Rivals face off in CCA Oaks

July 20, 2012 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News

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Zo Impressive and Disposablepleasure met for the first time in the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park on June 23, and on Saturday the duo will continue the rivalry born in that contest in the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. The 1 1/8-mile affair for sophomore fillies drew a total of six runners.

Zo Impressive entered the Mother Goose still looking for her first stakes win, but didn’t have an easy go of it. The Tom Albertrani-trained daughter of Hard Spun hooked up with Disposablepleasure in the stretch, and the pair battled it out all the way to the wire, with Zo Impressive just inching clear to be three-quarters of a length best on the line.

The gray miss was making just her second start outside of Florida in that 1 1/16-mile event, as she opened her career with a pair of easy scores at Gulfstream Park in the winter. She was given some time off after running a subpar second in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, but filled that same spot when returning on May 28 in the Grade 1 Acorn. Zo Impressive finally got back to her winning ways in the Mother Goose last out, and will keep regular rider Rajiv Maragh in the irons on Saturday.

“She was training exceptionally well going into the Mother Goose,” Albertani said in regards to the 2-1 morning-line favorite. “She was doing well at the right time, and she came out of the race just as good. This is the best I’ve seen her.

“She ran around two turns at Gulfstream and didn’t have any problems,” the horseman added. “I don’t think the extra distance should be an issue as she was edging away from Disposablepleasure in the last 50 yards of the Mother Goose.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle both Disposablepleasure and In Lingerie, who captured the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan and Grade 3 Bourbonette Oaks in her past two, for the CCA Oaks.

Disposablepleasure actually ran second to In Lingerie in the Black-Eyed Susan, and was seeking for her first win in the Mother Goose since taking the Grade 2 Demoiselle in late November. The gray Giacomo filly ran fourth in her sophomore debut, the Grade 2 Davona Dale, and placed in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks in addition to her last two.

“For a moment, I thought she was going to get there (in the Mother Goose),” Pletcher said. “She just couldn’t get past Zo Impressive. It was another improved effort. Each race this year she has gotten a little better, and hopefully she’ll continue to move forward and maybe knock one of these down one of these days. I think a mile and an eighth suits her well.”

Rosie Napravnik will hold the reins on Disposablepleasure for the first time Saturday.

In Lingerie is the CCA Oaks second favorite at 5-2 on the morning-line, and will try to extend her two-race win streak in the nine-furlong contest. The bay daughter of Cat Chat grabbed herself when stumbling out of the gate of the May 18 Black-Eyed Susan, and came back bloody from that triumph, prompting Pletcher to give her plenty of time to recover. The three-year-old has been training well at Saratoga in preparation for her return, most recently speeding a bullet half-mile in :47 1/5 on Sunday.

“She kind of grabbed herself when she left the gate, and we just needed to make sure that healed up properly,” Pletcher said of In Lingerie. “If we came back in the Mother Goose, that probably would have put her in position where we would have had to skip (either the CCA Oaks or Grade 1 Alabama on August 18). Coming off the big effort we figured the Mother Goose was the logical one [to bypass], and hopefully if things go well we can run her twice here.”

Regular rider John Velazquez is still recovering from injuries suffered in a spill on June 16 at Churchill Downs, so jockey Javier Castellano has the call on In Lingerie.

Questing was made the 3-1 third choice on the morning-line following a nice 3 3/4-length victory against optional claiming rivals at Belmont on June 24. The Hard Spun daughter earned a field-best 107 BRIS Speed rating for that effort, which was just her second attempt on a dirt course. The Kiaran McLaughlin pupil ran second and third by a neck, respectively, in the Oh So Sharp and Prestige Stakes, both Group 3s in England, last year while under the tutelage of trainer John Gosden.

The bay lass made her U.S. debut in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies under the Twin Spires, finishing fifth on that occasion, but didn’t offer much when placed back on turf for her initial two starts this season. Questing keeps Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons for the CCA Oaks, and will run in Godolphin Racing blue on Saturday after carrying the Darley Stable colors in her previous starts.

“She obviously ran huge on the dirt at the Breeders’ Cup and for us the other day, so we’re entering,” said McLaughlin, who is going for his second straight CCA Oaks win after scoring last year with Godolphin’s It’s Tricky.

“It’s a big step up from an allowance to a Grade 1,” he admitted. “It looks like a short, quality field. It’d be great if we could hit the board. We wouldn’t have minded if it was a week later, but we decided to give it a try. She’s a very nice filly.”

The CCA Oaks field is completed by Yara, a chestnut Put It Back filly who is winless in three starts since scoring by a neck in the Davona Dale, and Funny Proposition, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro who is undefeated in two dirt starts while going 2-0-1 from four lifetime races.

Saratoga’s Saturday stakes action will get underway in the 1ST race when a field of nine, including one main-track only entrant, go postward in the $100,000 Willard Straight Stakes. The 5 1/2-furlong turf contest has drawn Great Mills, Zeb, Fiddlers Patriot, Perfect Officer and Bridgetown, who have faced off against each other in different variations in the Grade 3 Shakertown, Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint, Jim McKay Turf Sprint and Parx Dash Handicap. The race also features Yield Bogey, third in a pair of Grade 3s at Belmont in his last two starts.