Distance on Point of Honor's side in Alabama

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Point of Honor won her debut last December going two turns at Gulfstream Park, and trainer George Weaver already started thinking about the Alabama Stakes because of the 1 1/4-mile distance.

Saturday, 244 days after her maiden victory, and with a solid body of work on her résumé since, Point of Honor gets to run 1 1/4 miles in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama at Saratoga.

“We’re always looking for something that’s on our side, and we talked about this race earlier in the year after she broke her maiden,” said Weaver, who trains Point of Honor for Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Stetson Racing. “We just know she’ll get that mile and a quarter and relish it, whereas a lot of American-bred racehorses don’t relish it.”

Point of Honor figures to be among the top choices in the Alabama, a race that drew nine 3-year-old fillies, including Dunbar Road, the Grade 2 Mother Goose winner; Street Band, the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and Grade 3 Indiana Oaks winner; and Champagne Anyone, the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks winner.

Point of Honor, a daughter of Curlin, is 3 for 5, with victories in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa in February and the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico in May. Most recently, she finished second to a loose-on-the-lead and still-undefeated Guarana in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks here on July 21. Guarana is skipping the Alabama and pointing to the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 21.

Point of Honor’s only out-of-the-money finish came in the Gulfstream Park Oaks, where she finished fourth, two lengths behind Champagne Anyone.

“She’s always had kind of a clear trip, and in that race she got a little dirt in her face and was down inside around the first turn,” Weaver said. “Maybe she didn’t like that, but she only got beat two lengths.”

Point of Honor has had only one work since the Coaching Club, a pedestrian five furlongs in 1:05.82 under jockey Javier Castellano.

“She never has broken the stopwatch,” Weaver said. “I went over there thinking she’d go in 1:02 and change. She went off slow the first eighth, but Javier said she was moving good and feeling good and was responsive when he asked.

“I think she’s going to run her race, and if she does run her race, I think she’s got a great chance to win it.”

Dunbar Road, a daughter of Quality Road trained by Chad Brown, has won three of four starts, with her lone loss coming by a half-length in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, her second career start. She rebounded with a 5 1/2-length allowance win followed by a 2 1/2-length score in the Grade 2 Mother Goose, both at 1 1/16 miles around one turn at Belmont Park.

Brown is confident Dunbar Road can get the 10 furlongs around two turns on Saturday. She will break from the rail under Jose Ortiz.

“She acts like a filly that’s always wanted to go this far. I feel comfortable getting her out that far and she’s training as good as I’ve ever seen,” Brown said. “She’s just going to have to work out a trip from that rail spot.”

Champagne Anyone, who ran a sneaky good fourth in the Kentucky Oaks, is coming off a fourth in the Coaching Club. Trainer Ian Wilkes took the blame for that result, saying he didn’t have her ready off the 79-day layoff.

“I thought I had her ready. The filly made a nice move on the turn. I thought she was going to be right there, but then she come up a little leg-weary,” Wilkes said. “I just didn’t have her right.”

Wilkes believes Champagne Anyone has thrived since the Coaching Club. She breaks from post 4 under Chris Landeros.

“I trained her a little more aggressively. She’s put on weight. She’s just a different filly right now compared to that first race,” Wilkes said.

Street Band enters the Alabama off a victory in the Indiana Oaks and a solid work tab for trainer Larry Jones.

“We feel like if she’s able to relax she’ll go the mile and a quarter,” said Jones, who has Sophie Doyle aboard Street Band from post 5..

Lady Apple, the Iowa Oaks winner, and Ulele, the Iowa Oaks runner-up, look to be the primary speed of the race. Off Topic, Kelsey’s Cross, and Afleet Destiny complete the field.

The Alabama goes as race 10 on an 11-race card that includes the Grade 2 Lake Placid for 3-year-old fillies on turf and the $100,000 Smart N Fancy Stakes for female sprinters on turf.