Alabama is an early divisional showdown
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It may be true that championships are decided in the fall, but Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga should go a long way in determining the title in the 3-year-old filly division.
The race features the inaugural meeting between dual Grade 1 winners Curalina (Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks) and Lovely Maria (Ashland and Kentucky Oaks), either of whom would be a confirmed division front-runner with a victory. I’m a Chatterbox is a multiple graded stakes winner who was disqualified from first and placed second in the Coaching Club. Include Betty won the Grade 1 Mother Goose and has won two other stakes this year.
“Championship honors can be set in this race,” said Larry Jones, the trainer of Lovely Maria and I’m a Chatterbox. “I think there are four horses legitimately in the talk if they win.”
“I would think the Alabama historically carries a lot of weight in the 3-year-old filly picture,” said Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Curalina. “If Curalina could step up and win three consecutive Grade 1’s and beat the [Kentucky] Oaks winner and some of the other significant race winners in the process, I think she could stamp herself as the divisional leader.”
Lovely Maria was the division leader in the spring after winning the Ashland and Kentucky Oaks. She finished a dull fifth in the Delaware Oaks, a performance Jones blames on a virus that went through his barn.
“I think we were running a sick horse,” Jones said. “We felt like we were okay, but all of the horses that we ran at that time frame, they all kind of ran lower numbers compared to what they normally do.”
Lovely Maria has come back with two solid workouts at Delaware Park.
Curalina, a daughter of Curlin, has won all four of her starts this year after finishing second to High Dollar Woman in a highly rated 2-year-old race here last summer.
Pletcher, who has won the last two runnings of the Alabama with Stopcharingmaria (2014) and Princess of Sylmar (2013), said Curalina should relish the Alabama’s distance of 1 1/4 miles.
The Alabama field is completed by Embellish the Lace, a good-looking allowance winner at Pimlico two back; Sweetgrass, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Indiana Oaks; and Danette, fourth in the CCA Oaks.
Key contenders
Lovely Maria (Last 3 Beyers: 82-94-91)
◗ Had three wins and a second to I’m a Chatterbox before throwing a dud in the Delaware Oaks. The only previous time she finished worse than second was over a muddy track.
◗ By the stallion Majesticperfection, a top-flight sprinter, Lovely Maria could be suspect at 1 1/4 miles.
I’m a Chatterbox (Last 3 Beyers: 92-88-90)
◗ Jones was really impressed with how well this filly ran in the Coaching Club American Oaks given how upset she appeared to be in the days leading up to the race and her behavior in the paddock.
“She weaved in the stall for three straight days until we got the back of the stall covered up where she couldn’t see out,” Jones said. “It was a bad weekend for her. It was probably the reason she showed as much speed as she did. The way she’s acting right now, she’s so settled. Going a mile and a quarter, you want them to be settled.”
Curalina (Last 3 Beyers: 92-94-91)
◗ Reeled off four consecutive wins since returning from an eight-month layoff.
“She’s come a long way in a short period of time,” Pletcher said. “She seems to have handled everything we’ve thrown at her very well. Always felt like added distance would not be an issue, so hopefully that proves to be the case.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Curalina. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 22-9-2-3 with a $2.06 ROI over the past five years in dirt route graded stakes at Saratoga with last-out winners. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Include Betty (Last 3 Beyers: 89-85-89)
◗ Will be trailing early and attempt to come flying late. Looks like a filly who will run all day and might be the best bred to handle 1 1/4 miles.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Sweetgrass. Trainer Ian Wilkes is 65-3-11-10 with a $0.76 ROI over the past five years in dirt races at Saratoga. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan