The question of who is the top
3-year-old filly in the country could be resolved at Saratoga Race Course on
August 21.
Devil May Care, who scored her second Grade 1 victory of the year in
Saturday’s Betfair TVG Coaching Club American Oaks, will be pointed to the
Grade 1 Betfair TVG Alabama on that day, a race that already been mentioned as
a likely next start for the nation’s other top sophomore filly, Blind Luck,
also a two-time Grade 1 winner this year.
“Blind Luck is obviously a
top-class filly,” said Devil May Care’s trainer, Todd Pletcher. “When we
decided to go to the [Kentucky] Derby, and she won the
[Kentucky Oaks], it gave her a bit of an upper hand. I think we made up some
ground in the last couple, and it’s going to come down to a head-to-head
matchup at some point.
“The Alabama is going to be a good spot to find
out.”
Pletcher added that the Malibu
Moon filly came out of her Betfair TVG Coaching Club American Oaks performance
in excellent order.
“It would be hard for me to see
her run any better than she did yesterday,” said Pletcher. “When Johnny
[Velazquez] turned for home, he was loaded. The way she finished and the way
she galloped out was very impressive. She’s one of those horses that has
natural stamina.”
Devil
May Care, who was 10th in the Derby,
now has back-to-back Grade 1 wins, having taken the Mother Goose at Belmont Park
on June 26, and also the Grade 2 Bonnie Miss at Gulfstream Park.
The California-based Blind Luck,
trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, has been no worse than third in 12 lifetime
starts. She began her 2010 campaign with a victory in the Grade 1 Las Virgenes,
and in addition to the Kentucky Oaks also won the Grade 2 Fantasy and the Grade
2 Delaware Oaks in her most recent start.
“She’s got that little extra
something, that she wants to win, and gets her nose down at the wire,” said
Pletcher of Blind Luck, who has won three races by a nose this year.
Pletcher postponed until Monday
the works of the nation’s top older male, Quality Road, whose next start
will be the Grade 1 Whitney on August 7, as well as that of Kentucky Derby
winner Super Saver. The trainer is hoping that both Super Saver and Aikenite,
who goes in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy, will both make the Spa’s
premier event, the 141st running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers
on Saturday, August 28.
The trainer added that Winaholic,
third to Aikenite in an allowance at Belmont
Park, will start next in
the Curlin on August 1 and could also make the “Midsummer Derby.”
“If he fires big, it will be under
consideration,” he said.