Always a Runner looks to rebound in Cotillion
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Always a Runner, the Kentucky Oaks winner coming off an intense summer stint at Saratoga, will look to get back to her winning ways in the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes on Saturday at Parx Racing.
It’s rare for a runner-up finish to be a disappointment, but after going undefeated in three starts and shining in the Kentucky Oaks for Chad Brown, Always a Runner simply seemed to leave something on the table in New York. Counting Stars, who finished third behind her at Churchill Downs, improved to soundly beat her in the Grade 1 Acorn and Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks.
In August, Brown had to decide whether he wanted to stretch out to 1 1/4 miles for another rematch in the Grade 1 Alabama. He ultimately chose to wait for the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion and said his filly seems to have validated that decision in training.
“I gave her some more time,” Brown said. “It’s a shorter distance. I’m going to try her away from Saratoga, where she’s run good, very good, but she hasn’t run her best races. I’m excited. She’s training great.”
Parx is known as a difficult place for shippers, as there is no way to know how a horse will handle the track ahead of time. Brown, who has not won a stakes at Parx since 2019, acknowledged this uncertainty but also said there was little to do about it.
“It’s a what-if, so you’ve just got to take your shot and go, I’ve learned,” Brown said. “I’ve had success there, and I’ve had horses I loved that didn’t run well. You don’t really know until you get to the quarter-pole.”
While Always a Runner skipped the Alabama, the Casse-trained Measure took the shot against her heavily favored stablemate and nearly pulled off a 10-1 upset. While Counting Stars faded back to third, Measure rallied along the inside and came up a neck short to My Gun’s Loaded, also trained by Brown.
Though the filly has done her best running at 1 1/8 miles or longer, Casse said the pace scenario in the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion might be just sharp enough to give her a chance from the back.
“My biggest concern is the cutback, but it does look like there’s a fair amount of speed,” Casse said. “I hope they give her something to run at.”
Measure ran against Always a Runner in the CCA Oaks in July, finishing well behind in fourth. Zany, another familiar rival trained by Todd Pletcher, ran against the Brown trainee in the CCA Oaks and Kentucky Oaks. Neither filly has challenged the likely favorite but will try their luck again at Parx.
My Miss Mo, the winner of the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan and Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, is one of several potential pacesetters in the field of nine 3-year-old fillies. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said breaking from the rail could force her hand.
“She’s normally a good gate horse, and she was going to be forwardly placed wherever she was,” Joseph said. “That would be the plan, so hopefully she breaks well from there so she can come away and dictate.”
Joseph also entered Bodacious Bay, who entered his barn after running second behind My Miss Mo in the Monmouth Oaks in July for Arnaud Delacour. She will break just outside of her new stablemate.
Only three fillies in the field have prior experience at Parx, and Tap to Open is the only one with a stakes victory at the track.
She and trainer Brad Cox took the local route to qualify for the Cotillion, winning the $200,000 Cathryn Sophia at Parx in front-running fashion last month. She will likely be prominent again from the far outside on Saturday.
Ms Sophistication, an improving filly trained by Jorge Duarte Jr., only finished a head behind Tap to Open in the Cathryn Sophia but is sure to go off at longer odds.
Iron Orchard, a New York-bred filly trained by Steve Asmussen, will step back up to graded stakes company after crushing statebred rivals by 12 lengths in the $200,000 Fleet Indian at Saratoga. A Grade 1 winner as a juvenile, her only defeat beyond a mile came in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last year.
The Uriah St. Lewis-trained longshot Savor It rounds out the field.
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