Shelzawa’s strong closing kick earns first stakes win in G3 Winter Memories
A step up in class and cut back in distance led to Shelzawa’s first stakes score with a three-quarter-length victory in Thursday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Winter Memories for 3-year-old fillies contesting one mile on Belmont Park’s Widener turf course.
Shelzawa, owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss, William Rucker and Michael Caruso, took command in the final sixteenth under jockey Flavien Prat’s urging and repelled Sister Troienne’s late push to win the 11th edition of the Winter Memories, which was originally set for Sunday’s card that was canceled due to severe weather.
Prat was content to stay off the pace as Alone Time led the 10-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 24.46 seconds and the half-mile in 47.34 over the firm going. Shelzawa’s ground-saving trip helped put her in a good position out of the turn, as Prat tipped her out, where she overtook seven horses from the outside and displayed a great turn-of-foot in the final sixteenth, completing the course in 1:34.86.
Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, Shelzawa won her third consecutive start after consecutive wins going 1 1/16 miles on the Saratoga Race Course turf this summer, including a maiden score in July and an optional-claiming victory on August 29 last out. She ran third in her stateside debut at the same distance in June at the Spa since coming into Brown’s care. The French-bred Zelzal bay is 3-2-1 in six career starts.
The Brian Lynch-conditioned Sister Troienne ran one length ahead of Brown trainee Crossover Capital for second. Flowerhead finished fourth, with Queen of Hawaii, Ultimate Love, Lovely Grey, Kokomotion, Alone Time and Hand Over Heart completing the order of finish. Peppermint Twist scratched.
As the slight 2-1 favorite, Shelzawa’s winning stakes debut returned $6.80 on a $2 win wager. She improved her career earnings to $262,873.
“Great effort. I could see she was saving a lot of ground at the back, unimpeded, which was great, but the pace was a little soft and I was concerned that she wouldn’t have enough pace in pace in front of her to get there,” Brown said. “But Flavien rode a great race, a little inside-out trip there. My team did a great job preparing her. She’s been a horse that every time she’s run for us, she’s run well, and I still think her best days are ahead of her.”
Brown said her 2027 campaign has the potential to build on this success.
“She’s still underdeveloped physically. I can see she’s coming into her fall coat a little bit,” Brown said. “I was a little bit concerned coming into the race this week, she’s starting to lose her coat a little bit and she still ran through it. So, I’ll talk to the partners about that, possibility. Maybe we’ll rest her for next year. She could be a really interesting 4-year-old.”
Sister Troienne had posted a five-race winning streak earlier this year that included three stakes scores. The Munnings chestnut registered another competitive outing in her New York bow.
“I was sitting in a good spot and when it was time to run I was waiting for a horse to back up to take that spot and I never had a chance to do that,” said Sister Troienne jockey Junior Alvarado. “By the time I made my way to the outside, the winner had the momentum and got first run on me. My filly ran a really good race, I think with a little racing luck, the result might have been different.”
Live racing resumes on Friday at Belmont with a nine-race card headlined by the Listed $175,000 Artie Schiller in Race 8, co-featuring the $175,000 Bertram F. Bongard in Race 2, and the rescheduled $175,000 Joseph A. Gimma in Race 3. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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