Stidham Shifts Gears With Pirate's Trove

Last week at this time, trainer Mike Stidham was contemplating a trip to New York for yesterday’s $200,000 Pebbles at a mile on the grass for his undefeated Speightstown filly, Pirate’s Trove.

“I had every intention of running her in the Pebbles,” Stidham said. “I had a turf work scheduled last Tuesday that was rained off, so I worked her on the dirt and she worked phenomenal. That is when we shifted gears to supplement to the (Lexus) Raven Run.”

And so it is that Pirate’s Trove will make her dirt debut Saturday after running off three victories on Polytrack.

“She is a big, powerful filly that just needed some time to develop,” Stidham said. “We got her last fall at the Fair Grounds and she didn’t work well at all on the dirt.

“Then we got here in the spring and all of a sudden she worked lights out on the Polytrack.”

A graduate of Keeneland’s 2012 September Yearling Sale, Pirate’s Trove made her debut May 31 at Arlington and ran off the TV screen in a 12¼-length romp going 6½ furlongs.

“She definitely gave us all the signs of being something special in the mornings and we were pretty high on her,” Stidham said of the debut victory.

After the initial victory, Pirate’s Trove was purchased by Al Shahania Racing and continued her career on the Polytrack at Woodbine, where she won the Duchess Stakes going seven furlongs by a nose and the Etobicoke Stakes going six furlongs by 4½ lengths.

Source: Keeneland