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Plum Ali targeting G3 Beaugay or G3 Gallorette; Royal Ascot within realm of possibility for several Clement trainees

by NYRA Press Office

• Plum Ali targeting G3 Beaugay or G3 Gallorette; Royal Ascot within realm of possibility for several Clement trainees
• G1-placed Make Mischief to target G2 Ruffian; Golden Glider to G3 Peter Pan
• Haynesfield winner Water’s Edge still on target for $200K Commentator
• Doctor Jeff to try Tapeta in Woodstock at Woodbine

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Michael J. Caruso’s Plum Ali, fresh off a winning seasonal debut in the Plenty of Grace on April 16 at Aqueduct Racetrack, will eye a start at graded stakes level for trainer Christophe Clement.

Plum Ali defeated three other stakes winners when capturing the one-mile Plenty of Grace, securing a ground saving trip under Manny Franco before making a three-wide move in upper stretch to collar the Chad Brown-trained Technical Analysis in the final furlong to win by a half-length.

Clement said Plum Ali will now target either the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay at 1 1/16-miles for older fillies and mares on May 14 at Belmont Park or the Grade 3, $150,000 Gallorette at the same distance at Pimlico Race Course the following week.

“She’s doing very well,” Clement said. “She’s nominated to the Sheepshead Bay, but most likely she’ll come back in the Gallorette or the Beaugay.”

Plum Ali, a 4-year-old First Samurai chestnut filly, posted the lone win of her sophomore season in her final start of the year, leading through every point of call to win the Winter Memories in November over a good Aqueduct turf. Unbeaten in the first three starts of her juvenile campaign, Plum Ali won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont and the Mint Juvenile Fillies at Kentucky Downs in 2020.

“She’s always been a very nice filly. She’s been unlucky a few times,” Clement said. “The other day she beat a good filly of Chad Brown’s who did very well last year and it was a good race.”

Clement is considering a trip to Royal Ascot in June for a handful of his horses, including Jump Sucker Stable’s Slipstream, a last out winner of the Palisades on April 10 at Keeneland. The sophomore son of More Than Ready captured the Grade 3 Futurity over Belmont’s inner turf in October and could target the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup on June 17 at Royal Ascot.

Clement said stakes-winning stable mates Big Invasion and Derrynane also are under consideration for the Commonwealth Cup.

Big Invasion, a Reeves Thoroughbred Racing-owned son of Declaration of War, was a last-out winner of the Texas Glitter on March 26 at Gulfstream Park. Waterville Lake Stable New York-homebred Derrynane was second in the Limestone at Keeneland on April 15. She shipped to Woodbine last September to win the Woodbine Cares.

Bobby Flay’s Pizza Bianca also could make the trip overseas for the Group 1 Coronation Cup on June 17 at Royal Ascot. The Fastnet Rock dark bay filly gave Clement his first career Breeders’ Cup victory when taking last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar. She finished a close second in the Memories of Silver in her seasonal debut on April 24 at Aqueduct.

“We’ve got time to think about it and see how the horses are training the next couple of weeks or so,” Clement said. “Everyone is eligible. We’ll check them out and see how they’re doing in the next couple of weeks and make a decision.”

Clement said he plans on running City Man in the Grade 2, $150,000 Fort Marcy on May 7 at Belmont Park. Like Plum Ali, the 5-year-old son of Mucho Macho Man also made his yearly commencement a winning one, capturing the Danger’s Hour on April 9 at Aqueduct. He finished second in last year’s Fort Marcy to Tribhuvan.

Bred in New York by Moonstar Farm, City Man was considered for the $125,000 Kingston against fellow state-breds on May 30 at Belmont. 

“I was going to wait for the New York-bred stakes at the end of May, but he’s doing too well, and I can’t pass it up, so he’s going to run,” Clement said.

A stakes winner in each season from ages two to five, City Man has amassed lifetime earnings of $543,550. He is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Patty Searles and Peter Searles.

G1-placed Make Mischief to target G2 Ruffian; Golden Glider to G3 Peter Pan

Gary Barber’s multiple graded stakes-placed Make Mischief was an impressive 10 1/4-length winner of an optional claimer in her seasonal debut on April 14 at Aqueduct Racetrack for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse after a five-month layoff. The 4-year-old Into Mischief filly will now target a start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian on May 8 at Belmont Park.

Last year, the New York-bred put together a sophomore campaign that earned her a nomination for New York-Bred Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. She started the year with wins in an optional claimer and the Maddie May at the Big A before earning two consecutive graded placings. She finished third in both the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs and the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park where she got her nose down to secure show honors over Grade 1 winner Dayoutoftheoffice.The bay filly went on to earn two more stakes placings in the Fleet Indian at Saratoga Race Course and the Empire Distaff Handicap at Belmont, a race she exited with an injury that led to her layoff.

Casse credited the team at his training center in Ocala, Florida with Make Mischief’s successful return.

