Distractions aside, it's time to take Matareya seriously
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When Matareya earned her first career Grade 1 victory last year in the Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park, her performance was somewhat lost in conversations involving Eclipse Award champion Echo Zulu, who had been a veterinarian scratch on the way to the gate. On Saturday, Matareya won another Grade 1, but there was a lot of chatter about the troubled trip for reigning divisional champion Goodnight Olive in the Derby City Distaff.
Ignore Matareya at your own peril. The filly, long touted as championship caliber, emerged from her stout victory on the Kentucky Derby undercard in good order after serving notice she’ll be a force in a deep female sprint division this year.
Matareya, a Godolphin homebred trained by Brad Cox, posted a career-high 97 Beyer Speed Figure for the fourth graded stakes victory of her career. She prevailed by a length over six-time stakes winner Wicked Halo, with Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Goodnight Olive another length back in third. Cox was quick to praise all three runners on Sunday morning.
“Very proud of her effort,” Cox said of Matareya. “I think right there, you might have the three best fillies and mares in the country around one turn. They could all trade punches. Hopefully, they’ll all have good years, and hopefully, we might meet up in the Breeders’ Cup at the end of the season.”
Last year, Matareya won the Grade 3 Beaumont by 8 1/2 lengths, the Grade 2 Eight Belles by 2 1/4 lengths, and the Acorn by 6 1/4 lengths. She was third as the favorite in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga, beaten less than two lengths after a bump in the stretch.
The campaign earned her two first-place votes for the Eclipse for champion female sprinter, an award that went to Goodnight Olive in a landslide. Matareya also appeared on a handful of outstanding 3-year-old filly ballots behind Eclipse winner Nest.
Matareya started her 4-year-old season by finishing second to Wicked Halo by three-quarters of a length in the Matron Stakes going six furlongs at Oaklawn Park. She turned the tables this time at seven furlongs.
“Last time in Hot Springs, she ran a great race, but we thought she’s better going seven-eighths or a one-turn mile,” Cox said. “She’s very effective, I think best, at those distances.”
The Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Stakes on Aug. 26 at Saratoga and the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, both at seven furlongs, are the long-range goals for Matareya.
“I think you’ve got to find a filler somewhere to be ready for the Ballerina,” Cox said. “I don’t know where that’ll come from.”
Meanwhile, Goodnight Olive, winner of the 2022 Ballerina and Filly and Mare Sprint, and the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland to start this year, was in tight throughout in the Derby City Distaff.
“I was stuck, the entire way,” jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said. “I had no place to go. I couldn’t get out of there. I had tons of horse, just no place to go.”
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