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Malathaat Exits Ashland Triumph In Good Order; Next Stop Kentucky Oaks

Trainer Todd Pletcher extended his all-time record number of Keeneland stakes victories to 59 on Saturday with triumphs by Shadwell Stable's Malathaat in the Central Bank Ashland (G1) and Starlight Racing's Jouster in the Appalachian (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association.

“They are all good this morning,” reported Amelia Green, who is overseeing Pletcher's string at Keeneland that also includes Ghazaaly, winner of Saturday's first race.

Malathaat, by Curlin, earned a berth in the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) with her victory. The Oaks will be run April 30, the same day as the $300,000 Edgewood (G2) that could be a possible spot for the Noble Mission filly Jouster to return.

Pletcher said via text that Malathaat and Jouster would remain at Keeneland for the time being.

A half-hour after Malathaat won the Central Bank Ashland, Pletcher saddled Calumet Farm's Bourbonic and Repole Stable, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable's Dynamic One to a 1-2 finish in the Wood Memorial (G2) Presented by Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct.

Pletcher has four horses in the top 20 on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, including WinStar Farm and CHC Inc's Sainthood, who is stabled at Keeneland following his runner-up effort in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park March 27.

In winning her first Grade 1, Malathaat ran down Pass the Champagne in the final yards to prevail by a head.

“I thought we had it won, but I know Todd has been very high on Malathaat,” said George Weaver, trainer of Pass the Champagne, who is owned by the partnership of R. A. Hill Stable, Black Type Thoroughbreds, Rock Ridge Racing, Black Ridge Stables and James Brown. “She is doing fine this morning and will ship back (to Palm Beach Downs in Florida) tomorrow morning.”

Weaver followed a similar pattern two years ago with Vekoma after he won the Toyota Blue Grass, returning to his Florida base before going to Churchill Downs Derby Week.

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Distorted Humor’s Soothsay Upsets Santa Anita Oaks

Stepping up into graded company fresh off a debut maiden victory over six furlongs, SOOTHSAY (f, 3, Distorted Humor–Spellbound, by Bernardini) was given a tremendous ride by leading jockey Flavien Prat, met the late-stretch bid of favored Beautiful Gift (Medaglia d'Oro), and went on to a gutsy victory in Saturday's GII Santa Anita Oaks in Arcadia. While Beautiful Gift and Moraz (Empire Maker) took the bulk of the betting and battled up front in a rematch of the GIII Santa Ysabel S., Soothsay tracked those two from behind. The opening quarter of :24.34 and the half in :49.04 passed uneventfully until Soothsay suddenly made a bold move, catching a hole at the rail and surging through in an instant to seize the advantage. Moraz and Beautiful Gift made a line of three turning for home, but Moraz was the first beaten, leaving her two rivals to settle it. Soothsay had a half-length on Beautiful Gift three-quarters from home and held sway despite the pressure on the outside. Beautiful Gift dogged her all the way to the wire, but the less-experienced Soothsay would not be denied. Prat gave her two right-handed reminders in early stretch and vigorously hand rode her the rest of the way home to secure a half-length win. The field had been reduced to four after the Saturday morning scratch of Doug O'Neill's longshot Brilliant Cut (Speightstown).

“We expected a lot of her from the first start and from that start until now, she just grew up,” said Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. “You kind of see it happening. Otherwise, we wouldn't do something like this. If you watched her last workout, you could see how serious she was. We'll see about the [GI Kentucky] Oaks. We asked a lot of her to do this, so we'll make sure we pare back whatever we need.”

Soothsay received 100 qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks with the Santa Anita win.

The Santa Anita Oaks was only Soothsay's second lifetime start and her first with any distance. In a case of deja vu, Soothsay followed the hoofprints of Mandella's Paradise Woods (Union Rags), who, in 2017, broke her maiden in a sprint and went straight to victory in the Santa Anita Oaks. That filly would become a MGISW and bank over $1 million. Soothsay bulleted Feb. 19 with five furlongs in :59 2/5 (1/32), then debuted a week later with a sound win over this track at six furlongs. She got her second bullet of the year Mar. 26–six panels in 1:11 2/5 (1/8)–just over a week before the Oaks.

