Filimbi rolls into Ballston Spa on two-race win streak
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Grade 2 Ballston Spa on Saturday at Saratoga is a bit light on field size, but that doesn’t make it an easy race.
The seven-horse field includes five graded winners, including two Grade 1 winners, Centre Court and Dayatthespa.
Of the others, Strathnaver missed winning the Grade 1 Just a Game Stakes by a nose at Belmont Park in June, and Nellie Cashman almost is a Grade 2 winner, having crossed the wire first by a nose in last summer’s Lake Placid only to be disqualified.
The horse with the most upside, however, has never started in a graded race. Filimbi, a 4-year-old Juddmonte Farms Kentucky-homebred, began her career in France but has made her last three starts in the U.S. with trainer Bill Mott.
In reality, the $250,000 Ballston Spa will not be much of a class jump for Filimbi, who has won five of her last seven starts. In her U.S. debut, she finished second to Somali Lemonade in a third-level allowance race at Keeneland in April. Somali Lemonade has come back to win the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico and the Grade 1 Diana here at Saratoga.
Following a third-level optional-claiming win at Belmont Park, Filimbi finished strongly to defeat Dayatthespa in the De La Rose Stakes, which was restricted to non-winners of a graded stakes in 2014.
Mott is pointing Filimbi for the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland on Oct. 4 and selected the Ballston Spa as an intermediate step rather than wait for the Grade 3 Noble Damsel at Belmont on Sept. 13.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Filimbi. Trainer Bill Mott is 11 for 71 with a $0.73 ROI over the past five years in graded stakes turf routes following a win.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
:: Learn more about Formulator | Buy Formulator PPs
:: Follow the @DRFFormulator Twitter feed and get free Formulator facts
“She will be running back on three weeks’ rest Saturday, but she is doing well,” Mott said. “We were also considering the Noble Damsel, but there are three weeks between that race and the First Lady. This is a shorter type of field, and if she runs well and earns her ticket, it gives her a little more time before the First Lady.”
Dayatthespa and Nellie Cashman are cross-entered in other Saturday stakes.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Dayatthespa. Trainer Chad Brown is 6 for 23 with a $3.47 ROI in graded stakes turf routes on the NYRA circuit, with horses making their second start following a layoff.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Trainer Chad Brown has entered Dayatthespa in the $150,000 Yaddo Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares Sunday at Saratoga, and as of Thursday afternoon, it was uncertain where she would run.
Francis Abbott III, the trainer of Nellie Cashman, confirmed Thursday morning she would run in the Ballston Spa rather than the Grade 3 Violet at Monmouth Park.
Key contenders
Filimbi (Last 3 Beyers: 101-89-88)
* Filimbi has drawn post 7. She has had the outside post in each of her last two starts, both wins.
* Filimbi’s De La Rose Beyer Speed Figure of 101 is highest in the field. Centre Court is second at 99, a figure she earned in April 2013. The second-highest last-race Beyer is the 97 Dayatthespa earned when finishing second to Filimbi by 1 3/4 lengths.
Centre Court (Last 3 Beyers: 90-92-94)
* Centre Court, 7 for 17 in her career, has had two three-race winning streaks, the first from May to July 2012 (her 3-year-old season) and the other from November 2012 to April 2013. She is one for her last six.
* Centre Court runs well fresh, and trainer Rusty Arnold spaces her races accordingly. She has won the last two runnings of the Grade 2 Honey Fox at Gulfstream Park off layoffs of seven months (2013) and four months (2012). The Ballston Spa will be Centre Court’s first start since May 3.
Strathnaver (Last 3 Beyers: 92-98-93)
* Strathnaver was forced to race wide on both turns when sixth, beaten 2 1/4 lengths, in her last start, the Grade 1 Diana.