Pletcher considering two preps for Malathaat

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher said he would try to run Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes winner Malathaat twice during the winter in preparation for an anticipated start in the Kentucky Oaks on April 30.

With the Ashland on April 3 at Keeneland being the only Grade 1 stakes opportunity for 3-year-old fillies in the first part of the year, that could be a target for Malathaat, a daughter of Curlin owned by Shadwell Stable. While Pletcher said he would prefer to keep Malathaat racing around two turns, he didn’t rule out bringing her back in the Davona Dale, a one-turn-mile race at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 27.

Malathaat got up in the Demoiselle on Saturday after looking in trouble while boxed in along the inside until upper stretch. When John Velazquez got her to the outside she lengthened her stride and caught a seemingly home Millefeuille to win by three-quarters of a length.

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“I thought in some ways she showed some seasoning beyond the amount of experience she actually had, because she did overcome a lot of adversity,” Pletcher said. “I think she also overcame a surface that maybe she doesn’t relish and was able to keep finding more and put an impressive last eighth of a mile and kind of won going away in the end. It was one of those, at the end of the performance, you’re sort of happy you gained a lot of experience.”

Malathaat earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 76 for the Demoiselle.