SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Graham Motion said he looked for a reason not to run Laurelin in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Saratoga Oaks Invitational. When he couldn’t find one, he entered the undefeated 3-year-old filly to make her graded stakes debut against a compact lineup featuring the Grade 1-placed Opulent Restraint and just four other rivals going 1 3/16 miles on the turf.
An Irish-bred daughter of Zarak, Laurelin has won all four of her starts, with three of those victories coming against stakes competition. The most recent was her popular 1 1/4-length triumph over Candy Quest in the one-mile Penn Oaks on June 27, which was decided over a yielding course at Penn National. That performance was flattered when the runner-up came back four weeks later to win the Ontario Colleen at Woodbine.
“I was looking for reasons not to run her in this spot, but ultimately everything pointed to doing this,” said Motion. “She’s been phenomenal right from the start. She hasn’t done a thing wrong. The race at Penn National got a little confusing being postponed like it was, but we stuck with it and it worked out well. We had considered taking her to Ascot for the Coronation [Stakes], but I got a little cold feet when seeing the competition. I thought she could be that kind, and she hasn’t shown me anything that would make me think differently.”
If handicappers have any question about Laurelin’s chances of extending her winning streak in the Saratoga Oaks, it might be because of the added distance. Three of her four victories have been at a mile and she’s yet to compete beyond 1 1/16 miles, but Motion is confident the added ground might actually be to her advantage on Saturday.
“Her pedigree suggests she wants more distance, so going a mile and three-sixteenths for the first time should not be an issue,” Motion predicted.
Opulent Restraint finished a game third, beaten less than a length by the late-charging Fionn and odds-on Nitrogen in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational here last month, and she projects to have things her own way on the front end Saturday. Opulent Restraint remains winless in three starts at 3 after closing out her 2-year-old campaign with a game nose victory in the Chelsey Flower Stakes at Aqueduct.
“I thought she ran great last time. I wish she went a little easier down the backside,” trainer Chad Brown said of Opulent Restraint’s effort in the Belmont Oaks. “I feel like if she could have slowed it down just a touch more, she might have won. She gives me the feel that she can get the extra distance. We’ll see what kind of fractions she can carve out.”
Go Go Boots makes her U.S. debut in the Saratoga Oaks after winning two of five starts in her native Great Britain, where she was also Group 3-placed during the spring going 1 5/16 miles at York. She shipped in to trainer Miguel Clement’s barn here less than two weeks ago.
“She came to us in great condition from John and Thady Gosden,” said Clement. “She’s settled in beautifully. We’ve not stressed the filly here because all of her preparation was done back at home.”
Totally Justified finished a distant seventh after chasing Opulent Restraint during the early stages of the Belmont Oaks. Winner of the P.G. Johnson Stakes here at 2, she is also multiple Grade 2-placed and hails from the barn of the red-hot Rusty Arnold, who has already won three graded stakes here this summer, including the Grade 1 Test Stakes a week ago with Kilwin.
Sigh No More, a Group 3 winner in Ireland who exits a last-to-first victory in the Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth Park, and Evershed, sporting a modest two-race win streak of her own, complete the field.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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