Curalina / NYRA Photo

Curalina, Carrumba rematch in G3 Shuvee

by Brian Bohl

An accomplished group of stakes-tested veterans will highlight Sunday's Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee Handicap for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Saratoga Race Course.

Four horses will comprise the 40th running of the Shuvee, including two graded-stakes winners in Curalina and Carrumba, in going a mile and a furlong on the main track.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Curalina will get some class relief as she enters off seven straight Grade 1 starts. The Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' 4-year-old won the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs by 7 ½ lengths before finishing fourth last out in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on June 11 at Belmont Park.

Curalina has registered 90-plus Beyer Speed Figures in her last four races and is 5-2-2 in 10 career starts. The chestnut filly will depart from post 3 with Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez.

"She's doing well and seems like she's in great form coming in, so we're excited," Pletcher said. "The Shuvee is a bit of an underrated race. It's not a Grade 1, but a lot of times it comes up like one.

"She's versatile enough where it [a small field] shouldn't bother her one way or another," he added. "She's not a horse who is reliant on a perfect setup. She can make the race herself. Hopefully she can work out a good trip and we'll let John Velazquez sort that out."

Pletcher, who has won the race three times, will be looking to defend the Shuvee title after winning last year's edition with Stopchargingmaria.

Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey will be looking for his fifth win in the race and first since 2004 in saddling Carrumba, who drew the inside post with Jose Ortiz in the irons.

Owned by the Phipps Stable, Carrumba has never finished out of the money in nine career starts, going 4-4-1. That run includes a third-place showing in the Ogden Phipps in which she finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Curalina. Carrumba captured the Grade 3 Top Flight Invitational Handicap on April 10 at Aqueduct facingin a four-horse field.

"We're looking forward to running around two turns," McGaughey said. "She's been doing well since her last race so we'll see what happens. I'd like to see a speed horse in there where we could duck right in behind, but if we're on the lead, that's fine, too."

Carrumba will be returning to the Spa, where she broke her maiden going 1 1/8 miles last August.

Main Line Racing Stables' Joint Return will be looking for her first win in 17 starts and enters off a fifth in the Lady's Secret on July 4 at Monmouth. Trained by John Servis, the 5-year-old previously placed in the Grade 3 Allaire DuPont Distaff on May 20 at Pimlico.

Joint Return's best finish in a graded stakes race occurred at Saratoga with a second-place effort in the 2014 Grade 1 Alabama. The Include mare will exit the outside post with jockey Kendrick Carmouche aboard.

Sweetgrass, trained by Ian Wilkes, will see a step up in class after winning an allowance race last out on July 1 at Belmont. The 4-year-old bay filly will be making her first graded stakes start since a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Alabama last August in Saratoga.

Sweetgrass will leave with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. from post 2.