Clairiere wins Shuvee, makes it two in row over Malathaat
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Clairiere faced Malathaat four times last year and finished behind her every time. On Sunday, Clairiere beat Malathaat for the second time in as many meetings this year, rallying along the rail under Joel Rosario to win the Grade 2, $186,000 Shuvee Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths at Saratoga.
It was 1 3/4 lengths to Crazy Beautiful in third. Pacesetting Exotic West was last of four.
The win in the Shuvee came six weeks after Clairiere defeated Malathaat by a head in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps.
Steve Asmussen, who trains Clairiere for Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Farm, said he noted in the paddock how much his filly has developed physically from a year ago.
“We were near Malathaat in the [Kentucky] Oaks, how much bigger Malathaat was in the Kentucky Oaks and then next to her today in the paddock here it’s how much more comparable we are physically,” Asmussen said.
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Of equal importance is how much faster Clairiere is at this point of her 4-year-old season than she was as a 3-year-old, when she finished 5 3/4 lengths behind Malathaat in the Coaching Club American Oaks. The two were second and third behind upset winner Maracuja.
“She’s just a very fast mare right now,” Asmussen said.
Malathaat, under John Velazquez, and Clairiere, under Joel Rosario, were in the second flight of horses in the Shuvee as Exotic West set modest fractions of 24.75 seconds for the quarter and 49.45 for the half. A stalking Crazy Beautiful took over before the half-mile pole.
Velazquez said he was trying to keep Malathaat hemmed in on his inside, but at the top of the lane, when Exotic West came off the rail, there was enough of an opening for Rosario to guide Clairiere on through.
Just prior to making that decision, Rosario steadied sharply on Clairiere as he was deciding whether to try and go inside or outside of Crazy Beautiful.
“I was trying to give her a clean trip, but it looked like the horse stayed off the rail a little bit so I took the opportunity to go in there,” Rosario said. “She finished really well today. She was on her game today.”
Clairiere, a daughter of Curlin, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.96 over a seemingly deep, demanding main track and returned $5 as the 3-2 second choice.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Malathaat - last year’s 3-year-old filly champion - was not on her game. Pletcher said Malathaat was quieter than normal in the paddock and in the post parade. Pletcher, who had equipped Malathaat with blinkers for the first time, guessed his filly may have had an adverse reaction to the heat. It was in the low 90s around post time.
“She’s normally a very classy mare, not real animated, but she was dull,” Pletcher said. “She seemed to stay dull in the post parade and for a horse having first-time blinkers … it was just a very dull performance all the way around.”
The Shuvee was to be a prelude for another meeting between these two fillies in the Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 27.