Strong group gathers with Alabama left as anyone's game
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kenny McPeek was right. Had he chosen to run Thorpedo Anna in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama at Saratoga, the 1 1/4-mile race for 3-year-old fillies would have most likely been a non-event.
But with Thorpedo Anna pointing to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers against the boys on Aug. 24, Saturday’s Alabama, at least from a wagering perspective, is a much more intriguing affair. The race drew a field of eight and though Candied, second to Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks here July 20, will likely be favored, she is no cinch.
“It’s a very competitive race,’’ said Ian Wilkes, trainer of Alabama entrant Just Basking. “There’s eight horses, there’s eight horses that can win.”
Just Basking, a daughter of 2016 Travers winner Arrogate, is certainly near the top of the contender’s list. She comes into the Alabama off a 4 3/4-length victory in the Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows. While the competition she beat that day was suspect, Just Basking did it the right way, rallying from last of five to win emphatically. Two starts before that, Just Basking won a 1 1/4-mile maiden race at Churchill by 7 3/4 lengths. In between those two races, Just Basking finished fifth in a first-level allowance, but Wilkes saw something that day that he liked.
“They went real slow, she got a little confused,” Wilkes said. “What I really liked about it was the last 150 yards, she caught on and finished off the race really good and then she trained much better after that and she showed it in the Iowa Oaks. I know one thing, I can get a good mile and a quarter.”
Just Basking, who will be ridden by Chris Landeros, has developed a style where she drops back to last and comes with a run.
The primary speed in the Alabama is likely Chatalas, a daughter of Gun Runner who came off a six-month layoff to win the Grade 3 Indiana Oaks by a head after getting passed in the stretch. Mark Glatt is the trainer of record of Chatalas, but since her victory in the Indiana Oaks, she stayed in Kentucky with trainer Grant Forster, who was the trainer of record for that race.
“She’s really done well since the Indiana race,” Forster said Thursday morning at Saratoga. “It was a real impressive work she had at Churchill [five furlongs in 59.80 seconds] before she came over. She just had a maintenance work here on Sunday to get a feel for the track in Saratoga.”
Glatt, who is starting his first horse in Saratoga in 20 years, believes the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Alabama should suit Chatalas.
“I don’t think distance is going to be a problem for her,” Glatt said. “She’s got good natural route speed, she’s never really been one to get tired in any of her races. If she can get a clean trip, a mile and a quarter is well within her wheelhouse.”
Frankie Dettori rides Chatalas from post 2.
Candied was a Grade 1-winning 2-year-old filly who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She’s had a disjointed 3-year-old campaign, finishing fourth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Ashland, her first start in five months. She didn’t get into the Kentucky Oaks field from the also-eligible list and wound up running against older fillies in the Lady’s Secret at Monmouth, a race she won by 4 1/2 lengths over Honor D Lady, who came back to win the Delaware Handicap.
In the Coaching Club American Oaks, Candied made a run at Thorpedo Anna approaching the top of the stretch, was rebuffed, and had to settle for second.
“When Thorpedo Anna didn’t get away real well, I thought as we kind of loomed up and made a big move at her we had a shot, but the other filly was just too good,” said Todd Pletcher, trainer of Candied and a four-time Alabama winner.
Pletcher also sends out Miss Justify, a daughter of Justify, who is coming off a win in the one-mile Wilton Stakes last month. Last year, Randomized won the Alabama coming off a victory in the Wilton.
Power Squeeze, a daughter of 2012 Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags, has won 4 of 6 starts this year – all stakes – including the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks and, most recently, the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks. In between, she finished third behind Thorpedo Anna in the Grade 1 Acorn.
Trainer Jorge Delgado said in recent weeks, with cooler weather on the Jersey Shore where the filly is based at Monmouth Park, Power Squeeze has “been doing better than any of the races before,” he said. “We also feel the longer distance she goes, the better she feels. I think the distance is going to be a good thing for us.”
Intricate is the only horse to have defeated Thorpedo Anna, doing so by 5 1/4 lengths in last November’s Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes. She is 0 for 4 this year, including a well-beaten third behind Thorpedo Anna in the CCA Oaks.
Neon Icon won her first two starts, including a 1 1/4-mile maiden race at Churchill in May. She finished fifth behind Chatalas in the Indiana Oaks.
America’s Vow is coming off a front-running, slow-paced allowance win going 1 1/8 miles here July 28. America’s Vow is trained by Tim Hamm, who is 3 for 5 at this meet.
The Alabama goes as race 10 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:35 p.m.
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