Curalina eyes CCA Oaks

ELMONT, N.Y. – Curalina, who overcame a disastrous start to rally from last and win Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park, likely will make her next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga on July 26, trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Pletcher said he will skip the Grade 1 Mother Goose with Curalina because it comes back in three weeks.

Curalina, a daughter of Curlin, is 3 for 3 this year, with wins at distances of seven furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. The Coaching Club is at 1 1/8 miles and is a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Alabama at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 22.

“As impressive as she was the other day, when she won that two-turn allowance race at Churchill, she really relished that,” Pletcher said. “I look forward to running her a mile and an eighth, and I don’t think a mile and a quarter is going to bother her either.”

Pletcher said that Coach Inge, the winner of the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational, is a candidate to run back in the Grade 2 Suburban on July 4.

Pletcher said he did not have a viable excuse for Competitive Edge’s last-place finish in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens. While Pletcher did have a virus hit some horses in his barn, there were no signs of illness for Competitive Edge prior to or following the race.