Plum Ali ends victory drought with Winter Memories Stakes
After a year marked by unlucky or difficult trips, Plum Ali made her own luck Sunday at Aqueduct, changing running styles and recording a front-running, three-quarter-length victory in the $150,000 Winter Memories Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
On a day when eight of the nine winners at Aqueduct went gate to wire - including all four on turf - Plum Ali was put on the lead soon after the start by Manny Franco, set reasonable fractions and went on to record her first victory in 13 months. Plum Ali, who won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont Park in 2020, had lost seven straight stakes starts, including all six this year.
Plum Ali typically does her running from off the pace. Christophe Clement, her trainer, had three horses finish second in turf races at this young meet to horses who were on or close to the pace, so he decided to instruct Franco on Sunday to have Plum Ali forwardly placed.
“Over the last few days, I think we finished second three or four times to horses who have been winning on the lead, so obviously it’s kind of speed-favoring and every horse seems to be winning either on or close to the rail,” Clement said in a post-race television interview. “So when I spoke to Manny this morning, the idea was to be 1-2-3 and not give [the lead] easy to anybody else and he rode a beautiful race.”
Plum Ali had a half-length lead over Invincible Gal through six furlongs in 1:15.28 over a turf course labeled good. She opened up a two-length advantage in midstretch and held off a late run from White Frost, who finished second by a nose over Miss Dracarys, who nosed out Gam’s Mission for third. Gam’s Mission ran a terrific race to get fourth after stumbling badly at the break.
Runaway Rumour, the 5-2 favorite, was fifth, followed by Invincible Gal, Bipartisanship, Flown, Out of Sorts, Quinevere, and Batyah.
Plum Ali, a daughter of First Samurai owned by Michael Dubb, Michael Caruso and Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.11 over the turf labeled good and returned $11.20 as the third choice.
“After we broke like that, I wasn’t thinking to take back,” Franco said. “If they wanted to take the lead, they would have to go faster than me. In the second part of the race, they let me slow down the pace and that was it. She handled it really well.”
Clement said the plan would be to give Plum Ali a break and point to a 4-year-old campaign in 2022.