Bernardini's Half-Sister Carella Debuts Sunday
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NYRA
A loaded field of 2-year-old fillies has lined up for Sunday's sixth race at Saratoga, a seven-furlong sprint on the main track, including half-sisters to multiple Grade 1 winners Shackleford and Bernardini, as well as a $1.9 million 2-year-old-in-training purchase.
Carella, a half-sister to Bernardini, will go out for trainer Tom Albertrani and Godolphin Racing, who campaigned Bernardini for his six-win, Eclipse Award winning sophomore campaign. Albertrani is hopeful that Carella, by Tapit out of Cara Rafaela, will follow in her half-brother's footsteps, and she may be the last of Cara Rafaela's progeny with the opportunity to do so.
"I heard the mare might be retired, so this could be one of the last ones," said Albertrani. "She seems like she's a very precocious type of filly. Her works have been promising and it looks like she's been very focused. We have some high expectations. We're very optimistic she'll make a nice first-time start for us."
While Albertrani believes Carella has a bright future, the trainer acknowledged it will be a difficult task to win at first asking in such a regally-bred field of maidens.
"There are some interesting pedigrees in there; it looks like a good group," he said. "I'm sure everyone is on the same level as we are. They're probably all very optimistic about their chances. Once we lead her over there we'll find out."
Fetching a sales-topping $1.9 million at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, Inheritance will get her career underway for trainer Steve Asmussen and LNJ Foxwoods. A daughter of leading sire Tapit out of an unraced Silver Deputy mare, Inheritance breezed a furlong in 10 1/5 seconds under tack at the OBS sale and sold for $1 million more than the sale's second-highest-priced juvenile. She will have the services of Hall of Famer John Velazquez on Sunday.
Breaking from the rail and making her career debut is Sherini, a half-sister to Shackleford, who won the Grade 1 Preakness, Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, and Grade 1 Clark Handicap in his time with trainer Dale Romans. Sherini, a daughter of Bernardini, is a My Meadowview Farm homebred trained by Graham Motion.
Source: NYRA Communications
Source: NYRA Communications
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