Elate makes it look easy in Alabama
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Elate’s gutsy runner-up finish behind division leader Abel Tasman in the Coaching Club American Oaks — following on the heels of a 5½-length stakes win at Delaware — apparently didn’t impress oddsmakers all that much. The threeyear- old Ghostzapper filly was 6-1 on the morning line for Saturday’s $600,000 Alabama Stakes, odds that held until shortly before post time, when they suddenly dropped to 4-1.
Three other horses were also pegged at between 4-1 and 9-2, but when the real running started on Saturday, it was all Elate. Confronting pacesetter It Tiz Well coming off the turn, the Claiborne Farm/Adele Dilschneider homebred quickly left that one behind. The lead was a length and a half at the eighth pole, and with It Tiz Well fading and no one else in the rearview mirror, Elate powered home to win by 5½ impressive lengths.
“It looked like she had dead aim on [the leaders] by the time she reached the quarter-pole,” said winning trainer Bill Mott. “It was more of a forward type of race for her. It looks like the mile and a quarter is her type of trip. She finished well, and she’s got a nice burst of speed and stays on well.
“I just wanted the win for the filly and for the connections,” Mott continued. “[ Ms. Dilschneider is one of the great women of the turf. You couldn’t have a better owner. She loves her horses, and she was looking forward to this as much as I was.”
Winning jockey Jose Ortiz, aboard Elate for the sixth time, was impressed.
“She broke well and put me into a great position going into the first turn,” he said. “When I got to the three- eighths pole, I felt I had a lot of horse under- neath me. I just went along with her, and as we entered the stretch she really got going, and I didn’t look back.
It Tiz Well, the secondlongest shot on the board at 13-1, held second by a head over Salty. They were followed in order by Actress, New Money Honey, Lockdown, Mopotism and favored Holy Helena. Unchained Melody was pulled up on the far turn and vanned off as a precautionary measure. Early reports indicate that the Smart Strike filly was not injured. According to jockey Joel Rosario, “She just got tired.”
One of the questions
coming into the Alabama was who would set the pace. Unchained Melody looked like the most likely candidate, but it was It Tiz Well who ended up leading through a quick :46.96 half and three quarters in 1:10.92. When the time came, Elate went by her fairly easily, but It Tiz Well did well to hold second after setting fast fractions.
“She broke sharp and
I was on the lead, but I would have much rather [she] relax more than she did,” said Drayden Van Dyke, who rode the runner-up. “She never truly shut off and threw her ears up. If she would have relaxed for at least an eighth of a mile, she would have finished a lot better.”
The $360.000 winner’s share nearly tripled Elate’s earnings to $ 530,325. The Alabama is the first graded win for the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro and improves her record to 3-3-1 from eight starts.