With Ramon Dominguez aboard, Martin Schwartz’s Stacelita completed major preparations for
Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Flower Bowl Invitational with a 1:02.94
five-furlong breeze over soft turf Sunday morning.
“We’re very happy,” said trainer Chad Brown.
“We’re on target for the Flower Bowl. Ramon is happy, so I’m
happy.”
The Flower Bowl will be third start in the United
States for Stacelita, a four-time Group 1 winner in her
native France.
In two stateside starts, she finished third against males for trainer
Jean-Claude Rouget in the Grade 1 United Nations in July at Monmouth and won
the Grade 1 Beverly D. in August at Arlington
Park.
Should the 5-year-old mare perform well in the Flower Bowl, her next
objective will be the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf on
November 4 at Churchill Downs.
“We’ll take it one race at a time, but when Mr. Schwartz
hired me he had three specific races in mind,” said Brown. “We won
the first one, so we have two more to go.”
Brown said both Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Big Blue Kitten and Gary and Mary West’s Casino Host are under consideration for the
Grade 1 Jamaica, a 1 1/8-mile turf race to be held at Belmont October 8. On Sunday, Big Blue
Kitten, last seen winning the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame on
August 12 at Saratoga Race Course, breezed five furlongs on turf at Saratoga in 1:02.40, while Casino Host, exiting a fifth in
the Grade 1 Secretariat on August 13 at Arlington,
went four furlongs on Belmont’s
training track in 48.23.
Also on Sunday’s Saratoga
worktab was Dell Ridge Farm’s Fantastic
Song, who turned in a 1:01.40 five-furlong breeze on the turf. Brown
said the 2-year-old was “doing great” and confirmed his status as a
contender for next Sunday’s Grade 3 Pilgrim at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.
Brown has yet to make a decision on the next start for Schwartz’s
Grade 1 Diana winner Zagora, who
last Sunday was seventh as the favorite in the Grade 2 Canadian at Woodbine.
“[Javier Castellano] just felt she didn’t handle a one-turn
race,” said Brown. “He just never felt comfortable under her.
We’ll just kind of regroup with her and draw a line through it.
It’s fairly uncharacteristic of her to run that way.”
One race under consideration for Zagora is the Grade 1 Spinster on
October 9 at Keeneland.
“It’s back in 22 days; I just don’t feel she ran much
in the last race,” said Brown. “I want to take a look at it, and if
I don’t do that I may just regroup and focus on next year with her. I
think she’ll have a big year next year. We’ll see how she’s
doing all week and see where her energy level is at.”