Clairiere sparkles in 2022 debut
Clairiere was a good 2-year-old, finishing second in the Grade 2 Golden Rod, just her second career start.
She was much better last year at age 3, finishing fourth in the Kentucky Oaks, second in the Alabama, winning the Grade 1 Cotillion, and capping a long season with a close fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
From the look of her 2022 debut Wednesday at Fair Grounds, Clairiere is going to be even better at age 4.
It was not the competition – solid, far from top-level – that she beat in a high-class allowance race, but how she won that suggested Clairiere could be something extra special this year.
Lacking early speed, as usual, Clairiere showed off her quickness and agility moving rapidly into contention past the half-mile pole and into the far turn Wednesday while racing along the inside. Under Joel Rosario, she willingly waited for room when none was available through the second part of the turn and into the homestretch, and when Rosario steered her off heels, outside and into the clear, Clairiere’s turn of foot was turf-like, carrying her well clear of all pursuers by the sixteenth pole. She jumped back to her “wrong” lead upon spying the marks left on the track by the starting gate but still drew clear, well in hand, to a 6 1/4-length victory. Clairiere clocked 1:43.21 for 1 1/16 miles, a fast Fair Grounds time that yielded a 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
“That was ideal,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Clairiere for her breeder, Stonestreet Stables, Friday afternoon. “She deserved after her campaign last year to have that easy of a run.”
Next up: the $1 million Apple Blossom on April 23 at Oaklawn, where Clairiere has yet to race. “Timing wise, it works out really well,” said Asmussen.
Also aimed at the Apple Blossom is champion Letruska, who won the race in 2021. Next-race plans are yet to be determined for Pauline’s Pearl, a fine second in the March 12 Azeri at Oaklawn and, like Clairiere, a 4-year-old filly trained by Asmussen for Stonestreet.