Tecumseh Caroline heads into open company, looking for fourth straight win
?q=100)
Tecumseh Caroline has amassed a three-race winning streak against California-bred fillies and mares since early December at Del Mar and Santa Anita.
Racing against statebreds was part of that success, along with a gradual increase in distances. How Tecumseh Caroline rates against open company will be determined to some extent in Sunday’s fifth race at Santa Anita, an allowance race at a mile.
“I think she’s a filly on the improve,” trainer Phil D’Amato said Friday. “We’ll see where that takes her.”
Racing for owner and breeder Nick Alexander, Tecumseh Caroline has won twice this year, in an allowance race at a mile on Feb. 3 and a similar race at 1 1/8 miles on March 17 that was scheduled for turf and transferred to dirt because of wet conditions.
In all three of her wins, beginning with a maiden race at six furlongs at Del Mar in December, Tecumseh Caroline stalked the pace before taking the lead in the stretch.
“She likes long on the dirt,” D’Amato said. “She’s a nice filly that is a stamina-driven filly. She’s tactical and she likes to win.”
“It took us a while to figure out what surface she was best at and what distance.”
Tecumseh Caroline is part of a field of five that includes Trouville, who was second in an allowance race March 18; Heels Up and Lucky for You, who are trained by Bob Baffert; and the former maiden claimer Awesome Taylor.
The eight-race program, which begins at 1 p.m. Pacific, does not have a stakes race.
Trouville is winless in 14 starts since a starter allowance at a mile at Los Alamitos in September 2021. Trained by Leonard Powell, Trouville was beaten a head at 7-1 on March 18, racing within a length of the lead through the stretch under jockey Abel Cedillo.
Trouville has won 3 of 33 starts, with 11 second-place finishes and 8 thirds.
“She’s been a bridesmaid,” Powell said. “She’s got a lot of seconds and thirds. Hopefully, it will be her day on Sunday.”
Powell said Trouville’s best chance is to stay near expected pacesetter Lucky for You.
“There are a few races when she was too far back,” Powell said. “Abel gets on well with her.
“She’s made more than $200,000, so we can’t fault her.”
Lucky for You, a $400,000 purchase as a weanling in 2019, finished third in an allowance race on the hillside turf course April 28, but was disqualified and placed 10th for causing interference when the field crossed onto the main turf course.
The winner of a maiden race at a mile on turf on April 3, Lucky for You will start on dirt for the first time in her fifth career start Sunday.
This is the second start of the year for Heels Up, a $350,000 purchase as a 2-year-old in training in 2020. She finished last of six in an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 28 in her first start in nearly 14 months. She was stakes-placed at Del Mar in 2020.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.