Saratoga: Deluxe makes long-awaited U.S. debut

The royally bred Deluxe, who had her U.S.-debut postponed when she scratched from the De La Rose Stakes here Aug. 6, is now set to make her first start in more than 10 months in Saturday’s $75,000 Paris Opera Stakes going a mile over the inner turf.

Deluxe is a 4-year-old daughter of Storm Cat out of the mare Hasili, making her a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Banks Hill, Intercontinental, Champs Elysees, Cacique, and Heat Haze. Deluxe won 3 of 6 starts in France when trained by Andre Fabre.

Deluxe was scratched out of the De La Rose due to a high muscle-enzyme count after she had tied up, or cramped, 10 days earlier.

Her trainer, Bill Mott, said that Deluxe has not missed any training time and, though the mile distance of the Paris Opera could be a little short for the filly, it is time to get started.

“I’m anxious about running her,” Mott said. “If we run her, I want to see her run well. She’s been off for nearly a year. My main objective is to get a race into her and run her in the Flower Bowl, if she’s good enough. I have to have enough time in between races. If we don’t run her here, we’ll miss the Flower Bowl, and she’s got to show she belongs. We’re on a fact-finding mission.”

The Paris Opera drew a 10-horse field, including It’s Tea Time, who won an allowance race over Saratoga’s turf course last summer, and Evading Tempete, who finished third in the De La Rose, her first start in eight months.