Royal Flag has something to prove in Shuvee
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Royal Flag finished third as the 3-2 favorite in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher last month at Monmouth Park. Trainer Chad Brown thinks he knows what went wrong.
“She didn’t seem to be handling the heat well,” Brown said. “In the post parade, she was really, really washed out. Exiting the race, she had a minor bout of heat exhaustion when she came to the barn. I think she’s better than that.”
Royal Flag will get the chance to prove that Sunday when she is expected to face eight rivals in the Grade 3, $125,000 Shuvee Stakes for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga.
Prior to the Molly Pitcher, Royal Flag had won three consecutive races, starting with a maiden race at Aqueduct last Dec. 15 and then a first-level allowance race by nine lengths at Gulfstream in February. Following a three-month freshening, Royal Flag won a second-level allowance at Churchill Downs.
Since the Molly Pitcher, Brown has liked what he’s seen from Royal Flag in the mornings.
“She’s always showed a lot of promise,” he said. “I’m excited to get into the Shuvee.”
Javier Castellano rides from post 9.
An interesting filly in the field is Lucky Stride, who went 8 for 11 in Puerto Rico and who makes her U.S. debut and first start for trainer Michael Trombetta.
Lucky Stride won a race in June in Puerto Rico, then shipped to Trombetta at Fair Hill. Lucky Stride has breezed twice at Saratoga, once in company with Win Win Win – who was entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego – and then by herself.
“We’ll have to see if her form will hold up against these horses here, but from a training standpoint I couldn’t be any happier with her,” Trombetta said. “I haven’t seen anything in her that I don’t like. Now we have to see if she’s good enough.”
Jose Ortiz rides Lucky Stride from the rail.
Trainer Todd Pletcher sends out the trio of Nonna Madeline, Bellera, and Another Broad.
Nonna Madeline won the Summer Colony Stakes here Aug. 5, a race in which Bellera finished third. That was Nonna Madeline’s first start at 1 1/8 miles.
“We always thought she’d stretch out around two turns,” Pletcher said. “She ran pretty well going a mile and a sixteenth at Oaklawn. [The Summer Colony] was her first chance to go a mile and an eighth, and I thought she saw it out pretty well.”
Bellera ran at Gulfstream, Delaware Park, and here three times in a two-month period. Pletcher believes that schedule worked against her, leading to a dull performance in the Summer Colony.
“I feel like she’s coming into this a little sharper than she did the last one,” Pletcher said.
John Velazquez rides Bellera from post 2.
Pletcher entered Another Broad as main track only in several spots, but those races never came off the turf. She ends up here having not won since taking the Top Flight at Aqueduct in April 2019.
Our Super Freak, who finished 5 1/2 lengths clear of Royal Flag in the Molly Pitcher; Golden Award, last year’s Shuvee winner; Lucky Move; and Letruska complete the field.