Shuvee favorite Wow Cat makes U.S. debut
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Today’s featured Shuvee Stakes (G3) offers a well-matched group of older fillies and mares who in general have been most comfortable at the Grade 2 and Grade 3 level.
The wild card in the field of seven is morning-line favorite Wow Cat (8-5), a four-time Group 1 winner in her native Chile who is making her first start in the U.S. Ordinarily, in this situation, bettors might want to see a race first -- especially from a horse who hasn’t run in almost eight months – but given trainer Chad Brown’s success with foreign-bred runners, 8-5 is no surprise. All eight of Wow Cat’s South American races were run on dirt.
At 3-1, Ivy Bell is given the best chance of defeating the Chilean invader. The 5-year-old Archarcharch mare has been in the exacta in the last 10 starts in which she finished (she lost her rider six races back), with a win in the Inside Information (G2) back in March her best effort. The issue for Ivy Bell is that she has competed almost exclusively at sprint distances, and the Shuvee is nine furlongs. In her only non-sprint, she faded in the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps (G1) and was beaten 7½ lengths.
Former turfer Pacific Wind (72) also stretches out in the Shuvee. Like Ivy Bell, she is coming out of the Ogden Phipps, where she also lost ground late to finish a distant fourth. In her two starts preceding the Phipps, the 4-yearold Curlin filly romped in an optional claimer at Keeneland and racked up her first graded win in the Ruffian (G2). Both races were run at a mile.
After an outstanding sophomore season, during which she won 4-of-6 starts (including a trio of Grade 2s), Farrell (4-1) tries nine furlongs for only the second time. The first came in her last outing, when she led the Fleur de Lis (G2) much of the way, only to be caught late by Blue Peter. Farrell, a daughter of Malibu Moon, sports a 7-2-2 career mark in 16 starts, but has won only one of six in 2018.
Verve’s Tale (10-1) has as many starts at nine furlongs (seven) as the rest of the Shuvee field combined, winning two and finishing second in two others. Last summer at the Spa, she won at that distance in the restricted Summer Colony. Most recently, over a sloppy surface she has never done well on, Verve’s Tale faded to fifth late in the nine-furlong DuPont Distaff (G3).
Tiger Moth (12-1) and Frost Wise (15-1) complete the field.