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Grade 1 Winners Vequist, Search Results Out For Remainder Of 2021

Two Grade 1-winning sophomore fillies have been sidelined for the remainder of 2021, reports the Daily Racing Form.

Vequist, last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies champion, had been preparing to return off a seven-month layoff this week, but an issue was discovered after her latest workout.

“She had a minor setback coming out of her last work and will be off for rest of the year,” trainer Butch Reid told DRF.

The 3-year-old daughter of Nyquist has only started once in 2021, running ninth in the G2 Davona Dale on Feb. 27 at Gulfstream Park. She completed five workouts at Saratoga this summer, and Reid had planned to enter her in an allowance race on Thursday.

Search Results, winner of the G1 Acorn and a valiant second to Malathaat in the Kentucky Oaks, has also been taken out of training. Trainer Chad Brown said the filly, most recently third in the G1 Test Stakes, does not have any series issues. She just needs a break from the races.

“I'm really looking forward to running her in mile-and-an-eighth races next year,” Brown told DRF. “That was a really good race in the Oaks. If she can just get a couple of lengths faster as a 4-year-old, she's a real player in these mile-and-an-eighth races all over the place next year.”

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Maracuja Breezes In Preparation For Alabama At Saratoga

Beach Haven Thoroughbreds' Maracuja completed her preparations for Saturday's $600,000 Grade 1 Alabama with a solid half-mile breeze Sunday on the Spa main track.

Trained by Rob Atras, the daughter of third crop sire Honor Code went to the track at 6:00 a.m. and breezed in :49.61. This was her second work back since upsetting Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks-winner Malathaat in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 24 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“She worked a half-mile in 49 and change and galloped out nicely,” Atras said of the work. “She went in company with an unraced 2-year-old. They just went head-and-head.”

One start prior to the CCA Oaks, Maracuja exited post 2 in a 13-horse field in the Kentucky Oaks in April at Churchill Downs and closed up the rail for seventh in a race won by Malathaat by a neck over Search Results.

In a compact field of four assembled for the CCA Oaks, Maracuja tracked closer to the pace in third under Ricardo Santana, Jr. and battled gamely to the wire to best Malathaat, who was pressed throughout, by a head.

“The way Malathaat had to run last time compromised her, I thought,” Atras said. “It won't be an easy task to run against her again. Ultimately, I'll leave it up to Ricardo. Hopefully, she will get the same kind of break and see how the race sets up. You never know how tricky it can be with a short field with not much pace.”

Boasting a consistent 6-2-2-1 record and $407,100 in lifetime earnings, Maracuja broke her maiden at third asking going 6 ½ furlongs at Aqueduct Race Track in Ozone Park, N.Y., before finishing second in the Grade 3 Gazelle on April 3 at the Big A.

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Bella Sofia Passes The Test, Gets Her First Graded Stakes Win

In a race that featured the winner of the Grade 2 Mother Goose in Zaajel and the Grade 1 Acorn in Search Results, it was Rudy Rodriguez's filly Bella Sofia, who had yet to compete in a graded stakes let alone win one, that brought home the victory in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. In only the fourth start of her career, the daughter of Awesome Patriot brings home her third win, adding G1 winner to her short resume.

At the start, Illumination and John Velazquez got out of the gate fastest, Luis Saez settling Bella Sofia in to her outside in second and Souper Sensational on the rail in third. Illumination was a half-length in front through the first quarter in :22.84 and then the first half in :45.70, with Souper Sensational on the rail briefly challenging Bella Sofia's position in second on the far turn. Saez and Bella Sofia maintained their position just off Illumination's shoulder as they approached the stretch.

With the Saratoga straight ahead of them, Velazquez moved Illumination onto the rail as Saez and Bella Sofia made a big run on their outside. Easily taking over the lead, Bella Sofia drew away from the field, crossing the wire 4 1/4 lengths in the front of Souper Sensational in second and Search Results in third. The final time for the seven-furlong G1 Test was 1:21.54.

