Curalina prevails in Acorn

With a rally that was reminiscent of her dad, Curlin, Curalina prevailed in the Grade 1, $750,000 TVG Acorn Stakes over a full field of 3-year-old fillies today at Belmont Park.

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners (#6) Curalina (7-1) let the early speed do the dirty work and ran down 30-1 longshot (#3) By the Moon in the final strides to claim victory by a neck. It was another 3/4 lengths back to (#2) Wonder Gal (16-1) earning the SHOW purse, who was 4 1/2 lengths clear of (#12) Danzatrice (23-1) completing the 6-3-2-12 Superfecta which for 10 cents returned $2,549.20.

Curalina rewarded her backers paying $16.40 to Win, $8.90 to Place and $6.20 to Show. By the Moon returned a hefty $26.40 to Place and $13.40 to Show and Wonder Gal rewarded Show bettors with $9.70. The $2 6-3 Exacta returned $366.00 and $2 6-3-2 Trifecta paid $3,531.00.     It certainly wasn’t a dream trip for jockey John Velazquez aboard the winner. “She got squeezed badly out of the starting gate. We ended up far back, I put her in the clear and she got a little bit rank on the backstretch. I let her do a little bit and tried to settle her on the turn, which she did, and she finished up well.” Trainer Todd Pletcher spoke with relief in his voice that his lightly raced daughter of Curlin came through in this Grade 1 event. “She’s a filly we’d had high hopes for for a long time. We felt she was one of the best 2-year-old fillies last year, unfortunately she had some baby stuff that she needed some time off for. She came back and ran impressively in both starts [and] we came here with the Acorn in mind and then she made it an easy decision by how well she trained.”

The early pace was quick as Promise Me Silver and Miss Ella vied for the early lead through fractions of 22.89 and 45.42. After three quarters in 1:09.13, the leaders were passed by By the Moon who opened up on the field by 2 lengths by mid-stretch, but could not hold off the late charge of Curalina. 
   So what’s next for the latest 3-year-old female equine star? Pletcher stated, “I’ll talk to Aron Wellman at Eclipse [Thoroughbred Partners, owner]. I doubt we’d want to run back in the Mother Goose in three weeks, but we won’t rule it out. Coaching Club [American Oaks at Saratoga] would make a lot of sense.” The final running time for the one mile G1 Acorn Stakes run on the main oval at Belmont Park, labeled as fast, was 1:35.13.