After being inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Friday, Todd Pletcher visited another familiar spot Sunday, the winner's circle at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. His 3-year-old graded stakes winner Con Lima added another stakes win to her resume, taking the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational by three-quarters of a length over Higher Truth.
Gam's Mission broke fastest, but Flavien Prat had Con Lima on the lead with a few strides of the gate, taking over before the first turn of the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Oaks. Running easily on the front, Prat and Con Lima controlled the pace, setting fractions of :23.64 for the first quarter and :50.02 for the first half-mile. Behind her, Gam's Mission and Higher Truth stalked in second and third, poised to challenge Con Lima in the stretch.
Around the final turn, Gam's Mission made her move first but was not able to pass Con Lima, fading in the stretch. Higher Truth pursued the front runner in the last furlong, making up ground to get within a three-quarters of a length of Con Lima at the wire. Creative Flair, who was taken up early and had to go wide to find running room, was able to pass horses in the stretch to grab third. Plum Ali, Gam's Mission, Out of Sorts, Messidor, and Rocky Sky rounded out the field of eight.
The final time for the 1 3/16 miles was 1:54.42. Find this race's chart here.
Con Lima paid $8.10, $5.00, and $3.30. Higher Truth paid $6.80 and $4.00. Creative Flair paid $3.30 to show.
“I was analyzing the race beforehand and we were the only speed but I wasn't 100 percent sure with a couple of the Euros if they would show some initiative. I left it in Flavien's [Prat] hands and Plan A was to break well and see if anybody would try to take the lead away from us and if they didn't, we'd be happy to have it. It worked out really well,” Pletcher said after the Saratoga Oaks.
“The speed was pretty much me and the Godolphin filly [No. 7, Creative Flair] and it seems she broke a step slow. I broke better than her and I ended up on the lead,” jockey Flavien Prat told the NYRA Press Office after the race. “Going to the first turn I felt really comfortable. I was really pleased with the way she was traveling and I felt we were doing some easy fractions. She really kicked on well.”
Bred in Texas by Lisa Kuhlmann, Con Lima is a 3-year-old filly by Commissioner out of Second Street City, by Consolidator. Purchased for $22,000 from Niall Brennan Stables at the March 2020 Ocala Breeders Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale, she is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph Graffeo, Del Toro, Eric Nikolaus, and Troy Johnson. With her win in the G3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational, Con Lima has five wins in eight starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of seven wins and five seconds in 13 starts, with career earnings of $884,865.
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