Last year, Schwartz and Brown teamed up with Samitar. Alterite brought a
Alterite had come very close in a pair of French Group 1s, beaten narrowly
Discreet Marq gunned right to the lead in pursuit of her fourth straight win, and got away with pedestrian splits of
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Turning the race into a dash for home, Discreet Marq figured to be tough to
catch after her early cakewalk. But Summer of Fun and Alterite both accosted the
longtime leader down the stretch, and Alterite quickened best of all. The fresh
import kicked 1 1/2 lengths clear while reeling off her final furlong in :11
2/5. Her time for the 1 1/8 miles — 1:50 2/5 — reflected the slow pace, and
she paid $8 to win.
“She was going so good that I didn’t worry about (the pace),” Velazquez said.
“Chad just said, ‘Make sure you tuck her in a little bit during the first part
and work your way through and let her finish.’ I didn’t really have to work my
way through, though. I just took her around and, at the eighth-pole, let her
roll right up to the horses in front of me. She did it pretty easily.”
“I think she ran terrific,” Brown said. “She looks great. She came over to me
in real good shape from her previous trainer (Jean-Claude Rouget), and she just
settled in beautifully. Each week she’s been here, she’s adapted more. She’s a
high-strung horse, and I thought she handled herself in the race very well. She
should improve from here.
“She had been training quite well — the thing I was concerned about was the
firm ground. We did get some rain, I was happy to see, a couple of days ago, but
with how windy it’s been, and clear, I thought it dried out too much. Based on
what I read, and based on what I’ve heard from her previous trainer, she prefers
soft ground.
“She ran terrific today, but I’ve got to tell you, I don’t think firm is her
preferred surface,” Brown reiterated. “If she can catch a little more give in
the ground, she’s probably even more effective.”
Discreet Marq, tenacious in defeat, held second in a blanket finish with
Concise, Watsdachances (the winner’s stablemate from the Brown barn) and Summer
of Fun, respectively.
“She ran a good race,” Discreet Marq’s trainer Christophe Clement said, “but
Mr. Brown’s filly ran a better race; that’s the problem. My filly ran great. She
was just second-best. It happens. When I saw the fractions, I was very, very
happy. She ran a great race; we just got beat today. We had to give the winner
quite a bit of weight (six pounds as the 122-pound co-highweight), but we’ll be
back.”
Next came Precarious, Caroline Thomas, Emollient, With
Sugar on Top and a tailed-off Praia. Effie Trinket was scratched in favor of
Sunday’s John Hettinger versus older New York-bred distaffers.
Alterite’s new career high improved her scorecard to 10-4-2-1, $508,895.
Originally campaigned by her breeder, Ecurie La Vallee Martigny, the bay broke her maiden at La Teste de Buch last July in
her second start. After a runner-up effort to Peace Burg in a Deauville
conditions race, Alterite went back to the provinces and dominated her stakes
debut in the Criterium de l’Ouest at Craon. She concluded her juvenile season
with the aforementioned third in the Marcel Boussac, turning the tables on Peace
Burg.
Purchased by Schwartz ahead of her three-year-old campaign, Alterite made a
winning reappearance in the March 26 Prix la Camargo at Saint-Cloud. She had no
luck next time out in the May 12 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French One
Thousand Guineas), where she was hampered and ended up 10th to Flotilla and
Esoterique. Alterite stepped up to about 1 1/4 miles for the Prix Saint-Alary
and was just denied, but could do no better than sixth in the French Oaks.
“I’m very happy,” Schwartz said. “She got beat three inches in the
Saint-Alary and was the only horse to run in all three legs of the French triple
crown for fillies. Mr. Brown has quite a way with the European horses. We bought
her after the Boussac, after the Breeders’ Cup, where we won (the Filly & Mare
Turf) with Zagora, so it was after our cup was full.”
Schwartz outlined the possible targets.
“We’ll talk to Chad as to what might be next. I’d like to go to California
again, but she likes a little cut in the ground,” the owner said. “We were going
to go to the QEII at Keeneland (Grade 1 on October 12), and there’s always the
E.P. Taylor (Grade 1 on October 27 at Woodbine). She’ll stay a mile and a
quarter as she did in France. The sky’s the limit, as they say.”
Alterite was produced by the unraced Dream Well mare Ana Luna. She hails from
the family of multiple Group 3 heroine Celimene, and further back, 2004 Prix
Saint-Alary queen Ask for the Moon, the dam of Group 3 winner and last year’s
Epsom Derby third Astrology. Argentinean champion sprinter Vital Class and
French Group 2 victor Boris de Deauville are other maternal relatives.
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