Clement in no rush with promising filly Golden Orb

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Golden Orb, one of the better 2-year-old filly turf maiden winners of the Saratoga meet, will skip the P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga on Thursday as trainer Christophe Clement monitors her development.

“She needs a little more time before her next race,” Clement said.

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Golden Orb, a $320,000 purchase at the Barretts March sale of select 2-year-olds in training by Speedway Stable, is a half-sister to the Grade 3-winning 4-year-old filly sprinter Finley’sluckycharm. Golden Orb rallied from seventh to win her debut by a half-length going 1 1/16 miles Aug. 6, closing about four lengths into a 29.20-second final five-sixteenths of a mile.

Clement said Golden Orb could start next in either the Grade 1, $250,000 Natalma, a one-mile turf race at Woodbine on Sept. 17, or the Grade 3, $200,000 Miss Grillo, a 1 1/16-mile turf race at Belmont Park on Oct. 1.

The Natalma is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series and is a Win and You’re In for the $1 million BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, a one-mile turf race at Del Mar on Nov. 3.