DRF Breeding Standout: Well-backed Stopchargingmaria rolls in Spa debut

Repole Stable’s Stopchargingmaria took control from the outset and was never challenged in a sharp first-out score Friday on Saratoga Race Course's opening day, winning by 5 1/2 lengths under John Velazquez.

The 2-year-old Tale of the Cat filly, trained by Todd Pletcher, covered 5 1/2 furlongs on a fast main track in 1:04.69. Pletcher said afterward that he would discuss Stopchargingmaria’s next start with owner Mike Repole but that a juvenile stakes would most likely be in order.

Bred in Kentucky by Harvey Clarke and Brookdale Farm LLC, Stopchargingmaria ($3) is out of the stakes-winning and Grade 3-placed Montbrook mare Exotic Bloom. Stakes winners See Tobe, Lady Tabitha, and Abidjan are other notable family members.

Stopchargingmaria was sold by Clarke and Brookdale to Woodford Thoroughbreds for $47,000 at last year’s Keeneland September yearling sale. Woodford pinhooked the filly to the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March selected sale of 2-year-olds in training, selling her for $220,000 to Repole.