“She’s doing great,” said Casse. “I was proud of her for a lot of reasons. She actually had a chip surgery after her last race in October. We rehabbed her at our training center and she went right from there and went up there and won. I was proud of the job they had done at our training center.”

Make Mischief earned a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure for her victory, an effort Casse said shows the filly’s class.

“She’s a horse we’ve been kind of high on from the beginning. She’s run some big races and if she can come back and repeat her performance she had at Aqueduct, that puts her with the big girls,” Casse said. “You always worry when you have a performance like that – especially off the long layoff – that she could possibly bounce a little or be a little flat in her next race. But we’re extremely happy with her at this point.”

Casse also mapped out plans for two promising sophomore colts in his barn. Golden Glider, who was last seen finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 9 at Keeneland, will point to a start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan on May 14 at Belmont. Casse added that maiden special weight winner Strong Quality may also be possible for the Peter Pan.

Golden Glider, a son of Ghostzapper, was on the Kentucky Derby trail this winter and made starts in three prep races, finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis and fourth in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, both at Tampa Bay Downs, before his effort in the Blue Grass. The chestnut colt was a $395,000 weanling purchase at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Strong Quality has been in-the-money in all three of his starts, graduating at second asking in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight on February 19 at Fair Grounds Race Course. He finished a close second in his first start against winners, defeated a head in an allowance optional claiming race on March 19 over the same course at the same distance.

Casse has had past success using the Peter Pan as a stepping-stone to the Belmont Stakes, sending out Sir Winston to a second-place finish in 2019 en route to a triumph in the “Test of the Champion” one month later.  

“The Peter Pan has been good to us before,” Casse said, with a laugh. “So, we’re going to try it again.”

Haynesfield winner Water’s Edge still on target for $200K Commentator

Trainer David Donk and Sean Carney’s Water’s Edge, winner of the $100,000 Haynesfield on March 20 at Aqueduct Racetrack, is still on course for a start in the $200,000 Commentator Handicap on May 30 at Belmont Park despite missing an anticipated start in allowance company Donk had planned for this weekend.

“It was a really good effort in the stakes, but he spiked a fever a week ago. It’s knocked us off course a bit,” said Donk. “I would have probably ran him back in an allowance race this weekend. Those plans are canceled. The next objective is the Commentator if he doesn’t lose much time.”

Water’s Edge has never finished worse than second in eight lifetime starts and has won four races for Donk and Carney. His Haynesfield victory came in his stakes debut, setting the pace for the one-turn mile and drawing away at the eighth pole under Jorge Vargas, Jr. to win by 4 1/4 lengths. The field he defeated included four stakes winners in Chestertown, Our Last Buck, My Boy Tate and Lobsta.

“He’s had a pretty steady campaign, so a little break maybe is a bit of a blessing,” Donk said. “We’ll see. If he’s not quite ready, then we’ll get him ready for the next one.”

Donk capped off the spring meet at the Big A on a high note, going 2-for-2 on Closing Day with two New York-bred sophomore maiden winners. One Track Mine, a daughter of Mineshaft, took a maiden claimer in Race 5 while Barrel of Quests, a son of Mission Impazible, won a maiden special weight in Race 9. Both horses were piloted by Luis Cardenas.

Owned by Funky Munky Stable, One Track Mine finished second on debut at Belmont Park in July but was unplaced in two more starts over dirt before making a successful turf debut.

“The filly is useful,” Donk said of One Track Mine. “First time on the grass, I wasn’t sure how well she’d take to it, but she did and she appreciated it.”

Tri County Stables’ homebred Barrel of Quests also made the switch to turf and improved off a runner-up effort over the dirt in his last start to break his maiden at fifth asking.

“He only had one start on turf last year and he was really green in that effort. We bided our time this winter and experimented a little bit on the dirt," Donk said. "We were looking forward to getting him back to the grass.”

Doctor Jeff to try Tapeta in Woodstock at Woodbine

Michael Dubb and Michael J. Caruso's Doctor Jeff, who scratched out of the Woodhaven on April 23 at Aqueduct Racetrack, is entered in Sunday's $125,000 Woodstock, a six-furlong Tapeta sprint for sophomores at Woodbine Racetrack.

"He's doing good. We re-entered today in Canada and we're going to give Tapeta a try," Rodriguez said.

The Street Boss chestnut, bred in Kentucky by James Arrison, captured the Atlantic Beach at six furlongs on the Big A turf in November to close out his juvenile campaign.

Justin Stein will pilot Doctor Jeff from Post 8.

The Elkstone Group's Wudda U Think Now did not enter Friday's Affirmed Success at Belmont, a six-furlong sprint for older state-bred horses, after incurring a minor hoof injury.

"He got a quarter crack. It was bad timing for the race, so we'll regroup and go from there," Rodriguez said.

The 5-year-old Fast Anna gelding has posted 104 Beyer Speed Figures in each of his last two starts, taking an open optional-claimer in January ahead of a 4 1/4-length score in the six-furlong Hollie Hughes on February 19 against fellow state-breds.