Con Lima takes command early in Saratoga Oaks

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Con Lima was able to make the lead easier than anticipated and then, as one would expect, had ample left to fend off the stretch challengers and win Sunday’s Grade 3, $700,000 Saratoga Oaks by three-quarters of a length.

Higher Truth, who finished a nose behind Con Lima when the two were second and third, respectively, in last month’s Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, finished second in the Saratoga Oaks. She finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of Creative Flair.

Plum Ali was fourth, followed by Gam’s Mission, Out of Sorts, Messidor, and Rocky Sky.

The victory was the fifth from eight starts this year and seventh from 13 overall for Con Lima, a 3-year-old Texas-bred daughter of Commissioner owned by a group led by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and trained by Todd Pletcher.

Con Lima was ridden to victory by Flavien Prat, the Southern California-based rider who won three stakes at Saratoga from Friday through Sunday.

On paper, the speed of the Saratoga Oaks was Con Lima and Creative Flair, a European-based filly trained by Charlie Appleby. But Creative Flair, under Mike Smith, didn’t break sharp and Prat was able to gradually move Con Lima to the front, grabbing and maintaining a one-length advantage through a half-mile in 50.02 seconds, six furlongs in 1:14.34, and a mile in 1:37.75.

“He kind of gradually got there instead of having to hustle her and use her and she relaxed really well,” Pletcher said. “You could see when she turned up the backside and had her ears flip-flopping back and forth, she was in a happy zone.”

Higher Truth, third early under Jose Ortiz, tipped off the rail in midstretch, but couldn’t run down Con Lima, who covered the 1 3/16 miles in 1:54.42 and returned $8.10 as the favorite.

“Going into the first turn I felt really comfortable, I was really pleased with the way she was traveling,” Prat said. “I felt we were doing some easy fractions, then she really kicked on well.”

:: DRF's Saratoga headquarters – Stakes schedule, previews, recaps, past performances, and more

Ortiz said he got the trip he wanted on Higher Truth, but was just second-best.

“I was on her heels, when it was time to go to her she outran me,” Ortiz said.

Mike Smith, in from California to ride Creative Flair, was expecting to be closer to the pace. He said he tried to motivate his filly even before the doors opened, to no avail.

“She just didn’t jump at all, the rails are 20 feet out, what am I going to do, circle? I can’t do that,” Smith said. “I just covered her up. I actually got the kind of trip you’d like on a grass horse, except she’s a front-runner.”