Plans Undecided for Matareya
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While conditioner Brad Cox went into the Grade 1, $500,000 Longines Test with full confidence in his post-time favorite Matareya, he was by no means dejected after the Pioneerof the Nile filly was handed her first loss of the year when third in Saturday’s seven-furlong sprint for sophomores at Saratoga Race Course.
“It was unfortunate, but listen, she didn’t run bad,” said Cox on Sunday morning. “She came out of it good and was tired. Yesterday just wasn’t her day. She wasn’t quite traveling as easy up the backside as I like to see and how I’ve seen in her previous races.
“Maybe Saratoga just isn’t her thing – it’s the ‘Graveyard of Champions,’” Cox added, with a laugh. “It is what it is.”
Matareya entered from a cool 6 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Acorn on June 11 at Belmont Park, the first top-level score for the bay filly after earning graded wins in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs and Grade 3 Beaumont at Keeneland earlier this spring.
The Test had an eventful end after Hot Peppers dictated terms throughout the seven furlongs over a demanding good and sealed main track. There was a stewards’ inquiry after subsequent winner Chi Town Lady drifted in from the outside while Hot Peppers veered out on the inside and both bumped a tiring Matareya.
Cox said he was fine with there being no change to the order of finish.
“She was [beat] a length and three quarters and it got a little tight late, but the running was over at that point and it didn’t cost her a placing,” Cox said.
Cox added it is too early to say where Matareya may race next, but that he would like to keep her around one turn with the Grade 1 La Brea on December 26 at Santa Anita as a potential long-term target.
“In the 3-year-old filly division around one turn, all the Grade 1s are pretty much over with the exception of the La Brea at the end of the year, so we’ll see,” Cox said.
On Sunday, Cox saw multiple graded-stakes winner Caravel return to the work tab a bit sooner than he anticipated after finishing a troubled ninth in the Grade 3 Caress on July 23 at the Spa. The daughter of Mizzen Mast breezed a half-mile in 48.72 seconds over the Oklahoma turf training track.
“I didn’t really know what to do with her out of her last race, but she’s doing well and I decided to breeze her because she’s doing good,” Cox said. “She worked really well.”
In the Caress, Caravel lost much of her chance at the start when she broke slowly from the inside post and then steadied behind rivals at the seven-sixteenths under Tyler Gaffalione.
“She missed the break and got squeezed in the turn – it was not a good race. Tyler obviously kind of galloped her late and made the right decision. But she came out of it great and had a fantastic work this morning.”
Cox said he will keep his eye on the 5 1/2-furlong $150,000 Smart N Fancy on August 20 as a potential next start for Caravel.
Among Cox’s other recent turf workers was duel Grade 2-winner Set Piece, who fired an impressive bullet half-mile work in 47.41 seconds over the Oklahoma turf Friday. The work was a bit different than expected after two trainees from the barn of Wesley Ward angled up to his inside and gave him company down the stretch, but the flashy dark bay responded professionally and finished up well.
Cox said he was particularly impressed with the work from the 6-year-old son of Dansili and that he will target the Grade 1, $1 million Arlington Million on August 13 at Churchill Downs rather than try the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap, a race he finished second in last year, on the same day at the Spa.
“He’s really doing well. He’s a strong possibility for the Arlington Million,” said Cox. “We were looking at the Fourstardave because he was second last year, but I just don’t feel comfortable with the inner turf for him and his running style. He comes from so far out of it that for whatever reason, the inner turf favors speed. He’s a beautiful horse.”
NYRA Press Office
Photo: Matareya winning the G1 Acorn (NYRA/Coglianese)
