May Day Ready (inside) staves off challengers. (Adam Coglianese/NYRA)
Mary Eddy
Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Thirty Year Racing and Michael Caruso’s Naomis has won her last two races in her native France, and will look to further her run of good form when making her stateside debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Lake Placid, an inner turf mile for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.
The Lake Placid [Race 10] is one of six stakes slated for Saturday’s loaded 14-race Travers Day card, headlined by the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers in Race 13. The day will also feature the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial in Race 8, and a trio of Grade 1, $500,000 “Win and You’re In” events for the Breeders’ Cup in the Forego [Dirt Mile] in Race 11, the Resorts World Casino Ballerina [Filly and Mare Sprint] in Race 12, and the Personal Ensign [Distaff] in Race 9. First post is 11:05 a.m. Eastern.
Naomis will make her barn debut for five-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Chad Brown, and was last seen capturing the Group 2 Prix de Sandringham on May 31 at Chantilly going about one mile around right-handed turns. There, she raced prominently and took the lead with an eighth of a mile to go before gamely fending off the oncoming Vaticana, upsetting the race at 20-1 odds.
Prior to the Prix de Sandringham, Naomis captured the Prix Aymeri de Mauleon by a neck in April at Toulouse for her first stakes win, improving from a half-length third in a March allowance at Le Bouscat. Both of those efforts were also at about one mile around right-handed turns, a cutback in distance and a change in configuration from her first four outings at nine and 10 furlongs around left-handed bends.
Brown said the American style of racing is a small question mark for the talented filly.
“We’ll have to see how she does around it, it’s a totally different style of race for her but she certainly trains well enough,” said Brown, who is in search of a record-extending seventh win in this event following previous wins with Rushing Fall [2018], Regal Glory [2019], Technical Analysis, Haughty, Aspray and Grayosh [2021-24].
The City Light bay was previously trained by Henri-Alex Pantall, and was privately purchased following the Prix de Sandringham. She posted her first work for Brown over Saratoga’s Oklahoma turf training track on July 12, and has completed nearly all of her stateside works over that surface, including a half-mile in 49 seconds flat on August 16. She worked a half-mile in 49.55 over the dirt there on August 23 after rain forced the rescheduling of turf works to Monday.
“I’ve been impressed with her. She looks great,” Brown said. “She’s a medium-sized filly, athletic. I’m excited to get her started.”
Flavien Prat will ride Naomis from post 5.
Brown will also be represented by Klaravich Stables’ Deep Learning [post 4, Manny Franco], a last-out second to Amberglen in the Grade 3 Lake George presented by Surfside on August 1 here in her first start of the season.
The daughter of Cairo Prince earned a career-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure for the rallying effort, and looks to notch her first graded stakes win in her second start off a nine-month layoff. Last year, she graduated on debut here traveling 1 1/16 miles, and was a 1 3/4-length fifth in the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine. She completed the year with a pair of 1 1/16-mile efforts at Aqueduct Racetrack with a runner-up finish to Ground Support in the Grade 2 Miss Grillo and a stalk-and-pounce win in the Listed Chelsey Flower in November.
“It’s a little short for her, but she’s doing well,” Brown said of the Lake Placid. “She should benefit from her second start back.”
The $325,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training is out of the Union Rags mare Dovima, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winner Secret Gypsy.
Amo Racing USA’s Flowerhead has made three North American outings for trainer Charlie Clover, and will look to break through here on the heels of a third in Woodbine Racetrack’s Grade 3 Ontario Colleen going this distance on July 25 in her first effort beyond sprint distances.
The Starman bay showed strong juvenile form sprinting in Great Britain, landing second in the Group 2 Queen Mary 1 1/4 lengths behind True Love last June at Royal Ascot, and subsequently finishing a good third there in the Group 3 Princess Margaret in July and a neck third in the St. Hughs at Newbury in August. This year, she made two starts in Great Britain ahead of her overseas endeavors, which began with a local fourth in the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Soaring Softly on June 7, followed by a third in the Listed Alywow over Tapeta on June 28 at Woodbine.
All three of Flowerhead’s most recent starts came with a willing rally, and she will look to earn her first win outside of a sprint as Ricardo Santana, Jr. guides her from post 3.
Lindy Farms’ Queen of Hawaii [post 1, Jose Ortiz] impressed in her sophomore debut on July 9 here for trainer Philip Antonacci, besting elders with a neck victory over Play With Fire – second in this race last year – in a second-level one-mile optional claimer off a more than eight-month layoff. Her stablemate Ashikidah finished fourth and went on to win in the same condition here on August 5.
“She’s got a lot of back class, and being a graded stakes-winner, we kind of had to step into the deep end going against older fillies in a ‘2-other-than’ and she really impressed me,” Antonacci said. “Her class shone through and I think her form was flattered because the other filly [Ashikidah] came back and won the ‘2-other-than’ in her next start.”
The daughter of Kingman flashed her classiness last season in the care of Joseph O’Brien with a pair of convincing scores in Ireland, graduating at second asking around left-handed turns in July at Leopardstown and following with a 2 1/4-length score in the Group 3 Irish E.B.F. on the straight in August at The Curragh.
“I think she can do a little bit of everything,” Antonacci said. “Last time, she weaved through some horses and showed some bravery there, so I think she’s very versatile and has some tactical speed that can help her get a good position away from the gate.”
She capped her campaign in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar, where she was a live contender at 6-1 odds, but was hampered by a slow start from post 2 in the 12-horse field. Nevertheless, she showed good courage to make a willing run from last to finish seventh, 4 1/2 lengths back of the victorious Balantina.
“She’s got a lot of class to her and hopefully we get a little luck and she can show how good she is,” Antonacci said. “She totally missed the break in the Breeders’ Cup and I thought she raced pretty valiantly considering how much she had to do.”
Queen of Hawaii was purchased by Antonacci for $270,611 from Book 1 of the 2024 Goffs Orby Yearling Sale. She is out of the stakes-placed Galileo mare Hibiscus, a full-sister to 2018 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf-winner Line of Duty.
Icon Racing Stable’s Kokomotion [post 2, Edgard Zayas] looks to rebound from a last-out eighth here in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer off a four-month layoff for trainer Whit Beckman. She emerged from the outermost post 12 in that effort and was parked nine-wide when attempting to make her bid in the far turn, running on to finish 3 1/2 lengths back of the victorious Crossover Capital.
“She’s a high-quality filly,” Beckman said. “The allowance last time was a real bad trip coming off a layoff that didn’t do justice to what we think she’s capable of. A smaller field and the mile, she should be pretty well spotted.”
The Quality Road filly was an impressive maiden winner on debut in February at Tampa Bay Downs, storming from last-of-12 for the 6 1/4-length score over Ati Girl, who finished off-the-board in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales. She went on to post a more prominent 3 1/2-length third in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks in March ahead of her spring respite.
Completing the field are stakes-winners East Jabip [post 9, Tyler Gaffalione], who makes her first start for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, and Ultimate Love [post 8, Paco Lopez] for trainer Michael Trombetta; two-time winner Oscar Bound [post 6, Shaun Bridgmohan] for conditioner Melanie Giddings; and the Brendan Walsh-trained maiden-winner Nonconsecutivetrms [post 7, John Velazquez].
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