My Gun's Loaded, after Alabama win, will likely start next in Beldame or Spinster
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The 3-year-old filly My Gun’s Loaded, a neck winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, will most likely take on older females in her next start with the options being the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame at Belmont Park on Sept. 25 or the Grade 1, $650,000 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 4.
Unlike the last three years, when it was run around two turns at 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct, the Beldame will return to one-turn, but still at 1 1/8 miles, for the first time since 2021 at Belmont Park next month. In 2023, Brown won the Alabama and Beldame with the 3-year-old filly Randomized.
“I don’t know how I feel about that,” Brown said Sunday when asked about racing her one turn versus two turns.
The Beldame gives My Gun’s Loaded better spacing to a potential start in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Oct. 31. The Spinster would give My Gun’s Loaded a start at Keeneland, where the Breeders’ Cup will be run.
My Guns Loaded earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the Alabama win.
As a 3-year-old filly, My Gun’s Loaded would be eligible for the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx Racing on Sept. 19. But Brown is targeting that race for Always a Runner, the Kentucky Oaks winner.
Should Brown opt to run My Gun’s Loaded in the Spinster, there is a good chance she will be rematched with Counting Stars, the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks winner who finished third as the heavy favorite in the Alabama.
Trainer Mark Casse said he likes the six-week spacing between the Alabama and the Spinster for Counting Stars.
“Maybe the four weeks was a bit close for her,” Casse said, referring to the spacing between the CCA Oaks and the Alabama.
Casse said Measure, runner-up in the Alabama, will be considered for both the Pennsylvania Derby and the Cotillion, both at Parx on Sept. 19. Casse said he prefers the 1 1/8 miles of the Derby to the 1 1/16 miles of the Cotillion.
With Saturday’s Travers at Saratoga and the Pennsylvania Derby just three weeks apart on the calendar, Casse doesn’t anticipate too many from the Travers to show up in the Pennsylvania Derby.
“I don’t like the mile and a sixteenth of the Cotillion,” Casse said. “We’ll see how many of them who run here [in the Travers] run back.”
Despite the defeat in the Alabama, Casse said he still believes Counting Stars is the leader of the 3-year-old filly division.
“Somebody’s got to do something [special] to beat her, like win a Breeders’ Cup or something,” he said.
Casse said And One More Time, the narrow winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes, will be pointed to the Grade 1, $800,000 First Lady at Keeneland on Oct. 3.
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