Shidabhuti breaks her maiden Sep. 17, 2022 at Monmouth Park (EQUI-PHOTO)
By Tom Luicci/Monmouth Park
OCEANPORT, N.J.— After launching her career with a rousing win in her only start at 2 a year ago at Monmouth Park, Shidabhuti is back at the Jersey Shore, this time looking to jumpstart what her connections hope is an ambitious 3-year-old campaign.
Trained by Chad Brown and owned by Peter Brant, the daughter of Practical Joke-A.P. Candy by Candy Ride heads a field of six 3-year-old fillies for Sunday’s $100,000 Boiling Springs, the feature race on the 10-race card.
The Boiling Springs is at a mile and 70 yards on the dirt.
“They want to get her started again, but nothing is easy so this will be a good test back for her,” said Luis Cabrera, who oversees Brown’s division at Monmouth Park, one that currently tops the trainer standings with 12 wins entering the three-day weekend of live racing.
A $310,000 yearling purchase, Shidabhuti will mark her return after a 12-week layoff, having finished third in the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct on April 8 in her most recent start. She dazzled in her career debut at Monmouth Park a year ago, coming off the pace to win a Maiden Special Weight six-furlong event by 6½ lengths.
“She doesn’t have much early speed. She’s more of a closer,” said Cabrera. “But she is a very nice filly, very classy and easy to train.”
Shidabhuti, who has three wins and a second from four lifetime starts, is the only stakes winner in the field and the only horse to have tried a graded stakes.
“This should be a good spot for her starting back,” said Cabrera. “And after that, if she is doing well, they will look for something at Saratoga for her. I think that’s the plan.”
One filly in the field looking to putting a crimp in those plans is the Carlos David-trained Atthecrossroads, who comes off a seven-length romp on May 14 against allowance company at Monmouth Park. That was her first try at two turns.
“She’s a big filly and I always thought she would be able to handle two turns because of her breeding,” said David. “So I put blinkers on her and she really took to it. I’m not surprised because she’s a big filly with big strides.”
Claimed for $50,000 last Sept. 9 by Bell Racing LLC, Atthecrossroads has three wins and a second in the seven races she has been in David’s care. The daughter of Practical Joke-Midnight Magic by Midnight Lute cost $230,000 as a yearling.
“I saw her pedigree and I saw they paid a lot for her as a yearling. We thought it made sense to try to claim her,” said David.
In her second start for David, Atthecrossroads broke her maiden by 17½ lengths. She followed that up with a state-bred allowance score before throwing in the only clunker of her career, when she was eighth and last in the Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream.
Her romp at Monmouth Park in her last start convinced David that she deserved another stakes try.
“Chad Brown’s filly looks very tough. But if you look at my filly’s last race there’s nothing she can’t do when she is on,” said David. “She deserves another go at a stakes race. She is stepping up in company so it’s going to be tough but I think she will run well.”
The Boiling Springs field from the rail out (with trainer and jockey): Shidabhuti (Chad Brown, Samy Camacho); Atthecrossroads (Carlos David, Angel A. Rodriguez), Seduction (Todd Pletcher, Paco Lopez), Cairo Sugar (Alan Bedard, Andrew Wolfsont); Crypto Mama (Kelly Breen, Jose Gomez) and Miss New York (Jorge Delgado, Isaac Castillo).
