Check
the Label will aim for her fourth consecutive victory at as many tracks when
she competes at Saratoga Race Course on Sunday in the Grade 2, $150,000
Woodford Reserve Lake Placid for 3-year-old fillies on the turf.
Third,
second, and fourth in three stakes at Gulfstream
Park
over the winter, Check the Label earned a breakthrough victory in Keeneland’s
Grade 3 Appalachian on April 15. After overcoming traffic trouble to win the
Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont
Park
on Labor Day, the daughter of Stormin Fever most recently closed into a slow
pace to take the Grade 3 Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs on July 17.
“She’s
just a filly who has improved a lot, without a doubt,” said trainer Graham
Motion of Check the Label, who was acquired privately by Lael Stable from
breeder Brereton C. Jones following the Virginia Oaks. “Even I’m surprised at
the ease with which has won these races. She has a tremendous turn of foot.”
Check
the Label, who had stalked the pace in the Appalachian and Sands Point,
demonstrated stretch kick in the Virginia Oaks when she rallied from last of
eight following a half mile in 51.82 to win by 2 ¾ lengths.
“She
broke a little awkwardly and got shuffled back,” said Motion. “Ramon Dominguez
had the choice of having her pull to the front or to lay back. She had a lot of
work to do, but it worked out.”
Dominguez
retains the mount aboard Check the Label, the 7-5 morning line favorite who
drew post position 3.
Roger
Attfield has already won graded stakes in New York
this year with Lady Shakespeare and her half-sister Perfect Shirl, and the
Woodbine-based conditioner will attempt to pick up another on Saturday with No
Explaining.
Making
her graded stakes debut last time out in the Grade 2 Lake George at Saratoga on
July 28, No Explaining closed furiously after finding room in deep stretch to
finish third behind stablemate Perfect Shirl and Exclusive Love, with the
latter installed at 9-2 on the morning line for the Woodword Reserve Lake
Placid.
“I
thought that if No Explaining had a better trip, she would have been right
there,” said Attfield.
No
Explaining, the 7-2 second choice, will be ridden by John Velazquez and break
from post position 5.
Also
looking for her first stakes triumph is Triple Cream, fourth in two graded
events at Hollywood Parks in the spring prior to a third in the Grade 3 Boiling
Springs on June 26 and a second in the Desert Vixen, both at Monmouth
Park.
“We’re
going to put blinkers on her for Sunday’s race,” said trainer Jimmy Toner. “It
looks like there’s something there, but we just can’t get her over the top. We
hope the blinkers will get her to focus a little more.”
Triple
Cream, 5-1 on the morning line, will leave from post 2 with Rajiv Maragh in the
irons.
It’s
Tea Time and Hatheer, both coming off victories in allowance races, complete
the field.
The
field for the Grade 2 Woodford
Reserve
Lake
Placid:
|
PP
|
Horse
|
Jockey
|
Wgt
|
Trainer
|
Odds
|
|
1
|
Hatheer (KY)
|
A Garcia
|
116
|
K P McLaughlin
|
6-1
|
|
2
|
Triple Cream (KY)
|
R Maragh
|
116
|
J J Toner
|
5-1
|
|
3
|
Check the Label
(KY)
|
R A Dominguez
|
122
|
H G Motion
|
7-5
|
|
4
|
Exclusive Love (KY)
|
S
Bridgmohan
|
116
|
M E Casse
|
9-2
|
|
5
|
No Explaining (IRE)
|
J R Velazquez
|
118
|
R L Attfield
|
7-2
|
|
6
|
It's Tea Time (KY)
|
J R Leparoux
|
116
|
G R Arnold, II
|
10-1
|