Malathaat adds blinkers for rematch with Clairiere in Shuvee
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When you’re a champion, a three-time Grade 1 winner, and have earned more than $2 million in 10 career starts, one wouldn’t think there is much room for improvement. In the case of Malathaat, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly, trainer Todd Pletcher believes some improvement is needed.
Thus, Pletcher has been training Malathaat in blinkers for the last several weeks. He sees improvement in the mornings. Sunday, he’ll find out if that improvement translates to the afternoon when Malathaat takes on Clairiere and two others in the Grade 2, $200,000 Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga.
Malathaat is coming off a head loss to Clairiere in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park. Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez both felt the filly let up a bit when she made a brief lead in midstretch. Pletcher also wasn’t totally satisfied with the way Malathaat finished off her victory in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland in April.
“She’s had a tendency in her races and sometimes even in the morning when she puts her head in front thinking that was the end of the game,” Pletcher said. “The way she’s trained in them we’ve gotten the result we wanted; she’s focused, she’s not headstrong. Hopefully, it allows her to polish off the race a little more professional than she has in some cases.”
In a four-horse field with no confirmed pace, Malathaat figures to be up close to the lead under Velazquez.
At this time last year, Clairiere was no match for Malathaat. As 2021 progressed and so far this year, Clairiere has improved significantly. Last September, she won the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing and finished a head back of Malathaat when the two were third and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. This year, Clairiere is 2 for 3 with a second to Letruska in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom. The 106 Beyer Speed Figure that Clairiere earned in the Grade 1 Phipps was her career best.
“She’s so strong,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Clairiere for Stonestreet Stables, owners and breeders of Clairiere and also the breeder of Malathaat. “She’s giving us more training and obviously she’s simply a stronger, faster horse than she was last year.”
The Shuvee, at 1 1/8 miles, is the local prep for the Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign here Aug. 27. Malathaat and Clairiere are both expected to show up in that race.
“I think it’s quite obvious why both mares go in this spot,” Asmussen said. “They’re both larger mares that need a little bit of racing for both of them to be at their best for the Personal Ensign.”
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Crazy Beautiful and Exotic West are the other two members of the Shuvee field. Crazy Beautiful, trained by Kenny McPeek, has been no match for Malathaat in her career. She is coming off a runner-up finish to Army Wife in the Lady Jacqueline at Thistledown in June.
Exotic West, who upset the Top Flight Invitational at 10-1 in April, finished a well-beaten second as the favorite in the Grade 3 Allaire du Pont on May 20 at Pimlico.
With only four horses, the Shuvee is carded as race 5 on a 10-race card that begins at 1:05 p.m.