Stopchargingmaria overcomes stumble, cut to take duPont Distaff
BALTIMORE – Stopchargingmaria stepped on herself at the start and still proceeded to walk all over her 11 opponents in the Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire duPont Distaff on Friday at Pimlico.
Heavily favored, Stopchargingmaria began her journey with a stumble, her hind leg landing on the back of her left-front foot and tearing away a chunk of flesh. If the wound bothered her, Stopchargingmaria didn’t show it.
With help from a fast, contested pace, she bolted to the lead in upper stretch and cruised to a four-length victory under John Velazquez, paying $3.20 to win. Yahilwa ran gamely for second after setting a pressured pace, finishing a neck in front of Joint Return, who was a neck better than Blue Violet. The winner was timed in 1:50.38 for 1 1/8 miles on a fast track,
Stopchargingmaria settled mid-pack after gaining her balance, racing sixth and fifth around the clubhouse turn and down the backstretch as Yahilwa, hounded first by Queen’s Blade and then by Brenda’s Way, laid down demanding splits of 23.22 seconds, 46.53, and 1:11.25. Meanwhile, Velazquez, looking supremely confident in the saddle, commenced a rally at about the half-mile pole, moving four wide on the turn, measuring Yahilwa at the quarter pole, and quickly finishing her off with a burst after straightening up for home.
“Once I got my position, I was pleased,” Velazquez said. “After that, I was pretty confident.”
Stopchargingmaria, originally owned by Repole Stables, was sold to Town and Country Farm last November. She finished second in her 4-year-old debut, the seven-furlong Madison on April 4 at Keeneland, and subsequently was considered for races in Kentucky and New York before trainer Todd Pletcher circled the duPont. Stopchargingmaria won the Black-Eyed Susan a year ago in her only previous local appearance, and clearly handles the racing surface here.
There are no set plans for her next start, according to Pletcher, who said she would be considered for the Ogden Phipps on the Belmont Stakes card while suggesting that race might come up too quickly for Stopchargingmaria. The 4-year-old Stopchargingmaria won the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks and the Grade 1 Alabama last summer at Saratoga, where rich prizes await again this summer. By Tale of the Cat out of the Montbrook mare Exotic Bloom, Stopchargingmaria won for the seventh time in 13 starts.