Wonder Gadot, Monomoy Girl may get rematch in Cotillion
After Wonder Gadot finished last of 10 in Saturday's Grade 1 Travers Stakes, trainer Mark Casse said the Gary Barber-owned filly came out of the racefine and “went super” while training Wednesday morning.
“I don’t think anybody saw her 'A' game the other day,” Casse said by phone. “I don’t really have a great explanation for it -- why she didn’t run better. There were a lot of good horses in that race that didn’t run very well. Maybe she just had a bad day.”
Wonder Gadot broke from post two and sat on the rail in fourth. Turning for home, the filly didn’t show her usual run and faded in the stretch. The favorite, Good Magic, finished only one place ahead of her while his stablemate and second choice, Gronkowski, finished third to last.
“Thinking back, it’s one of the few times, maybe even the first time, that she’s ever been down on the rail and buried and I don’t know if that affected her or not,” Casse said. “I’m not really one to make any excuses. She ran. She just didn’t run her race.”
With the Travers behind and Wonder Gadot in good shape, her connections are considering another Grade 1 start should the 3-year-old filly continue to train well.
“The Cotillion could be a possibility,” Casse said by phone. “It’s a little shorter than we like, if it was a little longer we’d definitely be going, but it’s something we’re going to look at. It’s one of the options.”
Run at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-old fillies, the Cotillion Stakes is scheduled for Sept. 22 at Parx. Also pointing to the race is Monomoy Girl, who survived a claim of foul to beat Wonder Gadot by half a length in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in their previous meeting.
Unlike most of her competition, Wonder Gadot has been in consistent training since before her career debut a year ago. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro has raced 14 times at eight tracks, winning five times and finishing off the board only twice.
As for the Breeders’ Cup, for which Monomoy Girl is currently the Distaff co-favorite with 4-year-old Abel Tasman, Wonder Gadot’s connections are waiting to make a decision.
“Right now I would just concentrate on her next start,” Casse said. “The only thing we have on our radar currently is the Cotillion. That’s all. We got to see how she does for a little while before we make any commitments.”