Clairiere

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is the GI Longines Test S., a prestigious 3-year old filly event on the Saratoga calendar for the past century. Ah, the Test, the glorious Test. Remember the scintillating call--already 20 years ago--by Tom Durkin during the epic stretch battle between You and Carson Hollow? This race has been so good for so long. At seven furlongs since its second edition, it has delivered pulsating stretch...

A lack of competitors doesn't always translate to a lack of competition and the GII Shuvee S. at Saratoga is a case in point, with an abbreviated field of four featuring a pair of titans. Fellow Curlin daughters Clairiere and Malathaat will bring their rivalry to round six in the 1 1/8-mile contest at the Spa; the latter coming out on the better end on four prior occasions. Malathaat will be breaking from the gate sporting blinkers for the first time in her career, likely intended to combat her tendency...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- Just a mere mention that Clairiere (Curlin) might be underappreciated, brought a quick, robust reaction from Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. "Not by us," Asmussen said, shaking his head. Asmussen promptly made the case for the 4-year-old filly, a Stonestreet Stables homebred daughter of Cavorting (Bernardini), who will seek her third win in four starts this year in the GII Shuvee S. Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. "She's a multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire by one of the greatest horses of all time out of one...

Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. may have only attracted five horses, but it was the "right" five with champions Malathaat (Curlin) and Letruska (Super Saver), Grade I winners Clairiere (Curlin) and Search Results (Flatter) and MGSW Bonny South (Munnings). After a knock down, drag out fight on the front end between Letruska and Search Results, it was left to the two Stonestreet Stables-bred fillies, Clairiere and Malathaat, to decide it in the lane. In the end, it was Clairiere, carrying her breeders' famed gold and burgundy silks, who got her...

St George Stable's Letruska (Super Saver) added her name to a select group in defense of her title in Saturday's GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn Park, joining the legendary Paseana (Arg), Azeri and Zenyatta as multiple winners of the track's signature event for the dirt distaff set. In winning for a remarkable 19th time in her 25-race career, the 6-year-old reigning Eclipse Award winner held off a late bid from Clairiere (Curlin) and fellow champion Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), herself an ultra-game winner of this race in the early...

After the focus on points races for Derby and Oaks contenders taking up headlines over recent weekends, the distaff division gets a match up worthy of the front page as 2021 Eclipse champions Letruska (Super Saver) and Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) meet for the first time in Oaklawn's GI Apple Blossom H. Both are previous winners of the Hot Springs signature race, as the Fausto Gutierrez-trained Letruksa won the Apple Blossom in 2021 and the Mike McCarthy-conditioned Ce Ce took the 2020 edition. The two have otherwise taken divergent paths,...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-OP, $108K, Alw/OC, 4yo/up, f, 1 1/16m, 5:39 p.m. GIW MARACUJA begins her 4-year-old campaign Friday against an allowance field at Oaklawn Park. She returns off a six-month freshening following a fourth-place effort behind Clairiere (Curlin) in the GI Cotillion S. Sep. 25 at Parx, where she seemed poised to strike but ultimately weakened down the stretch. The gray/roan daughter of Honor Code makes her first trip to Oaklawn after racing exclusively on the East Coast in her career thus far. Her crowning achievement came...

Only two races were profiled this week and they featured opposite ends of the spectrum: a returning Grade I winner and a colt just kicking off his career. One is slated to face a champion next while the other will meet winners for the first time. However, they have a common thread as both are by Hill 'n' Dale's leading sire Curlin. Wednesday's Insights: GISW Clairiere Returns at Fair Grounds 7th-Fair Grounds, $56,000, Alw (NW3$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 3-16, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.21, ft, 6 1/2 lengths. After closing out...

7th-Fair Grounds, $56,000, Alw (NW3$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 3-16, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.21, ft, 6 1/2 lengths. CLAIRIERE (f, 4, Curlin--Cavorting {MGISW, $2,063,000}, by Bernardini), fresh off a 2021 season that saw her victorious in both the GI Cotillion S. and the GII Rachel Alexandra S., got back in the winner's circle Wednesday to begin her 2022 campaign. Though a last out fourth by only three-quarters of a length to longshot Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, Clairiere posted a career-high 101 Beyer Speed...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency By Stefanie Grimm 7th-FG, $56K, Alw/Opt. Clm ($80k), 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 5:05 p.m. ET After a last-out fourth in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff where she was defeated only three-quarters of a length by longshot Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), GISW & MGSP CLAIRIERE (Curlin) starts her 2022 season Wednesday at the site of some her greatest successes. Prior to her defeat in the Breeders' Cup, she took the GI Cotillion S. Sept. 25 at Parx and, earlier that season, captured the GII...

La Crete (Medaglia d'Oro--Cavorting, by Bernardini), a half-sister to one of last year's 3-year-old filly stars in Clairiere (Curlin), threw her own hat into the ring with a dogged win in the Silverbulletday S. at Fair Grounds as the current sophomore filly embers begin to flare on the road to the GI Kentucky Oaks. Bumping with Sweet as Pie (Tapit) at the break, La Crete made the lead with Fannie and Freddie (Malibu Moon) tracking in second. La Crete stayed in front through :24.50 and :48.79 fractions, but drifted out...

Stonestreet homebred Clairiere (Curlin) kicked home convincingly in Saturday's GI Cotillion S. at Parx to earn a first highest-level victory and snap a five-race winless streak while capping an exacta for her sire. A neck winner of the GII Rachel Alexandra S. in February, the Steve Asmussen pupil was second best to familiar foe Travel Column (Frosted) in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks a month later. She was fourth behind fellow Stonestreet product Malathaat (Curlin) in the GI Kentucky Oaks Apr. 30, third in the GII Mother Goose S. at...