Annascaul turned for home May 10 at Aqueduct in the Take The A Train Stakes looking like a winner. She’d tracked the pace, taken command coming off the turn, and held a clear lead approaching the furlong grounds. And just as suddenly, Annascaul ran out of gas. Not one, not two, but three horses passed her in the final half-furlong.
A turnback in distance from six furlongs at Aqueduct to 5 1/2 furlongs at short-stretch Monmouth, and a drop in class, might be all Annascaul needs to win the $100,000 Blue Sparkler, a turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies.
Eleven were entered in the Blue Sparkler, but Twirling Beauty and Flat Out Time would run only if the race is rained onto dirt. Two others, Gata Brazil and Laurice, are cross-entered in the Coronation Cup on Friday at Saratoga.
Miguel Clement trains the favorite for the Coronation Cup, Make Haste, and in Annascaul sends out his second Monmouth starter since taking over the stable of his late father, Christophe, in June. An American Pharoah homebred who campaigns for Waterville Lake Stables, Annascaul has raced as short as 5 1/2 furlongs just once in her career, showing a lot of speed in a winning debut. She was tried over a one-turn mile in the Grade 1 Natalma in her second start, changed her running style and rallied for second going six furlongs in the Stewart Manor last fall, and in her 3-year-old bow was run down by stablemate Love Cervere in the Take The A Train. Jockey Samuel Marin should have options – lead, press, or stalk – depending on how much pace shows.
In the Take The A Train, Annascaul tracked pacesetter Gata Brazil, who was racing for the first time in blinkers. Gata Brazil never before had led, and the blinkers apparently gave her too much focus, and second-time blinkers Gata Brazil ran the race of her life June 15 in the Stormy Blues at Laurel Park. Seventh midway around the turn of that turf sprint, Gata Brazil stormed home and got up by a neck over favored Roja, who had six lengths on the third-place finisher.
Roja, a blowout maiden turf sprint winner in May, also shows up in the Blue Sparkler, and she might merely have been pressed too hard on the lead in the Stormy Blues. But the speedy filly who did her in last out, Biscuitwiththeboss, also runs in the Blue Sparkler. She’s trained by Brittany Russell, as is Gata Brazil, who this time must run down not just Roja but Annascaul.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.