Cotillion Stakes an 'appealing' option for unbeaten Guarana
Guarana so far has aced every test her connections have presented.
The 3-year-old Ghostzapper filly waxed her competition by 14 ¾ lengths April 19 on debut at Keeneland.
Then she stepped all the way up to Grade 1 company June 8 in Belmont Park’s Acorn Stakes. She routed that field by six lengths, setting a new stakes record in the process.
Guarana’s latest task came last Sunday in the 1 1/8-mile Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga, where she was asked to go two turns for the first time. Once again, the Three Chimneys Farm homebred handled the challenge well and scored by a length.
“I think when you keep winning and doing it where she was in total control, it’s all pretty good,” said Doug Cauthen, Three Chimneys' vice chairman.
The only uncertain moment from Guarana’s win Sunday came in the stretch. Jockey Jose Ortiz went to a left-handed whip just outside the sixteenth pole, causing the Chad Brown trainee to veer in front of rival Point of Honor.
Ortiz managed to straighten Guarana, and she went on through to finish the victory. Point of Honor’s ownership claimed a foul against Guarana alleging interference in the stretch, but stewards upheld the race result.
“Jose knows her really well and has a lot of faith in her, obviously,” Cauthen said. “He rode a smart race. Other than her overreacting to the left-handed stick, it was a pretty clean effort.”
The year-end goal for Guarana is the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, scheduled for Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park.
In between her most recent start and that championship event, Cauthen said a logical step is the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1) on Sept. 21 at Parx Racing. The race for 3-year-old fillies goes 1 1/16 miles over the main track.
Cauthen said the Cotillion “is a little more appealing” for Guarana’s next race than Saratoga’s $600,000 Alabama Stakes (G1) on Aug. 17. Point of Honor and another of Brown’s star 3-year-old fillies, Dunbar Road, are targeting the 1 ¼-mile Alabama.
The Cotillion offers Guarana another month between races as compared to the Alabama. It also carries a more lucrative purse and a “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup Distaff ticket.
“We’ll just let the filly tell us and let Chad make the final decision where she goes,” Cauthen said. “I think that ‘Win and You’re In’ and $1 million certainly is appealing.”
Three female runners, Entropia (Gran Premio Criadores), Midnight Bisou (Ogden Phipps Stakes) and Elate (Fleur de Lis), have earned Breeders’ Cup Distaff berths by winning challenge series events. The Cotillion is one of five Distaff series “Win and You’re In” races left on the schedule.
Guarana hasn’t yet faced the older fillies and mares that she’d square off against if she qualified for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff field.
“I think you have to keep improving to expect to beat them,” Cauthen said. “Certainly, (Guarana) has to keep going forward the rest of the year to even consider that. We’ll take it one race at a time, as they say.”
Restless Rider back in training
Another of Three Chimneys' 3-year-old fillies, Restless Rider, is back in light training after taking time off to heal what Cauthen described in June as a sore back.
Ownership hopes to return Restless Rider back to trainer Kenny McPeek’s stable next week, Cauthen said.
“She looks great,” Cauthen said Thursday. “She’s put on a lot of condition, looks really good. So I’m very pleased with her recovery and bounce back.
“But I think we’ll just have to let Kenny see how she shapes up.”
Restless Rider won last October’s Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, then finished second to Jaywalk in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
The daughter of Distorted Humor, who is also campaigned by Fern Circle Stables, has run just twice at 3. She was runner-up April 6 in Keeneland’s Ashland Stakes (G1), then a flat 12th on May 3 in the Kentucky Oaks before taking a break.