Shantisara gets up in final strides of Jockey Club Oaks
ELMONT, N.Y. - Shantisara validated her victory in last month’s Grade 3 Pucker Up Stakes at Arlington Park by chasing and finally reeling-in her pacesetting stablemate Higher Truth to win Saturday’s $700,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational at Belmont Park by a half-length as trainer Chad Brown ran 1-2 in the last leg of the New York Racing Association’s Turf Triple series for 3-year-old fillies.
The Brown runners beat European invaders Harajuku and Creative Flair, who finished third and fourth, respectively. Madone and Baby Blythe completed the order of finish. Be Up scratched.
Shantisara, purchased earlier in the year by the triumvirate of Sol Kumin, Michael Dubb, and Robert LaPenta, had briefly been under consideration for the Saratoga Oaks Invitational on Aug. 14, but Brown felt the Irish-bred daughter of Coulsty would benefit from more experience in an easier race like the Pucker Up.
Brown said Shantisara “just needs a little bit more seasoning. That’s where we were able to hook her up with Flavien [Prat] and it just took the filly up another notch, that extra good experience over at Arlington.”
Higher Truth, third in the Belmont Oaks and second in the Saratoga Oaks - the first two legs of the Turf Triple - tried different tactics Saturday as she was sent to the lead by Jose Ortiz.
Higher Truth maintained a one-length advantage through a quarter in 25.51 seconds, a half-mile in 51.70, and six furlongs in 1:18.12 with Shantisara stalking from second.
Turning into the lane, Shantisara confronted Higher Truth and the pair ran together to the wire with Shantisara getting up near the wire.
“She was a bit keen today on a slow pace, she took a little breather around the turn,” Prat said. “When I asked her, she kicked on like she did last time.”
Shantisara covered the 1 3/8 miles in 2:16.91 and returned $11.40 as the fourth choice in the field of six.
“Shantisara is really an improving horse,” Brown said. “I have to say I’m really appreciative to the ownership group, they’ve been super patient letting me sort of develop her at our pace and her pace. She really showed promise.”
Brown was also pleased with the performance turned in by Higher Truth, the 2-1 favorite who despite coming off the pace in the Belmont Oaks and Saratoga Oaks, was effective racing on the lead.
“She’s a really, really nice filly; solid, tough,” Brown said. “She lacks a turn of foot, she’s a bit of a grinder. When she tipped out in the previous two legs, you could see her with dead aim with a chance to win at the eighth pole and couldn’t quite get there. Those horses generally run pretty well on the lead, they don’t have gears. It seemed like a natural thing to try and she nearly pulled it off.”
Harajuku, the 5-2 second choice, broke outward from the outside post, but jockey Ryan Moore said it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Creative Flair was better out of the gate than she was in the Saratoga Oaks, but wound up in a tracking position and didn’t offer an effective late kick.
Brown said it was doubtful he would point either Shantisara or Higher Truth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6.
He mentioned the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita for 3-year-old fillies on Dec. 26 as a possibility, or just freshening the fillies up for a 4-year-old campaign.