
Steven M. Asmussen
2/1
3
3Elate (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
120
William I. Mott
8/5
4
4Go Google Yourself (KY)
Gabriel Saez
120
Paul J. McGee
10/1
5
5Blue Prize (ARG)
Javier Castellano
120
Ignacio Correas, IV
2/1
6
6Auspicious Babe (KY)
Florent Geroux
120
Dallas Stewart
15/1
