Trainer gives credit to jockey for Maracuja's CCA Oaks upset

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Even some 20 hours later, Rob Atras still sounded in shock when talking about his filly Maracuja’s upset over heavily favored Malathaat in Saturday’s $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga, which gave the trainer his first career Grade 1 victory.

“Every win’s great. To win a race like that, a prestigious Grade 1, especially in Saratoga, I can’t put it into words,” Atras said. “I never expected it, caught me off guard.”

Atras spoke as he was making the three-hour-plus drive to Belmont Park, where was going to check on his 25 head stabled there. Atras, who also has 26 horses in Saratoga, credited jockey Ricardo Santana Jr.’s heady ride for the victory. Santana had Maracuja up on the pace early, took her back to last in the four-horse field and then came three-wide in the stretch to get 14-1 shot Maracuja up by a head over the two-time Grade 1 winner and 1-5 favorite Malathaat, who suffered her first career defeat.

“Brilliant ride by Ricardo, that move he made down the backside won him the race,” Atras said. “He’s very strong, he helped her out down the lane. He seemed like a good fit for her.”

Though he sprinted Maracuja short in her first three starts, Atras always viewed her as a two-turn filly. She showed herself to be that with a good second to Search Results in the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct in April. She had a poor break and ran seventh behind Malathaat in the Kentucky Oaks.

A setback forced Maracuja to miss the Mother Goose on June 26. Atras said the Coaching Club was designed to be a prep for the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama on Aug. 21, a race in which she figures to again meet Malathaat.

“I think she’ll handle the mile-and-a-quarter,” Atras said. “She’s got a big, long stride, she seems to get better the farther she goes.”

Maracuja, a daughter of Honor Code owned by Beach Haven Thoroughbreds, earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure for the Coaching Club victory.

In a race without a confirmed front-runner, Malathaat found herself on the pace under John Velazquez in the Coaching Club. She took initial pressure from Maracuja, then Clairiere, before succumbing late to a resurgent Maracuja.

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Malathaat, like Maracuja, was coming in having not run since the Kentucky Oaks on April 30.

“I thought she ran a determined race and fought hard considering everything she had to fend off during the running and also knowing she’s coming in off a little bit of a freshening, and she probably wasn’t fully cranked up,” Malathaat trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I feel bad for her because up until that point she had never lost.”

Pletcher plans to point Malathaat to the Alabama.