Delightful Claire has potential in G3 Prioress

Rigney Racing’s Delightful Claire was an impressive winner last out and has serious potential in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Prioress, a six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course. 

Trained by Phil Bauer, the Thousand Words chestnut graduated last out by an eased-up 9 1/4-lengths against elders in a seven-furlong maiden special weight on August 2 here. Delightful Claire was making her second career start after a one-length third to next-out allowance winner Princess Proud sprinting six furlongs on June 8 at Churchill Downs. 

Delightful Claire’s recent prominent score under Hall of Famer Joel Rosario stopped the clock in 1:22.77 – faster than the 1:23.10 clocking for Kilwin’s score five races later in the Grade 1 Test presented by Ticketmaster – earning a career and field-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure. 

“I don’t think you can ever expect them to run like that, but I was glad to see that she did,” Bauer said. “We always thought she had a ton of ability. We were mildly disappointed that she didn’t win her first time out, but she ran a great race and it looks like it was a good maiden. We think there is better ahead for her, that is why we are being bold with going right into the graded stakes.”  

Exactly one year before Delightful Claire won at second asking - on August 2, 2024 - Bauer sent out Two Sharp to graduate second-out by 11 1/4 lengths sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs here and she exited to run a close second when cutting back slightly in the Prioress. 

“We did the same thing last year with Two Sharp,” said Bauer. “Delightful Claire likes it here and any time you can pick up graded black type, it is a good thing.” 

Bauer said Delightful Claire [post 3, Luan Machado] looks like she could stretch back out in the future. 

“I think so. We are caught in a situation with the calendar, with this stakes landing right in our lap, so we’ll try it,” Bauer said. “She is probably good enough to handle six furlongs, but may appreciate more ground.” 

Delightful Claire, a $250,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale, is out of the Grade 3-placed Maria’s Mon mare Izshelegal, and her half-brother Crazy Mason won the Grade 2 Carter presented by NYRA Bets in April at Aqueduct Racetrack and recently closed for third in the Grade 1 Forego on August 23 here.

Will Stroud and Debra O’Connor’s Long Neck Paula [post 5, Dylan Davis] heads the opposition as she makes her seventh consecutive stakes start. Trained by Wesley Ward, the Uncle Mo bay captured the Prairie Meadows Debutante last August ahead of winning the Bowman Mill versus males in October at Keeneland. 

Long Neck Paula has not won in the three efforts since her juvenile campaign-capping Bowman Mill triumph, but she has been second in her past two efforts, including the 5 1/2-furlong off-the-turf Palisades versus males in April at Keeneland and the six-furlong Jersey Girl by a head to recent Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks-victor Indy Bay last out on June 8 here. 

Long Neck Paula set a fairly quick pace in the Jersey Girl through splits of 22.34 seconds and 44.97 on the fast main track, gamely battling to the wire to lose narrowly in a final time of 1:09.70 – earning a career-best 91 Beyer in defeat.  

Long Neck Paula, a $500,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, is out of the Grade 3-winning Take Charge Indy mare Take Charge Paula. 

NY Final Furlong Racing Stable and SunsetRidge Racing Stable’s New York-bred Stone Smuggler [post 4, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] will be making her first start as a sophomore after a juvenile campaign that featured two stakes wins. 

Trained by Jorge Abreu, the Honest Mischief bay was second on debut last August here before graduating second-out as a maiden in the 5 1/2-furlong state-bred Lady Finger in September at Finger Lakes Racetrack. Stone Smuggler, after a third to the undefeated With the Angels in the state-bred Key Cents in November at Aqueduct Racetrack, closed to win the seven-furlong $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue in December there. 

Bred in the Empire State by Eaton and Thorne, Stone Smuggler, a $57,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Yearling Sale, is out of the winning Bustin Stones mare Bustinattheseams.

Rounding out the field are dual stakes-placed Praying [post 6, Jose Lezcano] for conditioner Robert Medina; stakes-placed Rojo Rita [post 2, Edgard Zayas], who enters from two turf allowance sprint seconds at Churchill Downs, the latter versus males, for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.; and the 2-for-3 Flat Out Time [post 1, Kendrick Carmouche] for conditioner George Weaver, who upset this event with 21-1 Lighthouse Bay in 2013, then a Grade 1. 

The Prioress is slated as Race 7 on Saturday’s 13-race program that features a pair of Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” events in the Grade 1 Spinaway [Juvenile Fillies] in Race 11 and Grade 2 Flower Bowl [Filly and Mare Turf] in Race 10. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.  
 
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