Elate wins debut like a Kentucky Oaks prospect

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Miss Sky Warrior won her third straight race in the Grade 2 Demoiselle Saturday at Aqueduct, but the most impressive 2-year-old filly to run on the card was Elate, who won a one-mile maiden race by 12 1/2 lengths for trainer Bill Mott.

The win elicited memories of Royal Delta, a former Mott trainee who won her career debut going a mile by 12 lengths at Belmont in the fall of 2010. Royal Delta became a two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (now Distaff) and earned $4.8 million.

Elate, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro owned and bred by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, ran a mile in 1:38.32 wrapped up under John Velazquez and earned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Maybe she’s the right one,” Mott said Monday from Payson Park. “It wasn’t a surprise. It looked like she was going easily. We’ve liked her from the very beginning.”

Mott had hoped to start Elate at Belmont and run her in the Demoiselle. But Elate developed sore shins and then a fever during the summer, delaying her debut.

Elate will soon join Mott at Payson Park in Florida as he plots out a path to the Kentucky Oaks on May 5 at Churchill Downs. Mott did not have any immediate plans for Elate, who definitely looks like a filly who wants to go a route of ground.

Gulfstream Park doesn’t offer 3-year-old fillies a stakes race at a mile until the Grade 2 Davona Dale on March 4. Gulfstream’s major route race for 3-year-old fillies is the Gulfstream Park Oaks on April 1.

Meanwhile, Miss Sky Warrior, who has now won the Tempted and Demoiselle, will be based at Palm Meadows in Florida with trainer Kelly Breen’s string. Breen said Saturday that his goal is the Kentucky Oaks, but he has not yet mapped out a plan to get there.

Miss Sky Warrior earned an 80 Beyer for half-length victory over Jamyson ‘n Ginger in the Demoiselle.