LBD Stable, Manganaro Bloodstock and David Ingordo's Tarabi (First Samurai) rallied down the center of Saratoga main track and finished strongly to take out Thursday's Wilton S., the first race contested out of the reconstructed Wilson Chute at Saratoga.
Off as the 6-5 chalk, the $240,000 Keeneland September graduate was content to lay second through the early exchanges as Angitude (Violence), a bit reticent to load, showed the way in her first attempt at a distance of ground. Tarabi began to zero in on the front-runner as the field approached the stretch, grabbed that one with about a furlong to travel and prevailed by three-quarters of a length. Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft) finished with interest at the rail to complete a chalky exacta ahead of Angitude in third.
A full-sister to Shivaji, a Group 3-winning and Group 1-placed turf sprinter and $2.1-million earner on the ultra-competitive Japan Racing Association circuit, Tarabi earned a lofty 79 Beyer in decimating a group of Ellis Park maidens at first asking last August, then ran into 'TDN Rising Star' and eventual champion Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in her next two, finishing runner-up in this track's GI Spinaway S. and again in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The chestnut tuned up for this return to stakes company with a sound runner-up effort in a seven-furlong allowance over the Churchill main track June 18. It's now on to bigger and better things for Tarabi, according to winning trainer Cherie DeVaux.
“The [seven-furlong Aug. 6 GI Longines] Test is definitely what our goal would be, so we're going to have to shorten her back up, but she had a race over the track and she's run two good races here,” said DeVaux. “It gives you a lot of confidence to point towards a race like that.”
A 35th black-type winner for Claiborne's underrated First Samurai, Tarabi is out of an unraced daughter of Grade II winner Buy the Barrel, also the dam of MSP Stave (Ghostzapper) and English MGSP Mise En Rose (War Front). The winner's 2-year-old half-brother Gunner Bay (Gun Runner) was purchased by Robert and Lawana Low for $250,000 out of last year's Keeneland September Sale, and Indian Bay is also responsible for a yearling Kantharos filly. The mare was most recently covered by Authentic.
WILTON S., $135,000, Saratoga, 7-14, (R), 3yo, f, 1m, 1:38.53, ft.
1–TARABI, 120, f, 3, by First Samurai
1st Dam: Indian Bay, by Indian Charlie
2nd Dam: Buy the Barrel, by E Dubai
3rd Dam: Affordable Price, by Drouilly (Fr)
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. ($240,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-LBD Stable LLC, Manganaro Bloodstock & David Ingordo; B-Hinkle Farms (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux; J-Javier Castellano. $74,250. Lifetime Record: MGISP, 5-2-2-1, $370,250. *Full to Shivaji, GSW & G1SP-Jpn, $2,147,669.
2–Goddess of Fire, 120, f, 3, Mineshaft–Feel That Fire, by Lightnin N Thunder. O/B-Red Oak Stable (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher. $27,000.
3–Angitude, 122, f, 3, Violence–Pattitude, by City Zip. 1ST BLACK-TYPE. ($25,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $45,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Joseph F Novogratz; B-Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd (KY); T-Brad H Cox. $16,200.
Margins: 3/4, HD, 6 1/4. Odds: 1.20, 3.05, 6.30.
Also Ran: Gina Romantica, Favor, St Maarten Girl, A Mo Reay. Scratched: Let's Be Clear, Sweet Solare. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Feeling like a kid waiting on Christmas🎪❤️ The magic just never seems to disappear in this place. @TheNYRA @reredevaux @RachelBeau621 #saratoga #tarabi pic.twitter.com/j5M9Uat8Ks
— Adrianne DeVaux (@Abd_xoxo) July 13, 2022
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
