I Love Giraffes looks for first stakes win in Listed Wild Applause
Gold Square’s I Love Giraffes won an allowance by a long neck last out and now seeks her first stakes win in Opening Day Friday’s Listed $150,000 Wild Applause, a one-mile inner turf test restricted to sophomore fillies who have not won a stakes, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Chad Summers, the Charlatan bay defeated allowance elders going one mile last out on May 16 at Laurel Park. There, she steadied early and traveled in 5th-of-14 under returning rider Paco Lopez, rallying three-wide in the lane and keeping her neck in front of Mambo Queen in a final time of 1:35.25 over the firm turf. That rival returned to win an allowance at Colonial Downs, while third place finisher Synergism did the same at Delaware Park.
Later that May 16 card, Summers sent out his first Triple Crown starter and winner as Napoleon Solo captured the Grade 1 Preakness.
“I thought she ran great on Preakness Day. Obviously, that performance got a bit overshadowed with what happened the rest of the day,” Summers said. “She’s a nice filly taking on other good fillies. This is a cool race: this time of the year for those 3-year-olds that are kind of just below stakes-caliber, and we’ll find out who moves on to the second half of the year's stakes races.”
I Love Giraffes successfully stretched out in distance last out, having made her two other starts sprinting five furlongs at Gulfstream Park, where she graduated on debut in February ahead of an off-the-board result in the Melody of Colors in March.
“You always want to run short the first two times, and then stretch out if you can. It is just a real head scratcher what happened the second time out, we couldn’t find anything wrong with her or what happened, so put an ‘X’ through it,” said Summers. “We’ll keep moving forward. She ran against older horses last time. That was a good experience for Paco, who rides her back. To me, hopefully she can get some cover and I think the mile is a good distance for her.”
I Love Giraffes [post 9, Paco Lopez], a $200,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the Honor Code mare Brockovich, a half-sister to dual Grade 1-placed Spielberg.
Go Go Greys Stable’s Lovely Grey [post 8, Dylan Davis] makes her first start since an off-the-board finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks going nine furlongs on dirt on May 1 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Kelsey Danner, the Vekoma gray was first on the also-eligibles list for that race after runner-up finishes over the Turfway Park synthetic in the Cincinnati Trophy and Listed Bourbonette Oaks earlier this year.
“The Oaks was a lot to ask of her and she was fired up early in the race,” Danner said. “Turf was the plan since the Oaks. We wanted to run there at Saratoga, and this is a restricted stakes, so that helps. I think she can go farther, but a mile is fine, too.”
Lovely Grey, prior to the Kentucky Oaks, had only started on dirt once in eight career outings, which was a fourth in her five-furlong debut last July at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Her other three starts last year were on turf, including a second-out graduation going 1 1/16 miles in August at Colonial Downs.
“She looked good on Oaks Day and she’s continued to train well,” Danner said. “She’s kind of a leggy filly and she’s up there training in Saratoga.”
Lovely Grey is out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Knightwithputnam – a half-sister to Grade 3 turf-winner Neversaidiwassweet and multiple Listed stakes-placed turfer Ainsley.
Hall of Fame-trainer Bill Mott will stretch West Point Thoroughbreds and William Sandbrook’s Pillar of Beauty [post 11, Junior Alvarado] out in distance from a 5 1/2-furlong allowance win versus elders on June 5 here. The Caracaro bay went off at odds of 27-1 following an unmenacing seventh in the six-furlong Take the A Train versus sophomore fillies on May 9 at Belmont at the Big A.
Pillar of Beauty made her other three starts sprinting five furlongs in the winter months at Gulfstream, including a debut score in December. She was a $200,000 purchase from the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, out of the Point of Entry mare Port Marazion.
Mark Dobbin’s Group 3-placed Smexy [post 6, Tyler Gaffalione] enters from a one-length third in the one-mile Penn Oaks on May 29 at Penn National. There, the Irish-bred Mehmas chestnut was making her second start for trainer Brendan Walsh, after making four starts last year in her native country for conditioner Ger Lyons, including a third in the Group 3 Silver Flash last July at Leopardstown.
Smexy, a $416,854 purchase at the 2024 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, is out of the winning Pivotal mare Nijah. Her second dam is Group 1-placed Vista Bella and her third dam is multiple graded/group winner Cox Orange.
Rounding out the field are Grade 3-placed Scratch It [post 1, Manny Franco]; stakes-placed Faye’s Gold [post 5, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] and Candy Moonshine [post 4, Jaime Rodriguez]; two-time winner To a Flame [post 7, Jose Ortiz]; and maiden-winners Alone Time [post 3, John Velazquez], Paris Carver [post 2, Javier Castellano] and Code [post 10, Flavien Prat].
The Wild Applause is slated as Race 8 on Friday’s 11-race card, which includes the Listed $200,000 Schuylerville in Race 9 and the restricted $150,000 Saranac in Race 10. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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