Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
REACHING HIGH
ELATE READY TO HIT GRADE 1 STATUS IN ALABAMA,
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Elate won her debut by 12 1/2 lengths last November at Aqueduct, it wasn’t hard to picture her ultimately winding up in the Alabama Stakes. That she enters Saturday’s 137th renewal of the Alabama having recorded just one more victory since is more difficult to fathom.
But if her last two races are any indication, Elate appears to be entering the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama in the best form of her career and perhaps is ready to fulfill the promise she showed 10 months ago.
Beyond the distance, questions abound for many of the contenders in this group. Unchained Melody, the 3-1 favorite on Travis Stone’s morning line, will be trying two turns for the first time. New Money Honey, a multiple Grade 1 winner on turf, will try dirt for the first time. Holy Helena, who beat males in the Queen’s Plate over Woodbine’s synthetic surface, will now try Grade 1 company on dirt, a surface on which she won in May.
Perhaps the biggest question for Elate is what took her so long to run back to her eye-popping debut form. Her trainer, Hall of Famer Bill Mott, isn’t really sure.
“You’d like to see them progress quickly enough so you can get to the Kentucky Oaks, but she took her time,” said Mott, a two-time Alabama winner. “Based on her last two races I think she’s moved forward.”
Two starts back, Elate won the Light Hearted Stakes at Delaware Park by 5 1/2 lengths. Teresa Z, third that day, came back to win the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks. Elate came back to run second to Kentucky Oaks winner Abel Tasman in the Coaching Club American Oaks, beaten a head in part due to some heady riding by Mike Smith, who tightened things up on Elate in deep stretch, causing a stewards’ inquiry in which no action was taken.
Elate appears to have the tactical speed to lay close behind the two likeliest pacesetters, Unchained Melody and It Tiz Well.
Unchained Melody, trained by Brian Lynch, is coming off a front-running victory in the Grade 2 Mother Goose, her third win from four career races. Lynch believes this daughter of Smart Strike “will enjoy two turns” and nothing he’s seen from the filly suggests she won’t get 1 1/4 miles.
“She didn’t look like she was empty in the Mother Goose,” Lynch said. “I felt like they weren’t going to get by her if they went farther.”
It Tiz Well had a horrible trip in the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks, checking behind horses entering the first turn and then again in the stretch when an opening along the rail closed abruptly. She rebounded from that result with a half-length victory off a perfect trip in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks.
“We understand it’s a tough race, but we feel like our horse can run a mile and a quarter,” said Jerry Hollendorfer, who won this race with Songbird (2016) and Blind Luck (2010).
Chad Brown knows New Money Honey can run 1 1/4 miles, having won the Belmont Oaks at the distance, but now he will see if she can do it on dirt. New Money Honey is 4 for 6 lifetime, but all of her races have come on turf. Still, Brown felt she trained well enough on dirt as a 2-year-old to pre-enter in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on dirt, though he kept her in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, which she won.
Actress and Mopotism may be the two longest shots in the field, but are not without a chance.
KEY CONTENDERS
Elate, by Medaglia d’Oro Last 3 Beyers: 91-88-83
◗ Mott said he felt back in the winter that “timing-wise, the Alabama was going to be better for her than the races in the spring.”
◗ Elate has put in two solid workouts since the Coaching Club.
“She’s been really sharp,” Mott said.
New Money Honey, by Medaglia d’Oro Last 3 Beyers: 88-87-79
◗ Her three works over the
Saratoga main track have been solid.
◗ Brown said he always thought about trying her on dirt but waited for the right opportunity.
“Her works on the dirt have been really good. I’m curious to see what she can do,” Brown said. “It’s a solid, solid field. I know the distance will suit her, it’s just a matter of whether she can transfer her form on turf to the dirt effectively against Grade 1 company.”
Unchained Melody, by Smart Strike Last 3 Beyers: 100-90-80
◗ Has steadily improved her speed figures and was very sharp in a front-running Mother Goose Stakes win July 1 at Belmont.
◗ Could play out as the primary speed under Joel Rosario, who stuck with this mount over Salty.
“We’ll leave her wherever she’s comfortable,” Lynch said.
It Tiz Well, by Arch Last 3 Beyers: 90-88-85
◗ Did beat Elate by nearly five lengths in the Grade 3 Honeybee in March and has since run into the bear known as Paradise Woods in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks, succumbed to trouble when placed fourth in the Summertime Oaks, and won the Delaware Oaks.
Salty, by Quality Road Last 3 Beyers: 86-98-85
◗ Was farther back than she prefers when she leapt in the air at the break of the Coaching Club American Oaks.
Lockdown, by First Defence Last 3 Beyers: 96-88-74
◗ Followed a third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks with a second in the Grade 2 Mother Goose and has fired five consecutive bullet workouts since.