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Amy C goes for three in a row in G3 Intercontinental

by Ryan Martin

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Robert V. LaPenta’s Amy C will strive for her third straight stakes conquest in Friday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental at six furlongs on the inner turf for older fillies and mares at Belmont Park.

Trained by Phil D’Amato, Amy C will make her first start in five months and was last seen posting a 1 1/4-length score in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas on January 2 at Santa Anita, which came just over two months following a score in the Senator Ken Maddy over the same surface. Both races were run at 6 1/2 furlongs, a distance at which the 5-year-old Charming Thought mare is unbeaten.

After making her D’Amato debut when fourth in the two-turn mile Grade 3 Wilshire last May at Santa Anita, Amy C was triumphant in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance event the following month over Santa Anita’s downhill turf course.

Amy C will contest her shortest race on Friday when facing the Intercontinental’s six-furlong distance, but D’Amato expressed no concern with the cutback.

“I think it’ll be right up her alley, she’s done great going 6 1/2 [furlongs] at Santa Anita, so I have to imagine six would be a nice trip for her as well,” D’Amato said. “When I first ran her, I ran her going a mile and it looked like she lost some steam a little bit late. Michael Dubb thought maybe going shorter down the hill would help and it seemed like from then on she’s been a newly anointed sprinter.”

Initially slated to contest Keeneland’s Giant’s Causeway in April, Amy C was scratched when spiking a temperature before the race. She remained in Kentucky to train at Churchill Downs for her next engagement.

“We just took our time after that happened,” D’Amato said. “We waited until she was 100 percent and thought the Intercontinental would be the next appropriate spot for her. That’s what we’ve been pointing for, and I hope she makes a good showing.”

Previously conditioned by Chad Brown, Amy C won her North American debut in June 2021 going 1 1/16 miles over Belmont’s Widener turf.

Bred in Great Britain by D. Curran, Amy C is out of the unraced Exceed and Excel mare Alzahra.

Flavien Prat will pick up the mount from post 6.

After sending out last year’s winner Caravel, trainer Brad Cox will saddle two contenders in pursuit of his second straight Intercontinental coup with Bubble Rock [post 7, Joel Rosario] and Goin’ Good [post 8, Manny Franco].

Owned by John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable, Bubble Rock is unbeaten in two starts at Belmont Park, including a triumphant stakes debut in the Grade 3 Matron during her juvenile year. The 4-year-old More Than Ready dark bay was a last out winner of the six-furlong License Fee here on May 7. In addition to her two local stakes scores, Bubble Rock also captured the one-mile Cincinnati Trophy on synthetic last May as well as the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere in November at Churchill Downs; both are two-turn events.

Klein Racing’s homebred Goin’ Good enters from a third-place finish in the License Fee. The 5-year-old Congrats mare will make her graded stakes debut while boasting a victory in the 2021 Coronation Cup at Saratoga as well as seven stakes placings.

Following a third in the Mardi Gras at Fair Grounds Race Course – a race she ran second in last year – she defeated allowance optional claiming company in April over the Aqueduct turf.

Trainer Graham Motion will saddle Andrew Stone’s Clitheroe [post 3, Feargal Lynch] for her second stateside start.

The chestnut daughter of dual European Champion Ribchester was triumphant in her North American debut, racing a wide eighth down the backstretch before making a five-wide move around the far turn and collaring pacesetter Frosted Oats to win by a neck over late-closing Expand the Map. Across the pond, she graduated at fourth asking, when contesting six furlongs over the lawn at Lingfield while trained by David Simcock.

Motion worked Clitheroe in company with Grade 1-winner Spendarella, targeting Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game, over the Fair Hill synthetic on May 26. Both fillies finished their six-furlong works in 1:13.40.

“She’s doing well; I worked her with Spendarella last week and worked her on her own this week because she did plenty the week before,” Motion said. “She’s improved. I’m worried a little about shortening her [going from seven furlongs to six furlongs] but Feargal Lynch, who rode her in the race and has been working her, said he thinks it will really suit her.”

Bred in Great Britain by Stratford Place Stud, Clitheroe is out of the Bertolini mare Cheap Thrills who is a half to Group 1-winning millionaire sprinter Muarrab.

Hall of Famer Bill Mott sends out Arnmore Thoroughbreds’ Poppy Flower [post 1, Jose Ortiz] in pursuit of her third career stakes score. The 4-year-old Lea chestnut was a late-closing second to Bubble Rock in the License Fee last out and captured last year’s Galway at Saratoga and Stormy Blues at Laurel Park. Both races are at 5 1/2 furlongs.

Mott said Poppy Flower improved significantly from her 2023 debut, where she finished third behind Goin’ Good in April.

“She tries hard and shows up nearly every time. Oddly enough, her first race [this year] wasn't that good, but she came right back and improved,” Mott said.

Trainer Christophe Clement pursues his second Intercontinental score after winning in 2015 with Zindaya when saddling Blue Devil Racing Stable’s Messidor [post 4, Javier Castellano]. The Irish-bred Vadamos mare has won three times for her current trainer after being conditioned by Joseph O’Brien overseas.

“She's been training forwardly and carrying good weight. She's versatile from six furlongs to a mile,” Clement said.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas will saddle Bridlewood Farm’s highly consistent Bay Storm [post 5, John Velazquez], who has finished in the money in all but one of her 14 lifetime starts.

The 5-year-old Kantharos dark bay enters off a second-place finish to Caravel in the Unbridled Sidney on May 5 at Churchill Downs. A winner of her stakes debut in the 2021 Christiecat at Belmont, she has earned graded black type three times at as many racetracks.

Completing the field is William Sparks and William Patterson’s Sarah Harper [post 2, Tyler Gaffalione], who earned turf black type last out when third in the Unbridled Sidney. The 5-year-old daughter of Vancouver is a three-time winner on the main track for trainer Ron Moquett.

The Intercontinental honors Juddmonte’s 2005 Champion Grass Mare who was an eight-time graded stakes winner over four different ovals for the late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel. The daughter of Danehill won the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Belmont to close the curtain on her productive career and is a full sister to Grade/Group 1 winners Banks Hill, Champs Elysees and Cacique, as well as prominent sire Dansili.

The Intercontinental is carded as the finale on Friday’s 11-race program. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern. 

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