How Good is Kauai Katie?

Last year’s undefeated two year-old filly champion, My Miss Aurelia, broke her maiden at first asking on opening day at Saratoga in race 5 on July 22, 2011. In race 5 on July 20, which was also the first day of the 2012 Saratoga meeting, the juvenile filly Kauai Katie broke her maiden in her first attempt.
 
Both of the fillies are owned by the Stonestreet Stable of Barbara Banke. My Miss Aurelia was bred by Stonestreet and owned in partnership with George Bolton and is trained by Steve Asmussen. Kauai Katie was a $490,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton March two year-old sale and is under the care of Todd Pletcher.
 
My Miss Aurelia beat a field of seven in her five and a half furlong maiden race by one length in a time of 1:03-2, earning a BSF of 86.  Kauai Katie went the same distance also against a field of seven, winning by a widening margin of twelve lengths. Katie’s time of 1:03.62 translated into a BSF of 100 on a track that was not playing particularly fast and she was clearly being eased up in the final sixteenth of a mile after a little trouble at the start.
 
Taking a look at the BSF’s from the maiden victories of past two year-old filly Eclipse Award winners, Kauai Katie ran the second fastest race since 1992. There was only one other triple digit BSF and that was Chilukki's 109 going four and a half furlongs at Churchill Downs in 1999. This is not to say that Kauai Katie is guaranteed to win her divisional championship, but take a look at the chart to see how her maiden victory compares with those of the past champions.
 
Trainer Todd Pletcher was pleased with Katie’s first race. “Anytime you have a first-time starter you’re always worried they won’t get away cleanly and the rail sort of limits your options. We knew she was quick and she was able to overcome that little bit of a stumble. She’s a fast filly and is bred to be precocious.”
 
 
At the same time Pletcher was cautiously optimistic about the future of this daughter of Malibu Moon. “I think [Kauai Katie will] excel at the shorter to mid-distances. We’ll see how she comes out of it and go from there, but we won’t rule out anything, yet.”  

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