Del Mar Oaks one option for Colonia out of Hatoof victory

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Graham Motion has several horses under consideration for stakes races on the Aug. 11 Arlington Million card, but Colonia, a sharp winner of the $100,000 Hatoof Stakes here Saturday in her North American debut, is not among them.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the filly. But Motion and some of the same connections that own Colonia already have the filly Secret Message pointed to the Pucker Up Stakes here Aug. 11. And Colonia ran well enough Saturday – and had impressed Motion sufficiently even before the race – that a trip to California for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 18 is under strong consideration.

Colonia came from last of 10 to win the 1 1/16-mile Hatoof by 1 3/4 lengths over the very decent filly Cool Beans. The performance produced an initial winning Beyer Speed Figure of 86, and the visual impression was stronger than the number.

“I felt pretty good about running her,” Motion said. “She didn’t necessarily have to win, but I’d have been surprised if she wasn’t competitive. She’s got a great turn of foot. I’d think she goes a little farther.”

Colonia had won only once in five French starts, and that on the winter all-weather circuit. Her two turf races earlier this year were poor, but both came on heavy ground, and the bloodstock agent Nicolas de Watrigant, partnering with Brad Weisbord’s BSW Bloodstock to help American connections acquire a portion of the filly, insisted Colonia would be a different horse on faster ground.

“He was adamant she was crying out for firm turf,” Weisbord said.

Weisbord said Colonia, by Champs Elysees, was the least expensive European purchase in which he’d been involved the last few years, and she appears to have been well bought.

Secret Message, the filly pointed to the Pucker Up, caught a boggy course when second in the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico and lost all chance at the start when fourth June 16 in the Regret Stakes at Churchill.

Meanwhile, Motion said he intends to run Manhattan Stakes winner Spring Quality in the Arlington Million. Spring Quality, a lightly raced 6-year-old who had a host of nagging physical issues early in his career, sprang an 18-1 upset in the Manhattan, a race from which Catcho En Die emerged to win the Stars and Stripes Stakes here Saturday. Spring Quality had his second post-Manhattan drill when he worked six furlongs over turf July 6 at Fair Hill in 1:14.

Motion said that Ultra Brat, who had been scheduled to start in the James Penney Stakes last week at Parx Racing before the race was canceled because of heat, will be considered for the Beverly D. Stakes, while 3-yearold Untamed Domain could run in the Secretariat pending his performance in the Kent Stakes at Delaware Park.

Real Story targets Secretariat

All Real Story wants to do is run free.

Try to restrain the horse and you are in for a battle you both will lose. Let Real Story dictate his race, as happened Saturday in the American Derby, and he’ll show his best.

Real Story, all on his own, darted off to a clear early lead through a quick 23.25-second opening quarter-mile in the American Derby. Then he settled into a strong rhythm, essentially going 12-second furlongs the rest of the 1 1/8-mile race, and never was threatened. He got an 86 Beyer Speed Figure and might have earned a start in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes here on Aug. 11.

“It’s not set in stone we go there; there are a lot of things to consider,” said trainer Ignacio Correas. “I’d prefer to stay at home. It would have to be a super-tough race to get me out. He lives 300 yards away from the track.”

Real Story, a Fast Bullet gelding bred and owned by Jeffrey Amling and Merriebelle Stables, has three wins from six starts and two throw-out races. The first was a failed dirt experiment, the second a turf allowance race at Churchill Downs in which Correas instructed jockey Florent Geroux to try and rate Real Story behind horses.

“I think they fought for seven furlongs,” said Correas. “It was brutal, but it was all my fault.”

Jose Valdivia rode Real Story to an easy Arlington allowance win, but in the American Derby he was committed to Arlington Classic winner Ezmosh, who would finish seventh. So Joe Bravo got the mount on Real Story.

Correas made a change in the morning, too, minimizing Real Story’s fast workouts to focus on long, controlled gallops.

“We already know he has speed,” Correas said. “I decided to train him like a stayer.”

Real Story stays with the Correas string at Arlington. Back at Keeneland, the trainer is preparing Dona Bruja for the Beverly D. Stakes on the Arlington Million program. Dona Bruja dead-heated for second in the race last year, and after requiring some time to bounce back from a draining fifth-place finish April 14 in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland, the mare is back on track.

“She’s training very, very well,” said Correas.

Million an option for Divisidero

The top three finishers from the 1 3/16-mile Arlington Handicap on Saturday are on different tracks. Divisidero, who won his first graded stakes race away from Churchill Downs in the Arlington Handicap, returned in good shape to trainer Kelly Rubley’s base at Fair Hill in Maryland. He got a Beyer Speed Figure of 100 while winning beyond 1 1/8 miles for the first time. Divisidero was sixth in the 2017 Arlington Million and could get another shot in the race next month.

“We’ll give him a few days to recover from the ship and we’ll see where we’re at,” Rubley said.

Revved Up, who finished second in the Handicap, was to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton auction in Kentucky on Monday.

Synchrony, third as the Handicap favorite, will be cut back to shorter distances, trainer Mike Stidham said.

“Bottom line is, I think the extra distance took away from his run,” said Stidham, who said Synchrony will rejoin his stable at Fair Hill.

◗ Million Preview Day handle on Saturday increased more than 38 percent from 2017, rising to $5,249,744 from $3,791,636. There were 10 races on both cards, but 14 more starters this year than last and a much stronger slate of stakes races.

◗ Daddys Lil Darling shipped back to Keeneland in good order following her sharp win (98 Beyer) in the Modesty Handicap and will make her next start in the Beverly D., trainer Ken McPeek said.