Trainer Tony Dutrow could continue his current hot streak Saratoga on
Saturday when he saddles undefeated CAT MOVES (Tale of the Cat) against seven
other three-year-old fillies in the $300,000
Test S.
(G1).
Cat Moves owns just three career starts, not making her debut until April 26
at Aqueduct, a move that her connections considered to be an investment in her
future.
“Once we saw she was promising, we did not run her as a two-year-old,” said
Dutrow, who has sent out seven starters and come back with three wins, one
second and three third-place finishes by the end of the first week of racing at
the Spa. “Her ankles were a little immature. Had she been of average ability, we
would have run her. We knew she was more than average, so we decided to give her
some time and let her mature. It’s an investment that has paid off very well.”
In her first start, Cat Moves wired her rivals by 8 1/4 lengths after zipping
through fractions of :21.50, :44, :56.55 and 1:10.14. She was equally dominant
in taking an allowance at Delaware Park in her next start, winning by 4 3/4
lengths, and then stepped right up into Grade 1 company to take the Prioress in
her stakes debut on July 4 at Belmont Park.
“She’s so calm and professional,” Dutrow said of Cat Moves, who will be
stretching out to seven furlongs in the Test. “Her first race, she acted as if
she had done this a million times. Winning a Grade 1 was our goal, and having
done that, I feel so fortunate to be able to participate in the Test S., because
the racing world holds it in such high esteem.”
Back to challenge Cat Moves in the 84th running of the Test will be two who
finished behind her in the Prioress: REFORESTATION (Forestry), who was third,
and HEART ASHLEY (Lion Heart), who set the pace before fading to finish sixth.
“We don’t know how good Cat Moves is, but we know we belong,” said Billy
Turner, Reforestation’s trainer.
FIRST PASSAGE (Giant’s Causeway), ALL OF HER TWIST (Forest Wildcat) and
PRETTY PROLIFIC (Lion Heart) come in to the Test from out of town. The
Florida-based First Passage took the Azalea S. (G3) on July 11 at Calder while
All of Her Twist and Pretty Prolific finished one-two, respectively, in the July
18 Dearly Precious S. at Monmouth Park.
FLASHING (A.P. Indy), on the other hand, is no stranger to the New York
racing season and will be shortening back up to the same distance over which she
won the Nassau County S. (G3) at Belmont Park on May 2. The chestnut was third
to Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro) in the nine-furlong Mother Goose S. (G1) in
her last start on June 27.
Completing the Test field is OLDE GLAMOUR (Kelly Kip), who has not been off
the board in 12 starts, most recently taking the Jersey Girl S. at Belmont Park
on July 5 to snap a string of five straight second-place finishes.
One race earlier on the card, a field of 14 sophomore fillies, including one
also-eligible and three main-track only runners, has been entered in the $70,000
John Hettinger S. going a mile on the inner turf. COMPLICITY (City Zip) is
still looking for that elusive first stakes victory after running third in the
Indiana Downs Distaff S. on July 6 and will take on the likes of Sands Point S.
(G2) third BLUEGRASS PRINCESS (Dynaformer) and the undefeated Breeders’ Cup
Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine MARAM (Sahm), who will be returning to competition
off that October 24 event.