Starlight
Partners’ Caminadora emerged from a
six-horse scramble for the lead at the eighth pole to win the 41st running
of the $145,250 Regret (GIII) for 3-year-old fillies by three-quarters of a
length over the fast-closing Snow Top Mountain on Saturday afternoon at
Churchill Downs.
Caminadora’s
victory gave trainer Todd Pletcher his third victory of the afternoon
and second stakes score on the day on the heels of Colizeo’s victory in
the Northern Dancer (GIII).
Ridden
by Corey Nakatani, Caminadora was last in the field of 12 in the early
going as Go Ask Alex opened a daylight advantage and led the field
through fractions of :24.01, :48.31 and 1:13.43.
Entering
the far turn, Robby Albarado sent Dynazaper after Go Ask Alex and
assumed the lead at the head of the stretch. Nakatani had Caminadora outside of
horses and in the clear, taking command at midstretch from Dynazaper and
holding off Snow Top Mountain.
Caminadora
ran the 1 1/8 miles on a Matt Winn Turf Course rated as “good” in 1:52.04. The
victory was worth $83,751 and raised Caminadora’s bankroll to $144,878 with a
record of 9-2-1-3. Caminadora is a Kentucky-bred daughter of More Than Ready
out of the Storm Boot mare Stoneway.
Caminadora
returned $66.80, $25.20 and $16.20. Snow
Top Mountain,
under apprentice Freddie Lenclud, returned $16 and $10.20 with Queen
Hazel finishing third, another three-quarters of a length back under Brian
Hernandez Jr., and paying $17.40. It was another neck back to It’s Tea
Time, who was followed in order by Dynazaper, Beautician, La Gran
Bailadora, Jody Slew, Joharmony, Ambitioness, Go Ask
Alex and Queen of the Creek.
The
Regret trophy was presented by Jean Cruguet, jockey of 1977 Triple Crown
winner Seattle Slew.
REGRET QUOTES
COREY
NAKATANI (jockey, CAMINADORA, winner):
“Overall, we had a great trip. (Trainer) Todd (Pletcher) said ‘Let’s try to
save as much ground as we can and try to make one run. She’s not as good as the
others on numbers but she’s been doing good.’ I got pinched back a little at
the start, but we weren’t too worried about that because we wanted to lay back
and get her nice and relaxed and make one run – the winning one – and she
did.”
TODD
PLETCHER (trainer, CAMINADORA, winner):
“She’s a filly that last year showed some promise at 2 and we went to Florida
and wanted to find a way with her a little bit. Her last race wasn’t as good
but over analyzing the race and looking at the figures it was better than it
appeared, so we decided to take a shot. Her choices were to run back in a
one-other-than (allowance) last week or wait the extra week and run here and
give her the extra time. It worked out well and she was able to get a good
trip. She got fanned out pretty wide at the top of the stretch, but it wasn’t a
bad thing here. The main thing was to get her to settle the first part. It’s
been a great day so far. We’ll play it by ear for what’s next.”
FREDDIE
LENCLUD (jockey, SNOW
TOP MOUNTAIN,
second): “The trainer (Tom Proctor)
told me just to take her back and let her relax. There were horses on the
inside so I had to go outside and the better ground was on the outside. She
made a good run down the lane.”