CAPTAIN’S LOVER MAKES U. S. A. DEBUT SATURDAY IN BELMONT GRADE 1,
SOUTH AFRICAN CHAMPION NICELY DRAWN 3 OF 8 FOR COVERED UP TRIP,
TODD PLETCHER BLOWN AWAY BY FINAL WORKOUT FOR JUST A GAME S.
Captain’s Lover drew a perfect post position for Saturday’s Grade 1 Just a Game Stakes, which will serve as the launching pad for the next stop on an international tour of duty that began in South Africa, hop-scotched to Europe and now kicks off in the United States of America.
The Champion Filly at 3, when she won the Classic Grade 1 Cape Fillies Guineas going a one-turn mile, Captain’s Lover is a stalker that wants to be covered up in typical European style and produced by a run over the final 1 ½ furlongs. Beginning in the 3 hole in a field of 8 should be the ideal place to lay close up and still get cover under the expert ridership of jockey Johnny Velazquez.
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Barry Irwin has an enormous amount of faith in the talent and competitive spirit of Captain’s Lover. He expects a brilliant showing on Saturday. “This filly is capable of running with the best filly and mares in the world over 6 ½ to 8 furlongs around one turn or up a straightaway,” he said. “She runs her best races when she is fresh and, frankly, Todd Pletcher many times will get a horse’s best performance off the layoff. Looks like a perfect fit to me!”
For Captain’s Lover’s blowout last Sunday for the race, Todd Pletcher put the filly a couple of lengths behind a workmate. They went a half in just over 50 seconds. What did the Toddymeister think of the move on the turf at Belmont Park? “It was a very, very good move, for her or any horse,” he said. “I had Johnny up, because he is going to ride her. When Johnny asked her to make up the deficit, she did it right now and went her last quarter in :22-flat. It was, as I said, something special. She is ready.”
In the first of her two starts last summer and fall at Longchamp race course in Paris, France, she faced males in the Group 3 Prix du Pin over 7 furlongs. She stalked, pounced and won without much fuss. The effort was so electrifying that her world-class trainer Andre Fabre wanted Team Valor to consider supplementing her to the Breeders’ Cup Mile. In her next and final French outing she was a troubled but respectable fourth in the Grade 1 Prix de la Foret.
Captain’s Lover has always been a high strung filly and, for what was supposed to be a final French race that would serve as a prep for a trip to the United States, she flipped backwards in the paddock at Saint-Cloud race course in advance of the Prix Perth, resulting in a couple of hairline fractures in her tailbone.
The Captain Al filly had acted up in her final South African start in the Grade 1 Paddock Stakes in Cape Town, where she tried to flip, sat down on a rose bush (cutting up her hind legs) and unloosened her saddle. In spite of the saddle slipping so much that she crossed from one rail to the other in the final quarter mile of the 9-furlong race, she managed third behind Dancer’s Daughter and River Jetez. Dancer’s Daughter was voted Champion Older Filly last year after dead-heating with Horse of the Year Pocket Power in the Durban July. River Jetz, the full sister to Pocket Power, is currently the second favorite behind her brother for this year’s Durban July.
Captain’s Lover threw a wingding at Palm Meadows early in her stay with Todd Pletcher after the first of the year and the Toddymeister has done what appears to be a marvelous job in getting into the filly’s head. “I don’t exactly trust her yet,” he explained, “but I do expect her to act like a lady on Saturday.”
Bought for $27,000 at the National Yearling Sale, Captain’s Lover is a high-class, most consistent one-turn bombshell, capable of running with the best elongated sprinters on the planet, both male and female.
Set to face Captain’s Lover, from the rail out, are some of the following:
• Carribean Sunset is a thoroughly exposed ex-Irish filly trained over there by Dermot Weld, who most assuredly got to the bottom of her talent reservoir. She is a multiple Group 3 winner and has only one race that would make her competitive with Captain’s Lover. She ran very well when second at Aqueduct debuting in the U. S. for Christophe Clement in the G3 Beaugay S.
• I Lost My Choo is an underrated NY-bred that has 7 wins in 12 starts, including the Grade 3 Honey Fox going a fast 1:33 3/5 mile at Gulfstream Park. A mile suits her and she will not be intimidated by this step up in class. She has a wicked turn of foot and will be running late.
• Forever Together year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf going a mile and a quarter even though she may be more effective over Saturday’s trip, based on a win in the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes last year at Keeneland. She is versatile, has no chinks in her armor, and can win from anywhere on the course. Her comeback win in the Jenny Wiley Stakes was the most facile score one is likely to see this year in North America. If anything beats her, it would be soft ground. She is effective with some give in the ground, but not as brilliant as on firm going.
• Modern Look is a Bobby Frankel-trained, Juddmonte Farm-owned French import with a Group 2 win to her credit. She was a stakes winner at both 2 and 3 in France. She is effective on soft turf. In her U. S. debut, she pulled hard going a mile in an overnight stakes in Southern California and was caught near the end to finish second in a good, but not great effort. She has the form, a race in the country, the top trainer, Garrett Gomez up and will like the ground.
• Diamondrella is a sprinter stretching out that has won her last 5 races in a row and employed the most exciting turn of foot imaginable when taking a Listed sprint at Keeneland last time out for trainer Angel Penna, Jr., who is doing a fantastic job with the British-bred filly. She has won going 7 furlongs and if she can see out this trip, she could be tough late.
• My Princess Jess is another with solid credentials. She was a good stakes winner last season at Saratoga, but she ran a career-topping race upon the occasion of her 4-year-old debut, when cracking a triple-digit Beyer to take the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at Aqueduct with a minimum of fuss. She obviously is a different filly this year and is a longshot with pizzazz.
Captain’s Lover like some give in the ground, but she can run on ground as hard as a brick or as soft as a pond. It has rained all week, is supposed to continue to rain through Friday and she should get a course on which she should be highly effective.
There is plenty of pace in this race to stretch this field. Timing will be critical for Johnny Velazquez because he needs to time the late run of Captain’s Lover well, as she has a tendency to pull herself up once she makes the lead.
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