Clement turf filly makes first start in two years
In the last three years, trainer Christophe Clement has won at a 24 percent rate (28 for 118) with horses returning from a layoff of 180 days or longer. Da Mi Basia Mille qualifies but would fall under the category of longer. Much longer.
Da Mi Basia Mille, which translates to “Give Me a Thousand Kisses,” makes her first start in 689 days in Saturday’s eighth race at Saratoga, an $85,000 first-level allowance for fillies and mares going a mile on turf.
Da Mi Basia Mille won her debut July 23, 2012, here and then finished fourth in the P.G. Johnson Stakes on Aug. 29, 2012. She came out of that race with a suspensory ligament injury behind, a problem that reoccurred when Clement tried to bring her back as a 3-year-old.
But owners Henry Prieger and David Lester, also her breeders, gave the filly all the time she needed, and her recent works have been decent, according to Clement.
“I still think she’s okay,” Clement said. “I just don’t know if I should have brought her back in an a-other-than here or an a-other-than at Monmouth. She trains here. She’s stabled here. It makes sense we’ll start her here and go from there. The race will tell us at what level she can compete. She’s been training okay.”
Da Mi Basia Mille will run on Lasix for the first time and break from post 8 in the 12-horse field.