Breeders' Cup Distaff: Elate makes good on promise

Elate ships from New York to California next week to complete preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, a race in which she could vie for the role of favorite following back-to-back Grade 1 smashers.

It is a long way to Del Mar, but Elate has come a long way already, from early-season bomb to late-season star.

Expectations were high for Elate, whose 2-year-old debut was stunning. Facing maidens in November at Aqueduct, she romped by more than 12 lengths, similar to another Bill Mott-trained juvenile filly, Royal Delta, who won her autumn debut by a similar margin.

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Comparisons to Royal Delta stopped when Elate’s campaign stalled. Her 3-year-old season began with four losses as favorite; her speed figures remained static. Even-money in a Grade 1 at Keeneland, she took a bad step and pulled up. Elate was going nowhere.

“She just didn’t have it together,” Mott recalled this week. “Even though she would work well and looked like she was doing everything the right way, in her races she was just steady. She looked a little bit one-paced, actually.”

Mott, and owner-breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, still believed in Elate. But she was a work in progress.

“She just had to develop enough to learn how to use her speed,” Mott said.

Although Elate was a candidate for the Kentucky Oaks in May, Mott suspected she might not reach peak form until August at Saratoga.

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“We were looking for the Alabama all year,” he said. “If she was going to come around, it was probably going to be more toward the middle of the year, [rather] than the beginning of the year. Before we ever ran our second race, I said that I thought she was a better Alabama filly than a Kentucky Oaks filly.”

The 1 1/4-mile Alabama distance would be fine. The issue was maturity. Mott hoped Elate would have her act together by summer, when the Alabama was run.

“I thought she would mature a little later, and that’s kind of how it’s played out,” Mott said.

The turning point arrived in June at Delaware Park, in the fifth start of her campaign. The second betting choice in a minor stakes race, Elate cruised by more than five lengths. The lightbulb finally went on.

“You could see it starting to come at Delaware, you could slowly see the improvement,” Mott said. “She improved in the Coaching Club” – where she was runner-up by a head – “she improved in the Alabama” which she won by more than five – “and she looked visually very explosive in the Beldame.”

Elate crushed the Beldame by more than eight lengths to emerge as the main threat to California-based Stellar Wind, early favorite for the Distaff

Elate is scheduled for an important workout Friday in New York. She ships Oct. 26 to California and will have her final workout at Del Mar.

Dettori expected to ride Mopotism

Mopotism, longest shot in an expected 10-runner field for the Distaff, is expected to be ridden by European jockey Frankie Dettori. Trainer Doug O’Neill said he and owner Paul Reddam are hopeful Dettori can ride Mopotism, whose regular jockey Mario Gutierrez is on Champagne Room in the Distaff.

A commitment is pending from Dettori, whose 12 Breeders’ Cup wins include two upsets on Reddam-owned horses – 2004 Juvenile winner Wilko ($58.60), and 2006 Turf winner Red Rocks ($23.60). Dettori has ridden in two Distaffs, finishing fourth on Crimplene in 2000 and Stellar Jayne in 2005.

Probable Distaff starters, with riders, in order of preliminary odds: Stellar Wind, Victor Espinoza; Elate, Jose Ortiz; Forever Unbridled, Joel Rosario; Abel Tasman, Mike Smith; It Tiz Well, Drayden Van Dyke; Paradise Woods, Flavien Prat; Champagne Room, Gutierrez; Romantic Vision, Brian Hernandez; Faithfully, Rafael Bejarano; and Mopotism, Dettori.

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