Two half-length losses from arguably being a champion, Top Decile has zeroed in on the $125,000
Silverbulletday on January 17 as her sophomore debut for trainer Al Stall
Jr. On Tuesday, the chestnut daughter of Congrats had her first serious work and
third since returning from a brief freshening when going a half-mile at Fair
Ground in :48 1/5 — good for fourth-best of 44 works at the distance.
“She went fine,” Stall said. “We are just picking her up a little bit as we go
along. As far as the nine-day gap between works, we waited until the bad weather
was gone and we had the right track to work her. She has put on good weight
since the Breeders’ Cup and is doing well. If a horse could overdose on
peppermints it would be her.”
Known as one of the most social horses in the Stall barn, Top Decile has been
equally as friendly to bettors. In three career starts, she has never been
favored, but accounts for a debut win and two seconds in Grade 1 company. In her
debut, she showed good speed and won impressively going 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga.
That effort earned her a start in a wet renewal of the $400,000
Alcibiades at Keeneland, where she overcame a missed break to come
charging to a half-length loss. Next out, she shipped to California for the
$2,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and endured a five-wide trip
to fall a half-length short of expected champion Take Charge Brandi. Both of
those events were at 1 1/16 miles. The Silverbulletday is at the slightly
shorter distance of a mile and 70 yards.
A $110,000 purchased picked out by Stall himself at Keeneland in September 2013,
she has now earned $489,800 and put herself squarely in the picture for the
$1,000,000 Kentucky Oaks on May 1. Still, such is not of immediate
concern for her connections.
“I’m not worried about anything except getting her to the 17th and then we’ll
look past that,” Stall said. “She’ll have two more works before the
(Silverbulletday) — one on Monday going five-eighths and another most likely the
following Sunday for a blowout. Mike Smith will come in to ride her. He’s the
only one who asked.”
Top Decile was previously ridden in all three starts and worked in the mornings
by Rosie Napravnik, who retired in November.
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