Wedding Toast back on favorite track for Beldame
Last week, the question was whether Frosted could fire his best shot in the Pennsylvania Derby on short rest for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and Godolphin. He did. This week, we’ll find out if Wedding Toast can come out shooting off a 16-week break for the same connections in the Grade 1 Beldame. She’ll be favored to win the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares.
Wedding Toast has an affinity for Belmont Park, where she is 4 for 5. During the spring meet, she dominated both the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps and the Grade 2 Ruffian.
“She loves the one turn at Belmont,” McLaughlin said.
On Saturday in the $400,000 Beldame, she will face two-time Grade 1 winner Curalina, who is a 3-year-old facing older rivals, and the rejuvenated Hot Stones, who has reeled off a pair of eye-catching victories.
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Both Wedding Toast and Curalina are targeting the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland. Wedding Toast earned a fees-paid berth in the Distaff with a five-length victory over Untapable in the Phipps, which is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series.
Following that June 6 race, McLaughlin was freshening Wedding Toast with an eye on the Aug. 29 Personal Ensign at Saratoga when she had a minor setback.
“We were trying to make the Personal Ensign with her, but she just wasn’t doing as well as we wanted,” McLaughlin said. “So, we backed off and decided to point for the Beldame.”
Wedding Toast had a foot that was bothering her over the summer, but McLaughlin said she is traveling fine now.
“We have to shoe her differently, but she’s doing great and working great,” he said.
Wedding Toast comes into the Beldame off a series of five workouts that began Aug. 20.
Beldame, race 5
Key contenders
Wedding Toast (Last 3 Beyers: 102-97-80)
◗ Wedding Toast has blossomed into one of the top mares in the country at age 5. She made only one start last year at 4.
“She had a rough knee,” McLaughlin said. “It didn’t require surgery. We just gave her a lot of time.”
Curalina (Last 3 Beyers: 89-92-92)
◗ She ran a remarkable race to win the Grade 1 Acorn on June 6 after being wiped out at the start.
◗ She raced very well in the July 26 Coaching Club American Oaks and was reeling in I’m a Chatterbox at the finish. Although beaten a nose, she was placed first after I’m a Chatterbox drifted out. I’m a Chatterbox came back to win the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx.
◗ Curalina stalked the pace in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama but flattened out to finish third.
“By no means do I think she ran poorly in the Alabama,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I think she just didn’t have that little extra reserve to call on the last part. The form of the race held up well in the Cotillion. This won’t be an easy assignment tackling older mares, but we just felt like timing-wise, it put us in the best position.”
◗ Pletcher has won the Beldame five times since 2005. In 2013, he won with the 3-year-old Princess of Sylmar.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Curalina. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 16-1-3-3 with a $0.38 ROI over the past five years in Grade 1 dirt routes with 3-year-olds facing older. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Hot Stones (Last 3 Beyers: 93-93-77)
◗ Trained by Bruce Levine, she comes into this off a blowout win in the New York-bred Saratoga Dew and a victory in a fourth-level optional-claiming race, defeating fellow Beldame entrant Catch My Drift.
Catch My Drift (Last 3 Beyers: 94-87-74)
◗ Her Beyer Speed Figures have improved in each of her three starts this year, and she finished strongly to win a restricted stakes at Saratoga last out for Chad Brown. She is flying under the radar a bit here.
– additional reporting by David Grening