Pedigree Notes:

Veteran sire Distorted Humor is responsible for Soothsay and 159 other black-type winners. Soothsay marks the 28-year-old WinStar sire's 70th graded winner. While his progeny have won all three Classics and have won or placed in a number of Breeders' Cup events, he has yet to have a winner of the Kentucky Oaks. Like Distorted Humor, Soothsay's dam, Spellbound, doesn't lack quality. She won the 2014 GII La Canada S. for Mandella and is by stellar broodmare sire Bernardini, who counts Soothsay as his 48th stakes winner out of a daughter. Spellbound, a half to MGSW Kid Cruz (Lemon Drop Kid), hails from the same family as 2018 Broodmare of the Year Stage Magic (Ghostzapper) and $4.4-million yearling Shah Jehan (Mr. Prospector). She has a 2020 filly by More Than Ready and delivered a Mar. 11 colt by Street Sense.

Saturday, Santa Anita
SANTA ANITA OAKS-GII, $392,000, Santa Anita, 4-3, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.35, ft.
1–SOOTHSAY, 124, f, 3, by Distorted Humor
                1st Dam: Spellbound (GSW, $231,750), by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Layreebelle, by Tale of the Cat
                3rd Dam: Voodoo Lily, by Baldski
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-Claiborne
Farm, Perry R. Bass II, Ramona S. Bass & Adele B. Dilschneider;
B-Raydelz Stable (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella; J-Flavien Prat.
$240,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $276,600.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus* Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Beautiful Gift, 124, f, 3, Medaglia d'Oro–Sea Gift, by A.P.
Indy. O/B-Baoma Corporation (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $80,000.
3–Moraz, 124, f, 3, Empire Maker–Malvinia, by A.P. Indy. O-Don
Alberto Stable; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Michael W.
McCarthy. $48,000.
Margins: HF, 5 1/4, 8HF. Odds: 4.20, 0.90, 1.90.
Also Ran: Javanica. Scratched: Brilliant Cut.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Fourth Win Of The Day: Rosario Executes Perfectly-Timed Ashland Run Aboard Malathaat

Joel Rosario is on fire this Saturday at Keeneland. The veteran jockey orchestrated his fourth win on the card, and third straight, with a late-running nose triumph aboard 3-2 favorite Malathaat in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes. Owned by the late Sheikh Hamdan's Shadwell operation, the 3-year-old daughter of Curlin and Grade 1 winner Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy) has now won all four of her career starts, and Saturday's victory earned her 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

“She has a beautiful stride,” Rosario said. “This morning talking with (trainer Todd Pletcher), he told me exactly how to ride her. It looked like (the leader) was getting away from me but I knew my filly would be there for me.”

The leggy Malathaat was in a joint fourth position early on in the Ashland. She trailed six lengths behind leader Simply Ravishing through fractions of :24.26 and :48.56, Rosario patiently biding his time and keeping the lightly-raced filly on the outside of rivals.

Pass The Champagne made a big move around the far turn and stole away to a four-length lead at the top of the short stretch, but Rosario was getting Malathaat into high gear. Though Malathaat changed leads late and seemed rather green, Rosario had timed his run perfectly and nailed Pass the Champagne on the wire by a nose. She completed 1 1/16 miles over Keeneland's fast main track in 1:42.94.

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet, Malathaat was a $1.05 million yearling purchase at the Keeneland September sale. Undefeated in four career starts, Malathaat has now earned over $400,000 and is guaranteed a spot in the starting gate for the April 30 Kentucky Oaks beneath the Twin Spires in Louisville, Ky.

“I can't put it into words,” said an emotional Rick Nichols, Vice President and General Manager of winning owner Shadwell Stable. “I am sure (Sheikh Hamdan) is up there with a big smile on his face looking down on us. We really needed this.”

