SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Clairiere want what the connections of Nest have: an Eclipse Award. To get one, Clairiere will likely have to defeat Nest a time or two in a series of three races that begin Sunday in the Grade 2, $200,000 Shuvee Stakes gong 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga. The Shuvee, won last year by Clairiere, is the lead-in to the Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign to be run here Aug. 25, a race to which both horses are pointing. In a perfect world, the two would meet in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4. In last year’s Distaff, Clairiere finished third and Nest fourth. The head defeat to Malathaat in the Distaff cost Clairiere the older female dirt championship. Nest, however, had done enough to win the 3-year-old filly championship. “Clairiere is in training this year to prove that she’s a champion,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Clairiere for Stonestreet Stables. “You just got to win the right races.” :: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more. Clairiere has already won two of the right races. After losing the Grade 2 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn to Secret Oath to begin her campaign, Clairiere defeated Secret Oath by a neck in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom in April. Clairiere came back June 10 to win the Garde 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park by a half-length over Search Results, who is entered to run in Saturday’s $500,000 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park. “Her last two races, the way I thought she overcame setups that favored her opposition and just an understanding of getting up at the wire’s the goal, gives you a great amount of confidence,” Asmussen said. Clariere, a 5-year-old daughter of Grade 1 winners Curlin and Cavorting, has really developed physically, according to Asmussen. He said when he schooled the mare in the first race Thursday at Saratoga, Asmussen said a trainer complained that he was schooling a colt during a race for fillies. “I figured it was a pretty good sign how she looked,” Asmussen said. Joel Rosario rides from post 4. Clairiere has the outside post in a four-horse field Sunday. She had the outside post in a four-horse Shuvee field last year when she beat Malathaat, who was the 3-year-old filly champion of 2021 and who would go on to beat Clairiere twice after the Shuvee to claim the older female championship. Malathaat was trained by Todd Pletcher, who on Sunday sends out Nest for her first start of the year in the Shuvee. Nest is getting a late start to her campaign due to an upper respiratory infection that sidelined her a month in early spring. She was scheduled to run either the Doubledogdare at Keeneland in April or the La Troienne at Churchill in May. Nest has a solid work tab for her return and her dominant victories in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama here last summer show she has an affinity for the track. Still, Clairiere and 1 1/8 miles off an 8 1/2-month layoff are significant hurdles. “From a talent perspective I think she stacks up with anyone,” Pletcher said. “My concern is that she hasn’t run since the Breeders’ Cup and Clairiere is a top-class mare with some recency. We’d love to win this one, but we’re also aware that this is the first step toward some bigger goals.” Irad Ortiz rides Nest from post 2. Phil Bauer was planning to run Played Hard, winner of the Grade 1 La Troienne, in the Shuvee. But she came down with a temperature earlier in the week and will have to miss the race. Bauer has entered Skratch Kat, a 4-year-old daughter of Arrogate who just last Sunday finished second of three in an off-the-turf second-level allowance going a mile here. Bauer said he is hoping for a graded-stakes placing. Tyler Gaffalione rides from the rail. The connections of Pistol Liz Ablazen are in for the same reason. A 4-year-old daughter of Daredevil trained by Butch Reid, Pistol Liz Ablazen is coming off a second-level allowance win at Parx June 1. She appears to possess the most early speed among the quartet and has Kendrick Carmouche to ride. With only four horses, the Shuvee is carded as race 4 on a 10-race card that begins at 1:10 p.m. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.