Always Carina, Obligatory, Illumination, Zaajel, and Make Mischief rounded out the field. Find this race's chart here.

Bella Sofia paid $10.40, $5.70, and $4.00. Souper Sensational paid $10.20 and $5.00. Search Results paid $2.60 to show.

“I know we asked a lot. We're just happy to have her in the barn. The day she broke her maiden, she put everybody away impressively. She was training good.” Trainer Rodriguez said after the Test. “You know when you draw the outside, you pretty much just let the jockey figure out what they want to do. She broke better than anybody. I thought she was going to be out front when she broke that good. She was nice and comfortable and she was running very well for him and when he asked her, she was there for him.”

“She broke perfectly. We were looking for that spot right there to sit and make a run into the stretch. She did it so well and so beautifully. She came through the stretch pretty smoothly. I knew the one horse [Illumination] had some speed, so the plan was to break from there, relax and make one move with her. She's a pretty nice filly,” Saez said after his win on Bella Sofia.

Bred in Kentucky by Two Tone Farms, Bella Sofia is a 3-year-old filly by Awesome Patriot out of the Consolidator mare Love Contract. Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, she is owned by Michael Imperio, Vincent Scuderi, Sofia Soares, Gabrielle Farm, Mazel Stable Partners LLC, and Matthew Mercurio. With her win in the Test, Bella Sofia improves to three wins in four lifetime starts, all in 2021, for career earnings of $405,100.

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Eight Well-Matched Fillies Look to Ace Test

With the door to a divisional title slightly left ajar by Malathaat (Curlin)'s recent upset loss, eight evenly-matched sophomore fillies will line up in Saturday's GI Longines Test S. at Saratoga.

Slightly favored on the morning line is Klaravich Stables' Search Results (Flatter), who, if not for the length of a Malathaat neck, may herself be favored for champion 3-year-old filly honors as the calendar turns to the season's second half. A four-length debut victress Jan. 3 at Gulfstream, the $310,000 Keeneland September purchase repeated with a pair of scores in the Busher Invitational S. and GII Gazelle S. at Aqueduct before falling just short when runner-up in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks. She got right back to business with a hard-fought success in the GI Acorn S. June 5 at Belmont, a race out of which the second and third finishers will re-oppose.

The runner-up that day was Juddmonte Farms' Obligatory (Curlin), but the ascendant homebred may have run the best race, closing into a slow pace to miss by a half-length and getting her final quarter in a sharp :23.74. Prior to that, the gray was a visually-impressive maiden winner at Gulfstream, and after a disappointing fourth in the GII Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks, upset the GII Eight Belles S. at 16-1 in a last-to-first flourish.

The top two from June 26's GII Mother Goose S. at Belmont also re-engage here. The winner that day, Shadwell Stable's Zaajel (Street Sense), was the longest shot on the board at 18-1, improving her career-high Beyer by 23 points to 96, while the runner-up, 'TDN Rising Star' Always Carina (Malibu Moon), suffered her first defeat after going two-for-two by a combined 13 3/4 lengths to start her career.

Overachieving Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot) will get the acid test after two dominant scores in three starts to open her account. Crushing maiden special weight foes by 11 1/4 lengths debuting at 8-1 May 6 at Belmont, the $20,000 ran a good second when thrown into stakes waters in the Jersey Girl S. there June 6 and came right back to romp by 6 1/2 lengths over allowance rivals July 11 at Big Sandy.

Rounding out the field are Souper Sensational (Curlin), an impressive victress of the GIII Victory Ride S. last out July 10 at Belmont, Make Mischief (Into Mischief), third in both the Eight Belles and Acorn, and Illumination (Medaglia d'Oro), an eight-length maiden winner last out who will be previously-suspended trainer Bob Baffert's first starter at Saratoga since he was granted injunctive relief by a judge.

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