Applauding found her way back to the starting gate, and shortly thereafter found her way back to the Winner's Circle, crossing the finish line a length and a quarter ahead of five rivals in Race 8 at Churchill Downs on Wednesday. Making her first start in almost a year, Applauding (Final Odds 0.5-1) drifted out at the start, set the pace, battled into the stretch, and won driving, paying $3.00 / $2.20 / $2.10.
While it wasn't the dominating performance that her first two victories had been, Applauding displayed the heart of a competitor, battling Georgie's Angel (winner of last year's Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes) into the stretch before leaving that one in her wake. Applauding's final time of 1:10.84 for the six furlongs seems somewhat less than impressive, especially when compared to the 1:10.92 Statesboro Blues put up in covering the same distance over the same track three days earlier while winning an $8k NW2L Claiming Race. Of course, those are raw times; I haven't yet seen what Speed Figure (Beyer or otherwise) Applauding earned for her effort; it's possible that they may tell a different tale.
So what's next for this three year old filly? Jennie Rees, in this article in The Courier-Journal, quotes Trainer Al Stall as saying that he'll be taking Applauding to Oaklawn Park for their winter meet (for those who like to speculate, here's Oaklawn's 2013 Stakes Schedule - note the American Beauty Stakes on January 20; again, just speculating). If Applauding runs her next race at Oaklawn, it will make four different tracks for each of her four career starts.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The important thing for now is that this talented filly has made her way back onto the racetrack. Here's hoping she has continued success.
For those interested, the Equibase chart of Wednesday's race is available here, while the Daily Racing Form version of events can be seen here. And be sure to check out the video of Wednesday's contest, which may be viewed here.
Peace and Love,
Jimbo
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