Photo: NYRA, Adam Coglianese
Overwhelming favorite Kauai Katie picked up her
second Grade 2 victory and ran her record to 3-for-3 on Sunday afternoon at
Belmont Park, taking charge at the top of the stretch and rolling to an easy 7
½-length victory over Baby J in the 105th running of the $200,000
Matron for 2-year-old fillies.
Two races later, stablemate Overanalyze completed the sweep of
Sunday’s juvenile stakes for trainer Todd Pletcher when he closed widest
of all through the stretch to take the 122nd running of the Grade 2,
$200,000 Futurity.
Kauai Katie, who carries the colors of Stonestreet Stables, tracked
Baby J through fractions of 22.88 and 46.67 seconds before drawing alongside
that rival on the far turn. Given her cue by jockey Rosie Napravnik at the head
of the lane, Kauai Katie quickly separated herself from the field and cruised
under the wire in 1:11.26 for the six furlongs.
“It was the first time she’s been behind someone in the
early part of the race,” said Pletcher of the Malibu Moon filly, who
followed her 12-length maiden victory in July with a 2 ¾-length win in the Adirondack, both at Saratoga Race Course. “Based on
the way she’s trained, we felt like she would do that, and she’s
done that in the mornings without any issues, but it’s always nice to see
them adapt to that scenario in the afternoon. She has a tremendous turn of
foot. She just quickly put the race away and idled down the last part.”
The 1-5 favorite, Kauai Katie returned $2.40 for a $2 win bet. With the
winner’s purse of $120,000, she now has amassed $288,000.
Pletcher and owner Barbara Banke said a start in the Breeders’
Cup on November 2 and 3 at Santa Anita Park was under consideration for Kauai
Katie, possibly in the Juvenile Sprint or the Juvenile Fillies.
“We‘re going to plot our strategy,” said Banke.
“We’ll hear from Todd maybe tomorrow and see how she’s doing.
She did this easy. I hope she got something out of it; she was huffing a little
bit.”
Baby J was 1 ½ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Seasoned Warrior,
with Unabashed and Doubled following her under the wire. Sweet Shirley Mae was
scratched.
Mike Repole’s Overanalyze rebounded from a fourth-place finish in
the Grade 2 Three Chimneys Hopeful to post a mild upset of the Futurity with a 3
¼-length triumph over Carried Interest.
With Hall of Famer John Velazquez
in the irons, the Dixie Union colt recovered quickly after being bumped at the
start and stayed well off the early fractions of 22.80 and 46.43 set by
Handsome Jack. Moving up on the turn, Overanalyze went widest of all as Carried
Interest and favored Weekend Hideaway bore down on Handsome Jack, and took the
lead for good with 100 yards to go.
His winning time for the six furlongs was 1:11.46.
“We were hoping to maybe be in a stalking-type position, but he
didn’t break great, then he got clobbered at the start and ended up way
back,” said Pletcher of Overanalyze, who returned $13.60 for a $2 win
bet. “He recovered well and was running into the dirt, and kept coming,
showed a new dimension, finished really well and galloped out strongly. It was
a pretty encouraging race.”
Pletcher said he was not sure if Overanalyze, who earned $120,000, would
start in the Breeders’ Cup.
“We have a few things to figure out with a few of these
[2-year-olds] and see how he comes out of it and go from there,” said the
trainer.
Weekend Hideaway was third, followed by Handsome Jack, Gulfport, Drum Roll and
Special Jo.