Elate rolls home a big winner of the Grade 1 Alabama
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Photo:
NYRA
Saturday's 137th edition of the Grade 1 Alabama looked wide open on paper, but as we know, the race is not run on paper. Elate, building upon a summer emergence, took command at the head of the stretch and rolled home all alone in the prestigious race for three-year-old fillies today at Saratoga, a 5 1/2-length winner.
After running the division leader, Abel Tasman, all the way to the wire in the Coaching Club American Oaks here at Saratoga four weeks ago, the Bill Mott-trained daugter of Medaglia d'Oro was shown plenty of respect at the windows, despite the presence of four other fillies coming in directly off important wins. Sent off at 4-1, Elate broke from the starting gate under Jose Ortiz from the seven-hole, and immediately found a comfortable stalking position.
At 13-1 on the board, the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained It Tiz Well went right out to the lead. While the Delaware Oaks winner set a strong early pace, a host of talented fillies tracked close behind. Among them were New Money Honey, Holy Helena, and Unchained Melody, recent winners of the Belmont Oaks, Queen's Plate, and Mother Goose, respectively. Not far behind them was the good looking Elate, as It Tiz Well carved out testing early fractions of :23.46, :46.96, and 1:10.92
Unfortunately, Unchained Melody backed out suddenly heading into the far turn, and did not finish the race. Thankfully, she did appear to be sound after the race, according to early reports.
While one of the other favorites dropped back, Elate moved up smartly on the outside to be the most immediate threat to the leader, as the field of nine spun out of the turn. Elate quickly collared a game It Tiz Well, and went right on by. Other than the winner, Salty, who found room on the inside, was moving best down the lane, but was never a worry to the impressive Elate.
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Final time for the mile and a quarter over the fast main track at the Spa was 2:02.19. It Tiz Well, who led all the way into the stretch, just held off Salty for the place, while Actress completed the superfecta.
"She broke well and put me into a great position going into the first turn on the backside," explained the winning rider. "When I got to the three-eighths pole, I felt I had a lot of horse underneath me. I just went along with her and as we entered the stretch, she really got going and I didn't look back, I kept riding. It's a Grade 1 and I didn't want to look back for anybody, I just focused on riding her to the finish," added Ortiz.
With the victory, the homebred for Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider raised her career record to 8-3-3-1. She broke her maiden in her career debut on Cigar Mile day at Aqueduct by more than a dozen lengths, and two starts back, she scored a confidence building win in the listed Light Hearted Stakes at Delaware Park. Elate (Medaglia d'Oro--Cheery, by Distorted Humor) also raised her career earnings to $530,325, with her big win in the historic, $600,000 affair.
"We gave her a little bit of time after she broke her maiden and we started cranking her up and getting her ready for the races, and it was just kind of like she really hadn't come alive yet," said Mott. "She was doing fine; her works were good without being spectacular and you could tell she was probably a filly that was going through a little bit of a growing stage, a development stage. We said then that she probably wouldn't be on her game for the Kentucky Oaks, that she was more of an Alabama filly and that's exactly how it worked out.
As the third choice in the wagering, Elate returned $10.60, $6.00, and $4.20 across the board. The $2 exacta over the longshot front runner was good for $155.00, while the 7-3-6 trifecta completed by the late running Salty, paid a handsome $907.00.
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