Caminadora Takes Regret to Give Pletcher Third Stakes Win on Stephen Foster Day

Jun 12, 2010 Gary Yunt

Starlight Partners’ Caminadora emerged from a six-horse scramble for the lead at the eighth pole to win the 41st running of the $145,250 Regret (GIII) for 3-year-old fillies by three-quarters of a length over the fast-closing Snow Top Mountain on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.

Caminadora’s victory gave trainer Todd Pletcher his third victory of the afternoon and second stakes score on the day on the heels of Colizeo’s victory in the Northern Dancer (GIII).

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Caminadora was last in the field of 12 in the early going as Go Ask Alex opened a daylight advantage and led the field through fractions of :24.01, :48.31 and 1:13.43.

Entering the far turn, Robby Albarado sent Dynazaper after Go Ask Alex and assumed the lead at the head of the stretch. Nakatani had Caminadora outside of horses and in the clear, taking command at midstretch from Dynazaper and holding off Snow Top Mountain.

Caminadora ran the 1 1/8 miles on a Matt Winn Turf Course rated as “good” in 1:52.04. The victory was worth $83,751 and raised Caminadora’s bankroll to $144,878 with a record of 9-2-1-3. Caminadora is a Kentucky-bred daughter of More Than Ready out of the Storm Boot mare Stoneway.

Caminadora returned $66.80, $25.20 and $16.20. Snow Top Mountain, under apprentice Freddie Lenclud, returned $16 and $10.20 with Queen Hazel finishing third, another three-quarters of a length back under Brian Hernandez Jr., and paying $17.40. It was another neck back to It’s Tea Time, who was followed in order by Dynazaper, Beautician, La Gran Bailadora, Jody Slew, Joharmony, Ambitioness, Go Ask Alex and Queen of the Creek.

The Regret trophy was presented by Jean Cruguet, jockey of 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew..

REGRET QUOTES

COREY NAKATANI (jockey, CAMINADORA, winner): “Overall, we had a great trip. (Trainer) Todd (Pletcher) said ‘Let’s try to save as much ground as we can and try to make one run. She’s not as good as the others on numbers but she’s been doing good.’ I got pinched back a little at the start, but we weren’t too worried about that because we wanted to lay back and get her nice and relaxed and make one run –  the winning one – and she did.”

TODD PLETCHER (trainer, CAMINADORA, winner): “She’s a filly that last year showed some promise at 2 and we went to Florida and wanted to find a way with her a little bit. Her last race wasn’t as good but over analyzing the race and looking at the figures it was better than it appeared, so we decided to take a shot. Her choices were to run back in a one-other-than (allowance) last week or wait the extra week and run here and give her the extra time. It worked out well and she was able to get a good trip. She got fanned out pretty wide at the top of the stretch, but it wasn’t a bad thing here. The main thing was to get her to settle the first part. It’s been a great day so far. We’ll play it by ear for what’s next.”

FREDDIE LENCLUD (jockey, SNOW TOP MOUNTAIN, second): “The trainer (Tom Proctor) told me just to take her back and let her relax. There were horses on the inside so I had to go outside and the better ground was on the outside. She made a good run down the lane.”