Princess of Sylmar is queen in Alabama

"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.

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com