Sunday TimeformUS Highlight Horse: Caldwell Luvs Gold can improve on promising debut

Saratoga | Race 7 | Post Time 4:30 p.m. (ET)

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The lone maiden in this field, Stellamaris (#6), might be the horse to beat as she comes into this with the top last-out speed figure. She wasn’t the quickest into stride on debut, but made steady progress off the far turn and was bearing down on the leaders before the winner got away from her late. That came against open company and seemed like a reasonably strong race for the level. Horacio De Paz has decent stats with second-time starters, but I am mildly concerned about the slight cutback to 7 furlongs, since she seems like one who may ultimately want to go longer than this.

My Shea D Lady (#2) also faced open company foes on debut, winning impressively by 3 lengths at Gulfstream. I really liked the way this filly finished up, but that was just 5F and now she has to stretch out a bit. The 3rd-place finisher came back to win a $35k maiden claimer. She stacks up well against this field from a speed figure standpoint and merits consideration.

My top pick needs to get a little faster, but I think that’s likely to happen. It’s not every day that you see a 2-year-old rally from last to first on debut, and that’s exactly what Caldwell Luvs Gold (#1) did as she was taken back after a tardy start, but began to advance powerfully on the turn and sustained that move all the way through the wire. She certainly got some help up front, as the pace was quick, but she still deserves credit for overcoming adversity. Brad Cox is a remarkable 23 for 53 (43%, $2.86 ROI) with last-out debut winners making their second starts in dirt sprints over 5 years. There’s obviously some talent here. She has to be more engaged early this time, as it’s unlikely she'll get the same setup in this smaller field, but I’m expecting a step forward.