Alabama distance levels playing field as Taxed takes on Wet Paint a fourth time

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Taxed spent a good part of the winter and early spring at Oaklawn Park in futile chase of Wet Paint, losing to that opponent in three stakes.

Randy Morse, the trainer of Taxed, believes he has a better filly now than at that time and Taxed will take on Wet Paint again in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.

“She’s a way different horse,” Morse said Thursday at Saratoga. “She’s a lot better horse now than she was down there. But that being said, I’m kind of tired looking at Wet Paint. I said to someone how funny is it that we’re going to Saratoga and we’re running with the same horses we looked at all winter?”

Defining Purpose is another of the Oaklawn group that is in the Alabama. Defining Purpose defeated Taxed in the Grade 3 Indiana Oaks at Horseshoe Indianapolis on July 8. But Morse believes Taxed was compromised in the Indiana Oaks.

“She had a terrible trip,” Morse said. “She got stuck in behind a slow pace – they went [six furlongs] in 1:14. She had too much to do and she had to circle the field.”

The race that stamps Taxed a contender in the Alabama was her 3 3/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico. It was her only start as far as 1 1/8 miles and Morse believes that effort bodes well for her at 1 1/4 miles.

“In her races, like in the Black-Eyed Susan, her gallop-out was strong to me and she did the same thing in Indiana,” Morse said. “Just after the race she was just full of run and that’s the way she trains in the morning, She doesn’t seem to get tired. She appears like the distance won’t be a problem but they’ve got to prove it.”

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Rafael Bejarano rides Taxed from post 9 in the 10-horse Alabama.

Wet Paint, trained by Brad Cox, won the Martha Washington, Honeybee, and Fantasy at Oaklawn. She was fourth in the Kentucky Oaks and second in the Monomoy Girl before coming with a rush to win the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks by a neck over Sacred Wish here on July 22.

“A filly like this normally needs a setup, I think she showed her class and ability and true talent last time out without ever really getting a setup and was still able to overcome it in the Coaching Club,” Cox said. “I would think maybe a bigger field might give us a little more pace.”

Flavien Prat rides Wet Paint from post 2.

In addition to her victory in the Indiana Oaks, Defining Purpose upset the Grade 1 Ashland at 20-1 in April. Defining Purpose, a daughter of Cross Traffic, is trained by Kenny McPeek, who has won two of the last five runnings of the Alabama.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the last two Alabamas and four overall, has entered the trio of Julia Shining, Chocolate Gelato, and Gambling Girl. Julia Shining is a full sister to 2021 Alabama winner Malathaat. Julia Shining has not been out since a third-place finish behind Defining Purpose in the Grade 1 Ashland in April.

“Similar to what we did with Forte in the Belmont,” said Pletcher, referring to the 3-year-old who went into the Belmont Stakes off a 10-week layoff. “It’s not ideal, but she’s doing well. I thought her last breeze was good enough and I do think she’ll appreciate the mile and a quarter.”

Chocolate Gelato won the Grade 1 Frizette in 2022. She looks like potentially a speed horse to assist Gambling Girl, a late-runner who finished second in the Kentucky Oaks and third as the favorite in the Coaching Club American Oaks.

Trainer Chad Brown has the uncoupled duo of Randomized and Fireline in the field. Fireline, a daughter of Travers winner Arrogate, is a horse Brown had been plotting the Alabama for since she returned with an allowance win at Belmont in May. Brown used the Delaware Oaks as a prep for Fireline, who finished a non-threatening fourth as the 4-5 favorite. Brown believes Fireline simply didn’t handle the Delaware Park surface.

“I drew a line through it. I took her up to Saratoga and I’ve been working her up here and I’ve been very, very pleased,” Brown said. “I feel you get one chance to run in a race like the Alabama and it’s something I’ve been working on all year for this horse. I’ve always felt that she’d love a mile and a quarter at Saratoga.”

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Randomized bounced back from a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Acorn with a front-running victory in the one-mile Wilton Stakes over Saratoga’s main track out of the Wilson Chute.

Sacred Wish came within a neck of Wet Paint in the Coaching Club. Trainer George Weaver admits the 1 1/4 miles is a question mark, but said the fact he doesn’t have to ship her to run is appealing. Weaver said Sacred Wish did not handle the shipping well when she ran last in the Black-Eyed Susan.

Sabra Tuff has lost eight straight since winning her debut going 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs in June 2021.

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