Uni edges Precieuse in De La Rose Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Good things are worth the wait, and that has certainly been the case for Uni this year. The filly won her season debut off a six-month layoff and - well over three months later - remained perfect in two starts this year when she edged stablemate Precieuse by a head in the $100,000 De La Rose Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga.

Uni, a Grade 2 winner last year, set a course record winning the Plenty of Grace Stakes on April 14 at Aqueduct. She was entered in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes in May, but became ill after shipping to California and scratched.

"She's done well," trainer Chad Brown said. "Thankfully, we were able to get her home after her illness, and the ownership group was real patient with her and let me get her back right again - feeling good, training well. We picked this race out three weeks ago."

Uni ($7.20) hit the gate while breaking from the inside post under Irad Ortiz Jr., and was last as the field headed into the first turn.

"She hit the door pretty good, so I let her settle and then come running on in the end," Ortiz said.

Still last with a quarter-mile remaining, Uni swung five wide into the lane to launch her rally with the target her stablemate Precieuse, who had poked a head in front of game pacesetter Pas de Soucis at that point. The two Brown trainees engaged in a spirited tussle inside the final sixteenth, with Uni prevailing by a head.

The time for the mile on the inner turf course, officially rated soft, was 1:40.09, nearly seven seconds off the course record. The De La Rose was the only race of the day that remained on the turf, as heavy rain overnight in Saratoga Springs forced the postponement of two stakes, the Lure and the Waya, and moved undercard races off the course. The De La Rose scratched from nine entries down to a starting field of seven, but Brown felt confident in his duo.

"They've been training so similar," Brown said. "I was confident both of them would be able to handle the ground, and Uni had just a little bit more today."

Precieuse, who has worked in company with Uni recently, was making her first start since June 2017, and first under Brown's care in the U.S. The filly won the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in France last year.

"She's off a long layoff, had a right to get just a little bit tired at the end," Brown said. "I thought she ran great - they were just noses apart. I think she has a bright future ahead of her, as well."

Javier Castellano, aboard Precieuse, had high praise to offer the newcomer.

"She had to go two turns, and usually European horses are [used to] running straight. This time, she had to turn and got a little confused, but I could tell in the last part of the race, she started switching leads. I'm not disappointed at all. I think she's one of the best fillies in the country."

After the top two, it was two lengths back to Pas de Soucis, who held third by three-quarters of a length over On Leave. She was followed, in order, by Lido, Bletchley, and last year's winner Thundering Sky.