When Millefeuille quickened clear at the top of the lane in the G2 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct in December, the race looked all but over. Then Malathaat began to roll. When Pass The Champagne opened up a clear lead early in the home straight of the G1 Central Bank Ashland Stakes at Keeneland earlier this month, that race certainly looked to be over. Then Malathaat began to roll.
Twice Malathaat has looked beaten halfway around the home turn, and twice she has managed to get up to win. How good is this Triple Crown-nominated daughter of Curlin?
She is classy, she is experienced, and she displays stamina. Perhaps tackling ten furlongs on the first Saturday in May would suit her just as well as nine on the last Friday in April.
The Kentucky Derby field is beginning to take shape and it looks an interesting one, but we have seen high-profile defections already and there isn’t much strength in depth in this edition. A top-class filly would probably be in with a chance. Whether Malathaat, trained by Todd Pletcher for Shadwell Stable, is top-class remains to be seen, though she is certainly one of the most exciting 3-year-olds around.
Watch how Malathaat won the Ashland
Millefeuille and Pass The Champagne were coming off eyecatching wins when they met Malathaat. The Ashland runner-up, trained by George Weaver, had won a maiden at Gulfstream Park in February, easily beating the Bill Mott-trained Another Woman, a filly who franked the form by winning a similar contest a month later. Mott might have as good an idea of Malathaat’s talent as anyone outside the filly’s own team as he is also the trainer of Millefeuille.
Her four-length maiden score on her second start made Mott step her right up in class in the Demoiselle, where she enjoyed a two-pound pull at the weights against Malathaat, who had romped in the listed Tempted Stakes on her preceding outing. When Millefeuille was caught and beaten three parts of a length by Matathaat in the Demoiselle, it looked very much a case of one filly staying really well and another not quite getting home.
Millefeuille has since run unplaced in the G2 Davona Dale Stakes and second to Crazy Beautiful in the G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks.
Assessing young horses at this time of the year always involves various indirect formlines. The Ashland result is interesting. Not only did Malathaat manage to catch Pass The Champagne, who got such a big jump run on her, to win by a head. Back in third, beaten 5¼ lengths, was Will’s Secret, who had won the G3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park. And the Honeybee runner-up, Pauline’s Pearl, went on to win the G3 Fantasy Stakes, also at Oaklawn. Coach, who finished fifth in the Honeybee, ran third in the Fantasy. These results suggest that the Ashland form was strong.
With four wins from as many starts, Malathaat is sure to get plenty of attention at Churchill Downs, and her performances make me wonder whether she deserves a crack at the boys in the Run for the Roses.
The way she finished both in the 9-furlong Demoiselle and the 8½-furlong Ashland suggested that stretching out to ten furlongs would be no problem. Able to make up a lot of ground when asked, she stayed on really strongly and won both races with authority, albeit narrowly.
In the Demoiselle, run over a sloppy track, Malaathat actually seemed unlikely to get involved in any way, never mind winning, as they were going down the back stretch. While Millefeuille travelled smoothly in second, Malathaat came under a ride and appeared to be struggling. The track conditions probably had something to do with it, and she levelled off well once in the clear in the home straight.
Best running style
Her Tempted win was gained by making all and cruising home almost eight lengths clear of American West – who had beaten Millefeuille when they both made their debuts. Malathaat set her own pace in the Tempted, but she is not a speed horse. She was simply so much the best in that field and allowing her to bowl along made perfect sense.
What we have seen from her since tells us that her best running style is to be sitting off the lead. Malaathat has a long stride and she appears to lengthen gradually, rather than quicken sharply into top gear. Such runners normally relish a test of stamina and the long straight at Churchill Downs will play to her strength.
Malathaat has a lot going for her as she heads to Louisville. Already a winner over 7, 8, 8½ and 9 furlongs, when racing over fast and sloppy tracks at three different venues, she takes plenty of experience into the battle.
Her sire needs no introduction and her dam, the Smart Strike daughter Dreaming Of Julia, is also well known. Like Malathaat, Dreaming Of Julia was bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and trained by Pletcher. She raced for the Stonestreet operation, winning the G1 Frizette Stakes at 2 and the G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks at 3 before finishing fourth in the Kentucky Oaks.
Having won by a staggering 21¾ lengths at Gulfstream, Dreaming Of Julia was favorite at Churchill Downs, but she suffered from a terrible trip and did well to make the frame.
She ran once more, filling second in the G1 Mother Goose at Belmont Park. Dreaming Of Julia, who is by A P Indy out of the speedy G1 winner Dream Rush, retired with four wins from eight starts and $874,500 in earnings.
An even bigger figure came up on the board as her daughter Malathaat was sold at the 2019 Keeneland September Sales. Shadwell Stables secured her for $1,050,000.
She looks well worth it today but, before you start thinking that future G1 winners are easy pickings for those with deep pockets at the yearling sales, let me remind you of a colt named Ghazaaly, knocked down to Shadwell sporting the same price tag at the same auction. Breaking his maiden at the third time of asking when running on the Blue Grass/Ashland undercard, this son of Curlin seems unlikely to become involved in the Triple Crown series.
I, for one, would not be surprised if Malathaat does.