Photo: NYRA, Adam Coglianese
Stopshoppingmaria, a towering 9
¾–length winner of a Saratoga maiden race August
14, will be pointed toward the Grade 1, $300,000 Frizette on October 9 at
Belmont
Park as a steppingstone to
the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Owned by Repole Stable, Stopshoppingmaria stumbled badly at the start of
her debut July 22 and finished third to subsequent Grade 2 Adirondack winner My
Miss Aurelia; she then returned devastate eight other runners in her return,
running six furlongs in 1:09.87, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 101, which ties
for the top number run by a 2-year-old of either sex this year.
“We are going to await the Frizette,” said Pletcher, who had nominated
Stopshoppingmaria to the Grade 1 Spinaway this Sunday. “We just felt like, based
on the strength of her maiden win, we were best suited to give her a little more
time between her maiden win and the Frizette. This would have been her third
race at the meet, and she ran so fast the other day, we figured we could circle
the Breeders’ Cup for her and felt the best way to get there would be to give
her some space. Hopefully, that would be a good way to set her up.”