Curlin a much easier spot for Chief Wallabee
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – From the day after the June 6 Belmont Stakes, Bill Mott was thinking about running Chief Wallabee in Wednesday’s $150,000 Curlin Stakes at Saratoga and not because the race falls on the Hall of Fame trainer’s 73rd birthday.
After sending out Chief Wallabee against the crème de la crème of the 3-year-old division in four consecutive graded stakes – all defeats – Mott is just looking for a winnable spot for his 3-year-old colt, who finished fourth in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. The Curlin certainly looks like that.
“We need to give this horse a little better chance to win,” said Mott, who has won the Curlin twice, most recently in 2023 with Scotland. “I’d say, in the last four races, we probably ran against horses that are the best five 3-year-olds in the country really.”
Chief Wallabee, a son of Constitution owned and bred by Mike and Katherine Ball, was fast-tracked onto the Triple Crown trail after winning his debut over The Puma in a seven-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 10. In the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby, Chief Wallabee was narrowly beaten by Commandment. In the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, Chief Wallabee finished fourth behind Golden Tempo.
“Commandment, that horse is a pretty damn nice horse, and Golden Tempo at 10 furlongs, he’s the best 3-year-old in North America,” Mott said.
The Curlin, at 1 1/8 miles, can be used as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 29. Mott isn’t necessarily using it for that purpose, as he doesn’t think Chief Wallabee is a true mile and a quarter horse.
Mott thought Chief Wallabee had a perfect trip in the Belmont Stakes.
“He was second by a head at the eighth pole and he gets beat eight lengths, which tells you that added furlong wasn’t for him,” Mott said.
Mott has had uncanny success winning races at Saratoga on his birthday. Starting in 1992, Mott has won at least one race on this day in 18 of the last 34 years, though seven years – including the last two – his birthday fell on a dark day.
Chief Wallabee, who will break from post 4 under Junior Alvarado, will face five rivals in the Curlin led by Blackout Time, the runner-up to Ted Noffey in last fall’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
He wasn’t good enough to make it to the Triple Crown races and was dealing with foot issues in the spring and early summer, including an abscess that forced him to scratch from the Grade 1 American Turf at Churchill Downs on May 2. Blackout Time came off a three-month layoff to win a first-level allowance by six lengths in the slop at Churchill, conditions that could be in play Wednesday.
“We had some foot issues back in the spring/early summer that we had to get sorted out, which are sorted out,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “He’s got a chance to shine in the next couple of runs, we’ll give him a chance to prove himself at a higher level.”
Jose Ortiz rides Blackout Time from the rail.
Chad Brown, a six-time Curlin winner, sends out Sea Strike, who overcame a slow start to win his debut going six furlongs at Aqueduct in April. Brown then ran him Belmont Stakes Day in a sprint allowance, which he said was a mistake.
“He really wants to run longer,” Brown said.
Zihnal is coming back less than three weeks after finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby. Trainer Jonathan Thomas said his horse got the exact opposite trip of the one he wanted.
“Our play was to be forward, he broke forward, but ended up being last going into the first turn,” Thomas said. “He moved into the quickest part of the race, then had nowhere to go.
Zihnal will get the services of Irad Ortiz Jr. in the Curlin.
Tiernanogue returns to dirt after making his last two starts on turf. He won a 1 1/4-mile maiden race on dirt in April at Churchill. Gulfy, claimed for $50,000 in February, most recently finished fourth in the Grade 3 Peter Pan.
The Curlin goes as race 6 on what is just an eight-race card Wednesday.
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