Cavorting has come a long way

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Cavorting is in the midst of her third impressive campaign. Her steady climb to the upper echelon of the filly-and-mare division has coincided with some savvy decision-making by trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.

In 2014, Cavorting vaulted to near the top of the 2-year-old filly rankings with a victory in the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga. McLaughlin was pointing her to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies for the Stonestreet Stables of Barbara Banke, but she tailed off a bit in her training, and instead of pushing forward, McLaughlin backed off and freshened her for a 3-year-old campaign.

“Good owners who will let you do what needs to be done deserve a lot of credit,” McLaughlin said.

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Cavorting showed her quality again at 3, winning the Jersey Girl Stakes at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Test and Grade 2 Prioress at Saratoga in succession. She concluded her season with a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint against older rivals. In her last five starts of the season, McLaughlin kept her at seven furlongs or less.

“Last year, when we were running seven-eighths, we were thinking that was what she wanted to do,” McLaughlin said. “But being by Bernardini, we thought she might go longer. We just had to figure out how to do it.”

McLaughlin brought her back this season in the seven-furlong Distaff at Aqueduct. He then stretched her out to a mile in the Grade 2 Ruffian, a race she won by five lengths.

McLaughlin gives jockey Javier Castellano credit for Cavorting’s newfound distance capability.

“Before the Ruffian, Javier’s first time riding her, he told me he was going to lay off the pace with her in fourth,” McLaughlin said. “I was surprised and said, ‘That’s fine if you can do it.’ He said, ‘No problem,’ and then couldn’t have done it more perfectly.”

Florent Geroux substituted for Castellano in the 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps and used a similar strategy, keeping her well back in the seven-horse field before breaking the race open with a sweeping move entering the stretch. She won by 2 1/2 lengths.

Patiently handled while steadily improving over three seasons, Cavorting has progressed to the point that she may very well be favored going 1 1/8 miles Saturday in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign – something that would have been difficult to fathom just months ago.

“We lost our rider for the Phipps, which is not a good thing, because Javier was committed to Stopchargingmara,” McLaughlin said. “But we have him back for this race.”