Wilson Chute, Tarabi perform to expectations in Wilton Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The first race out of the reconstructed Wilson Chute appeared to go without incident Thursday at Saratoga with favored Tarabi winning the $135,000 Wilton Stakes and none of her vanquished foes seemingly inhibited by the configuration of the one-mile race.

Tarabi, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Spinaway here last September, stalked the pacesetting Angitude, took over from that one inside the three-sixteenths pole and held off an inside rallying Goddess of Fire to win by three-quarters of a length. Goddess of Fire, next to last early, edged Angitude by a head for second. It was 6 1/4 lengths back to Gina Romantica in fourth.

Favor, St Maarten Girl, and A Mo Reay completed the order of finish. Sweet Solare and Let’s Be Clear were scratched.

The reconstruction of the Wilson Chute - dismantled in 1972 - was to allow one-mile races to be run on dirt. In 1992, one-mile dirt race were run out of a gate positioned on an angle on the turn, that seemed to favor inside posts. Under this configuration, horses run straight out of a chute before having to make a left-turn that comes up about an eighth of a mile into the race.

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One of the concerns from the jockeys - some of whom broke horses out of the gate on Tuesday - was the run to the first turn was too short and it could create logjams heading into the turn leading to the backstretch. There didn’t seem to be any issues of that nature in Thursday’s Wilson.

“We have plenty of room from the gate all the way to the first turn,” said Javier Castellano, who rode Tarabi to victory. “We’re not going to have any problem I think [if] everybody plays safe, there’s plenty of room for everybody to get position on the first turn. I think it worked out great.”

“Everything went well,” said John Velazquez, the rider of runner-up Goddess of Fire.

In the Wilton, Angitude, under Joel Rosario cleared the field early with Tarabi, under Castellano, staking her from second. The posted fractions were 24.75 for the quarter and 48.70 for the opening half, though Rosario felt he was going faster than that.

Tarabi, in the four path in the stretch, took over from Angitude at the three-sixteenths pole and persevered to the wire. Tarabi, a daughter of First Samurai owned by LBD Stable, Manganaro Bloodstock, and David Ingordo, and trained by Cherie DeVaux, covered the mile in 1:38.53 and returned $4.40 as the 6-5 favorite.

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After running second in the Spinaway here last year, Tarabi ended her 2-year-old season with a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. In her lone start this year, Tarabi finished second in an allowance at Churchill Downs.

Last year, in the Spinaway, Tarabi bobbled and hit the side of the gate and tried to chase Echo Zulu around the track. Thursday, she had a much cleaner trip.

“We were trying to figure out what works best for her and her running style because she had been on the chase from a bad break here,” DeVaux said. “It was nice to see she settled, came with a run, and persevered to the wire.”

DeVaux said Tarabi would be aimed at the Grade 1, $500,000 Test going seven furlongs here on Aug. 6.