Elate enlivens Spa in winning G1 Alabama

By Brian Bohl

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm’s Elate came within a head of winning a Grade 1 race at Saratoga Race Course last month. With a second chance at the Spa, the Medagila d’Oro filly earned her first graded stakes victory, edging clear in the stretch to capture the 137th running of the $600,000 Alabama for 3-year-old fillies by 5 ½ lengths Saturday.

Elate, one of two entries for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott in the 1 ¼-mile route, went stride-for-stride with Abel Tasman in the final jumps for second-place in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 23. The Kentucky homebred clinched a trip to the winner’s circle in her lcoal try, taking the lead coming out of the far turn and outkicking It Tiz Well in the stretch, hitting the wire in 2:02.19.

“It looked like we were going to be a little bit wide going through the first turn, and naturally, I need to go review the films to see a bit more, but it looked like when he [jockey Jose Ortiz] left the half-mile pole, he moved her into contention and it looked like she had dead aim on them by the time she reached the quarter-pole,” said Mott, who also saddled sixth-place Lockdown. “It was more of a forward type of race for her. It looks like the mile and a quarter is her type of trip. She finished well and she’s got a nice burst of speed and she stays on well.”

It Tiz Well, trained by fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, outpaced the nine-horse field, beating projected pacesetter Unchained Melody to the front in going a quarter-mile in 23.46 seconds and the half in 46.96.

It Tiz Well maintained the advantage heading into the far turn before jockey Jose Ortiz piloted Elate to the outside near the quarter-pole, took command and used a left-handed whip to fend off a potential late charge. The margin of victory matched Elate’s personal-best effort in winning the Light Hearted on June 15 at Delaware Park.

“She broke well and put me into a great position going into the first turn on the backside,” Ortiz said. “When I got to the three-eighths pole, I felt I had a lot of horse underneath me. I just went along with her and as we entered the stretch, she really got going and I didn’t look back I kept riding. It’s a Grade 1 and I didn’t want to look back for anybody, I just focused on riding her to the finish.”
Off at 4-1, Elate paid $10.60 on a $2 win bet. She won for the third time in eight starts, improving to 3-3-1. The victory nearly doubled her career earnings to $530,325.

“We gave her a little bit of time after she broke her maiden and we started cranking her up and getting her ready for the races, and it was just kind of like she really hadn’t come alive yet,” said Mott, who notched his third career Alabama win, joining Royal Delta in 2011 and Sweet Symphony in 2005. “She was doing fine; her works were good without being spectacular and you could tell she was probably a filly that was going through a little bit of a growing stage, a development stage. We said then that she probably wouldn’t be on her game for the Kentucky Oaks, that she was more of an Alabama filly and that’s exactly how it worked out.”

It Tiz Well, ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, went off at 13-1 in her first start at the Alabama distance. The daughter of Arch finished a head in front of a hard-charging Salty for runner-up status, marking the eighth time in nine starts she has hit the board.

“She broke sharp and I was on the lead, but I would have much rather her relax more than she did,” Van Dyke said. “She never truly shut off and threw her ears up. If she would have relaxed for at least an eighth of a mile or more, she would have finished a lot better. The winner came in front of us and kind of shaded me a little bit in the stretch, but [It Tiz Well] tried hard and ran on again. I need to get her to relax a little bit better than that, but she ran hard. She ran good.”
Salty broke much better than in the CCA Oaks, when she still recovered to finish third. The Quality Road filly has finished in the money in her last three Grade 1 starts, including a runner-up finish in the Acorn.

“I thought she ran well, and all you ever ask for and all I have ever asked for is a good trip,” trainer Mark Casse said. “She got a great trip today. She ran really well. I am proud of her. And the best horse won.”

Actress, New Money Honey, Lockdown, Mopotism and favorite Holy Helena completed the order of finish. Unchained Melody was pulled up.