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Search Results Stays Perfect in the Gazelle

Klaravich Stables' Search Results (Flatter) remained undefeated and stamped her ticket to the GI Kentucky Oaks with a decisive victory while making her two-turn bow in Aqueduct's nine-panel GIII Gazelle S. Saturday. Graduating by four lengths in her six-panel unveiling at Gulfstream Jan. 3, she captured the one-mile Busher Invitational S. at the Big A next out Mar. 6. Hammered down to 2-5 favoritism to repeat in this step up to graded company, the $310,000 KEESEP acquisition was away in good order from the outside post in this eight-horse affair. Settling in an eager second, the bay kept pacesetting Alwayz Late (Animal Kingdom) honest through a :24.88 first quarter and :50.09 half-mile. Charging up beside the leader on the backstretch, Search Results stuck her nose in front just before the three-eighths pole and stormed clear of her competition in the lane to win as she pleased. Late-running Maracuja (Honor Code) closed the gap to 2 3/4 lengths at the line and Army Wife (Declaration of War) filled the show spot.

It was the fifth win on the card for rider Irad Ortiz and his third graded victory of the day, having captured both the GI Carter H. and GIII Bay Shore S. earlier in the day.

“She relaxed so good,” Ortiz said. “She did everything right. We broke out of there and had a target. Going into the last turn, I had plenty of horse, I was just waiting to make my move. When I asked her, she really picked it up.”

“I thought she was very professional today,” said winning trainer Chad Brown. “She maybe lost focus when she surged to the front and there was no one around her in deep stretch. When she had a horse in front of her, I loved the way she was moving into the bit. I was relieved to see that she could handle the mile and an eighth. We were cautiously optimistic, but you always have to see them do it first to be sure.”

As for the Apr. 30 GI Kentucky Oaks, Brown said, “If she comes out of it in good shape, that would be the next step and it's something we've been working towards. Although she got her season started late, she seems to be catching up fast on this crop. She seems like one of the contenders, at least, so we're thankful for that.”

Pedigree Notes:

Search Results is the 21st graded winner for Flatter and one of 57 black-type winners by that Claiborne stallion, who also sired Saturday's GI Central Bank Ashland S. runner-up Pass the Champagne. The Klaravich colorbearer is also the ninth graded scorer and one of 23 black-type winners out of a daughter of Candy Ride (Arg). Search Results is the third foal out of Co Cola, who followed the winner with a Flatter colt, who was purchased by Nick de Meric for $100,000 at Keeneland September and is entered in the upcoming OBS April Sale as Hip 644. Co Cola aborted a foal by West Coast in 2020 and was bred back to Nyquist for this year.

Saturday, Aqueduct
GAZELLE S.-GIII, $250,000, Aqueduct, 4-3, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:54.14, ft.
1–SEARCH RESULTS, 120, f, 3, by Flatter
                1st Dam: Co Cola (GSP), by Candy Ride (Arg)
                2nd Dam: Yong Musician, by Yonaguska
                3rd Dam: Alljazz, by Stop the Music
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($310,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP).
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $137,500. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0,
$299,000. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Maracuja, 119, f, 3, Honor Code–Patti's Regal Song, by
Unbridled's Song. ($200,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Beach Haven
Thoroughbreds LLC; B-River Bend Farm Inc., Austin Musselman
& Janie Musselman (KY); T-Rob Atras. $50,000.
3–Army Wife, 118, f, 3, Declaration of War–Tread, by Arch.
($50,000 Ylg '19 FTKFEB; $190,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Three
Diamonds Farm; B-J D Stuart & AR Enterprises, Inc. (KY);
T-Michael J. Maker. $30,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, 3 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 0.40, 18.60, 14.60.
Also Ran: The Grass Is Blue, Alwayz Late, Mia Martina. Scratched: Hybrid Eclipse, Song of Innocence.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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