SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There may not have been a more impressive debut-winning 2-year-old filly at the 2024 Saratoga meet than Senza Parole.
Never touched with the whip and kept several paths wide in the stretch, Senza Parole won her debut by 7 1/2 lengths. She ran six furlongs in 1:09.84 and earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. Stunner, the horse who finished second in that race, came back to win her next two starts, including the Tempted Stakes.
But training toward a start in the Grade 1 Frizette last October, Senza Parole suffered a chip in a knee that required surgery. It has taken longer than hoped, but Senza Parole makes it back to the races Sunday in a first-level allowance race going six furlongs at Saratoga.
Trainer Chad Brown said he thought Senza Parole was talented enough to be a Breeders’ Cup filly last year.
“The owners have been very patient,” said Brown, who trains Senza Parole for the Don Alberto Stable operated by Liliana Solari and her son Carlos Heller. “It’s taken longer than we had hoped to get her back to the races, but knock on wood, she’s sound and healthy all around and doing well.”
Though Senza Parole will return in a six-furlong race, Brown said he doesn’t know ultimately what her best distance will be. Brown said Senza Parole is one of the best horses he has in training and wouldn’t be stunned if she made it to this year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
“I find with my high-level older horses as they settle into their carers finding what they’re best at and go on from there,” Brown said. “Now that she’s getting started on the second half of her 3-year-old year, I can focus more on what ultimately is going to be her niche, and having to run against horses with a lot of experience now, not a bunch of 2-year-olds that are all in the same boat. We’ll see how she does, if she ended up running seven-eighths in the Breeders’ Cup it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Senza Parole drew post 9 in a field of 10 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. Despo’s Dreams and Grammy Girl are the only members of the field who have won multiple races.
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