Clairiere closing in on 2023 debut
Clairiere rated right there with champion Malathaat atop the 2022 older female dirt-route division, and with Malathaat retired, Clairiere rates as the leading older female dirt-route horse in America as she prepares for her 2023 debut.
The 5-year-old mare’s first start of the season isn’t far off. Clariere on Jan. 31 at Fair Grounds worked five furlongs in 1:01.40, her sixth work since she went back into serious training following her near miss in the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. The breeze marked Clairiere’s third workout over five furlongs and there’s little doubt she’ll be ready for Oaklawn’s Azeri Stakes on March 11 -- if not before then. Clairiere, a Stonestreet Stables homebred by Curlin, won the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps last June and the Grade 2 Shuvee in July, beating Malathaat both times. In the BC Distaff, she finished third, beaten a head.
Far less accomplished and far behind Clairiere’s race-readiness is the Asmussen-trained Extra Anejo, who looked like an elite member of the 3-year-old class of 2023 romping in his career debut almost four months ago at Keeneland. Extra Anejo hasn’t started since and underwent surgery late last year to remove a bone chip in an ankle. Cleared to return to the racetrack a couple weeks ago, Extra Anejo is on a regular jogging pattern at Fair Grounds.
“He’s a great big horse that has shown a tremendous amount of talent. We’ll get quite a few miles in him before we think about working him,” Asmussen said.
The 3-year-old filly Grand Love, a sharp debut winner at Saratoga before a third in the Pocahontas and a sixth-place finish after setting the pace in the BC Juvenile Fillies, worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 on Jan. 31 at Fair Grounds. That was Grand Love’s sixth workout this winter and Asmussen said she’ll make her 2023 debut either in the Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds or the Fantasy at Oaklawn.
Gulfport, second in the Grade 1 Hopeful and third in the Grade 1 Champagne, also has gotten onto a Fair Grounds work pattern, but is “not as far along as Grand Love, though he’s doing well, too,” Asmussen said.
And Echo Again, the 3-year-old who was pulled up in the homestretch of the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 21, posted a five-furlong work Thursday at Fair Grounds.
* Santin, a two-time Grade 1-winning turf horse in 2022, is galloping steadily at Fair Grounds preparing for a 2023 campaign, trainer Brendan Walsh said. Santin won the Grade 1 Turf Classic on Derby Day at Churchill Downs, and that race would mark a natural early-season target for the 5-year-old Godolphin homebred.
* The Fair Grounds racing week ends with an eight-race Sunday program. Race 6 is a solid-looking open 3-year-old maiden sprint that drew nine entrants.
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