Irish shipper Aspen Grove made a stylish stretch run under Oisin Murphy to capture Saturday's Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) at Belmont Park.
The 10-furlong inner turf test for sophomore fillies is the first leg of the Fasig-Tipton Fillies Turf Triple series, which is followed by the 1 3/16-mile$400,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G3) on August 4 at Saratoga Race Course and the $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Jockey Club Oaks Invitational (G3) on September 16 going 11 furlongs at Belmont at the Big A.
Aspen Grove arrived in New York on June 30 and was cared for by Mark Enright, a recently retired jockey, who piloted the filly to victory in the Group 3 Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF in August at The Curragh. Enright was also aboard for her seasonal debut in the one-mile Group 3 Cornelscourt in May at Leopardstown before an off-the-board effort in the one-mile Irish 1000 Guineas (G1) on May 28 at The Curragh.
Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm, breeder and co-owner of the Irish-bred Aspen Grove in partnership with Mrs. John Magnier, said the James “Fozzy” Stack-trained bay will ship upstate to Saratoga to trainer Jack Sisterson and point to either the Saratoga Oaks or the nine-furlong $300,000 Del Mar Oaks (G1) on August 19.
“Mark Enright who came over with the filly is going to stay, and I think she'll go into Jack Sisterson's barn,” Bernick said. “But I think Mark will continue to take care of her and ride her [in the mornings]. Fozzy will stay involved, but I think she'll go into Jack's barn. We'll look at the Saratoga Oaks and we'll consider the Del Mar Oaks also. She'll go to Saratoga sometime this week.”
The Justify bay was loaded into the outermost post 9 with a blanket and guided immediately to the rail by Murphy after a slow break to save ground as Prerequisite and Be Your Best dueled for the lead.
“We always do that at home with her,” said Stack regarding the blanket. “The stalls at home are narrower and she was always a bit touchy as a 2-year-old. I don't know if she even needs it anymore, but she's had it on from her first start so we just leave it on her.”
Aspen Grove followed the run of Aspray, picking up speed through the far turn and surged past the favored Mission of Joy before nailing Prerequisite at the wire to win by three-quarters of a length in a final time of 2:04.09. She earned an 86 Beyer.
“When she's good, she's very good,” said Stack on Sunday morning. “The couple times she's run bad there were legit excuses. In the Irish Guineas, she was in season. She ran bad as a 2-year-old one day at The Curragh when the track came up extremely hard and she just didn't fire.”
Bernick noted that Stack – the former conditioner of third-place finisher Papilio for trainer Mark Casse – had always wanted to step Aspen Grove up in trip.
“He sort of thought Papilio had a better turn of foot, but going further he thought Aspen Grove was the better horse. It turns out, they were pretty close,” Bernick said.
Stack said before he comes to a decision on a next start for Aspen Grove, he would like to speak further with Murphy, who finished second aboard The Foxes in the featured Belmont Derby Invitational (G1) on Saturday before flying to France and guiding Chaldean to an off-the-board effort this morning in the Haras d'Etreham Prix Jean Prat (G1) at Deauville won by Good Guess.
“My own inkling is that I'm not sure if Del Mar would suit her, but I wasn't on her back yesterday,” Stack said. “One thing that played to her strengths yesterday was stepping up in trip. Grade 1s are important to fillies – the Saratoga race is worth more — if she was a gelding, we wouldn't be having this conversation.”
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