Thursday, September 2, 2010
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‘TODD QUAD’ GIVES PLETCHER STRONG HAND IN SPINAWAY
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher will be well represented in the Grade 1, $250,000 Spinaway on Sunday at Saratoga Race Course, sending out four viable candidates in the seven-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies.
Heading the group is Valiant Passion, who was acquired privately by Team Valor after debuting in dominant fashion at
“She has done well since arriving in our barn, and I hope I can get her to run as well as Ralph was able to,” said Pletcher.
Julien Leparoux retains the mount aboard Valiant Passion, who drew post position 5 as the 3-1 morning-line favorite.
Two of Pletcher’s entrants, Stopspendingmaria and Sky Hosoya, are owned by Repole Stable and are coupled in the wagering as the 7-2 second choice.
Stopspendingmaria, a seven-length maiden winner at Belmont Park on July 1 in her second start, was second in the Grade 3 Schuylerville after dueling for the early lead and being tagged in the final sixteenth of a mile.
“With Stopspendingmaria, in her last race [Grade 3 Schuylerville] she had to gun from the rail over a sloppy track; we’ll look to let her settle into a rhythm,” said Pletcher.
John Velazquez will ride Stopspendingmaria from post 2.
Pletcher believes Sky Hosoya, fifth in a
“She ran well enough last time for us to take a shot,” said Pletcher of Sky Hosoya, who will break from post 4 with Javier Castellano in the irons. “She was a filly who cost $50,000 as a yearling, so we were willing to run her for that claiming price, but she had trained better than her first race indicated.”
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“We were impressed by her first race, and she closed strongly at Monmouth, so we think she’ll show continued improvement with more distance,” said Pletcher.
R Heat Lightning, who was tabbed at 4-1 and drew post position 8, will have the services of Garrett Gomez.
The lone graded-stakes winner in the field is Le Mi Geaux, who closed to take the Schuylerville on Opening Day.
“We know she likes the track, and she ran like she’ll like the extra distance,” said Rick Dutrow, Jr., who trains the filly for Lansdon B. Robbins, III. “The pace won’t really matter as she blew them out gate-to-wire in her maiden win and came from nearly last in the Schuylerville.”
Dutrow believes his filly will have to improve off her Schuylerville victory in order to win the Spinaway.
“I think the talent of the other horses will be the key, and I hope she’ll be able to step up against them,” said Dutrow.
Alienation, trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, has remained at
Rounding out the field are Abide, a 3 ½-length debut winner at
The field for the Grade 1 Spinaway:
| Program No. | PP | Horse | Jockey | Wgt | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | 2 | Stopspendingmaria (FL) | J R Velazquez | 119 | T A Pletcher | 7-2 |
| 1a | 4 | Sky Hosoya (KY) | J Castellano | 119 | T A Pletcher | 7-2 |
| 2 | 1 | Abide (KY) | | 119 | S M Asmussen | 5-1 |
| 3 | 3 | Alienation (KY) | C Hill | 119 | B Baffert | 4-1 |
| 4 | 5 | Valiant Passion (KY) | J R Leparoux | 119 | T A Pletcher | 3-1 |
| 5 | 6 | Le Mi Geaux (KY) | F Lenclud | 119 | R E Dutrow, Jr. | 6-1 |
| 6 | 7 | Coax | J C Caraballo | 119 | J L Lawrence, II | 15-1 |
| 7 | 8 | R Heat Lightning (FL) | G K Gomez | 119 | T A Pletcher | 4-1 |
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