King of Prussia Stable’s Princess of Sylmar continued to impress as she
captured her third Grade 1 in a row after taking down Saturday’s Grade 1,
$588,000
Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.
She certainly impressed trainer Todd Pletcher, who was asked if he thought
she had clinched championship honors.
“I have to think so,” Pletcher said. “The Kentucky Oaks, Coaching Club
American Oaks — that’s a pretty hard trifecta to win, so I’ll say she has
definitely established herself as the champion three-year-old filly, unless
somebody does something (big).”
The filly rated in behind the frontrunners as Carnival
Court grabbed the early lead in the 1 1/4-mile test to post
fractions of :23 4/5, :48 and 1:12 3/5 on the fast track.
“I had a beautiful trip. I was right where I wanted to be,” jockey Javier
Castellano said. “With a small field, there was not much to think about. The way
I handicapped the race, three horses had the speed, and the way it unfolded it
was the perfect trip for her. She’s a come-from-behind horse.
“I just let her
enjoy the trip and when she was ready to go I asked her, and she just took off.
She went right by them. She’s an amazing horse. Everything we’ve asked, she has
responded so well so far.”
Princess of Sylmar was just bidding her time behind the leaders before making
her move on the far turn. She swung to the outside midway on the turn, kicked it
into another gear as she seized the lead at the top of the stretch and left her
rivals behind to prevail by 2 1/2 lengths.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of pace,” Pletcher said. “She was doing it on her
own; she was in a nice rhythm, so I thought she was in a perfect spot. I thought
she won pretty convincingly. Anytime you run a mile and a quarter, it can be a
taxing race, but I thought she did it well within herself.”
Black-Eyed Susan winner Fiftyshadesofhay had to settle for second, while it
was another 3 3/4 lengths back to Carnival Court in third. Galloping Giraffe and
Montana Native rounded out the order of finish. Tell a Great Story was scratched
from the race.
Princess of Sylmar stopped the clock in 2:03 1/5 for her fifth stakes score
and paid $3 to win to her backers as the 1-2 favorite.
The daughter of Majestic Warrior opened her career with a fourth at
Penn National last October, and stayed at that venue to break her maiden by 19
lengths in early November. Pletcher shipped the miss to Aqueduct for her
juvenile finale, and Princess of Sylmar came up with a 5 1/4-length score over
the inner dirt.
The chestnut made her sophomore and stakes bow in the Busanda on January 5,
posting a 7 1/2-length tally, and closed out her inner meet run with
a seven-length triumph in the Busher. Despite those easy wins, Princess of Sylmar
was sent off the 3-2 second choice behind Close Hatches in the Gazelle and
wound up second to that wire-to-wire winner in her first attempt at 1 1/8 miles.
Princess of Sylmar was ready for some revenge on May 3 at Churchill Downs and
captured the Kentucky Oaks by a half-length at 38-1 odds. She showed that was no
fluke when she returned to the races in July and captured the Coaching Club
American Oaks at Saratoga by six lengths, making her a millionaire in the
process. With Saturday’s win, she added $360,000 to increase her lifetime
earnings to $1,367,220 from a 9-7-1-0 line.
“We’ll see how she comes out of it,” Pletcher said when asked about
future plans. “I don’t think we’ll
make a decision right away.
“We never make decisions right after a race, but Ed (Stanco)
is committed to running her next year, and, who knows, maybe even as a
five-year-old. At some point you don’t want to be greedy, but at the same time
she is doing unbelievably well, and sometimes you have to take advantage of
that, so we have some thinking to do.”
Bred in Pennsylvania by Ed Stanco, Princess of Sylmar is the first registered
foal out of the stakes-placed Catienus mare Storm Dixie, who is a half-sister to
Group 3 victor Rhythm Band and Grade 3-placed Musical.
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