French import Lacarolina faces 11 in Appalachian

Jessamine winner Kitten Kaboodle might pose the strongest threat to French invader Lacarolina (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) Lacarolina, who began her career in the French provinces but later established solid form lines on the tougher Parisian circuit, figures as a leading contender in her U.S. debut Thursday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Appalachian at Keeneland. The one-mile grass feature for three-year-old fillies has attracted a field of 12. A winner in four of seven starts last season, Lacarolina did her best work for noted conditioner Jean-Claude Rouget, for whom she captured the Prix Six Perfections at Deauville and Prix Miesque at Maisons-Laffitte. The latter, a Grade 3 event contested on heavy ground in mid-November, saw the Charge d’Affaires filly beat Xcellence by a head. That rival made a winning sophomore debut over Group 1 winner Vorda in the Prix Imprudence, an important Guineas prep, back at Maisons-Laffitte on April 3. Lacarolina now resides in the barn of Mark Casse, who was tied for first in the Keeneland standings after the first eight days of the spring meet. She’ll be ridden by Stewart Elliott, the veteran journeyman who was a pleasantly surprising second in the Keeneland standings at the spring meet’s halfway point.

Kitten Kaboodle, who broke her maiden last fall in the Jessamine over this
turf, is hoping to rebound off two sub-par outings. Eleventh of 14 in the
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in her two-year-old finale, the Chad Brown
trainee ran another dull one in the March 8 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs,
finishing seventh in a field of 12.

Brown will also saddle the field’s other European import, Sweet Acclaim, who
won on debut at Yarmouth at odds of 40-1 before finishing third in the Oh So
Sharp, a Group 3 event at Newmarket.

Recepta, who makes her season debut for trainer Jimmy Toner, made an
impressive turf debut last October in the $100,000 Chelsea Flower at Belmont
Park. Saddled with an outside post and hung very wide for most of the one-mile
trip, the Speightstown filly nonetheless turned in an impressive stretch rally
to beat 11 rivals going away by 3 1/4 lengths.

“She is doing great and we are following the same program we did with Winter
Memories,” said Toner, referring to his 2011 Appalachian winner. “Recepta has a
lot of quality and ability, but we don’t know how deep that is. With Winter
Memories we knew.”

Resistivity, a solid allowance winner two back at Gulfstream in her turf
debut, wheels back on 12 days’ rest after fading to 10th in the Ashland on
Polytrack. Retreating after a wide-trip pressing trip from post 13, the filly
easily defeated Jessamine runner-up and returning rival Zinzay by 3 3/4 lengths
in that March 15 allowance in Florida.

Other Appalachian notables include Daring Dancer, who captured her only
outings at Laurel and Churchill Downs last fall for Graham Motion, and Maria
Maria, who finished third behind the graded stakes-winning colts Bobby’s Kitten
and Global View in a Tampa Bay Downs allowance last month.

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