Ivy Bell, Wow Cat have questions to answer in Shuvee

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainers Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown will be on a fact-finding mission of sorts in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga.

Pletcher wants to find out if Ivy Bell can be successful around two turns. Brown wants to find out if Wow Cat can transfer her terrific form from Chile to the U.S.

Ivy Bell and Wow Cat were two of seven older fillies and mares entered in the Shuvee, a 1 1/8-mile race that serves as a prep for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 25, when Elate and Abel Tasman are expected to run. Pletcher is actually pointing Ivy Bell to the Grade 1 Ballerina, a seven-furlong race on the same card.

A multiple stakes winner around one turn, Ivy Bell will be making her first try around two turns in this, her 19th career start. Pletcher said he views the Shuvee as a good opportunity to find out if Ivy Bell can be effective around two turns. She is coming off a well-beaten second-place finish to Abel Tasman in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, a one-turn 1 1/16-mile race.

“We tried stretching her out in the Phipps, which I thought she ran pretty well,” Pletcher said. “This will be a different dynamic being around two turns, so it’ll be interesting to see how she handles that.”

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Wow Cat, racing in Chile, has handled everything thus far in her career. She has won all eight of her starts, from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 3/8 miles. She was purchased by Peter Brant and transferred to Brown in March.

After giving her time to acclimate, Brown started working Wow Cat on May 6. Wow Cat has breezed six times, including several times with fellow Shuvee entrant Pacific Wind. Brown likes what he’s seen from Wow Cat.

“Her works have been strong, in particular her last two or three,” Brown said. “She’s crying out to run now.”

Brown is hoping Wow Cat follows the path that other successful Chilean-breds have blazed, including Wild Spirit, who won the Shuvee in 2003, when it was run at Belmont, and Dacita, a multiple Grade 1 winner trained by Brown last year.

“We’ve had some horses come over here with strong credentials, and they held true,” Brown said. “They were true Group 1 or Group 2 winners.”

Pacific Wind, also owned by Brant, won the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont on May 6. She then finished fourth, beaten 9 3/4 lengths, in the Phipps.

Brown felt that Pacific Wind made an early move to go after Abel Tasman in the Phipps. Also, Brown said: “She might have bounced a little bit too off that nice win she had in the Ruffian. I see her back training well and worth a shot in here.”

Farrell, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs, looks like the main speed in the field. Verve’s Tale won the Summer Colony Stakes by a nose here last year. Tiger Moth won the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic in January. Frost Wise is a New York-bred stakes winner coming off a last-place finish in the Critical Eye on May 28.