Oaklawn fillies 1-2 in Saratoga G1

A work in progress at Oaklawn Park, Elate has become a finished product at Saratoga for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

The daughter of Oaklawn stakes winners Medaglia d'Oro and Cheery romped in the Grade 1 $600,000 Alabama on Saturday, the first graded-stakes victory for the 3-year-old filly bred and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.

Elate's winning margin was 5 1/2 lengths over It Tiz Well, Oaklawn's Grade 3 Honeybee winner March 11, with Salty third in the field of nine 3-year-old fillies. Unchained Melody was pulled up on the far turn and vanned off.

The Alabama victory validated Elate's strong second-place finish to multiple Grade 1 winner Abel Tasman in Saratoga's Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks July 23. Jose Ortiz kept the mount on Elate, who rallied around the far turn and pulled away from pacesetter It Tiz Well, getting the fast-rated mile and a quarter in 2:02.19. Elate paid $10.60, $6 and $4.20, keying a $155 exacta with the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained It Tiz Well.

Third in the Honeybee as 9-5 favorite, Elate is the fourth graded winner from the Oaklawn field. Fifth-place finisher Ever So Clever scored next time out in Oaklawn's Grade 3 Fantasy, runner-up Benner Island in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs and It Tiz Well in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks at Delaware Park.

"This is the one we've been shooting for all year, the major target for this filly," Mott said. "We thought she was more of an Alabama filly than a (Kentucky) Oaks filly. She wasn't quite mature enough for the (May 5) Oaks. She probably developed later and wasn't ready for the big girls just yet."

A minor stakes victory in June at Delaware Park boosted Elate's confidence, and her Grade 1 efforts at Saratoga confirmed the filly as a rising star.

"In July it looked like she was turning the corner and ready to take on the best of them," Mott said. "Today was her day. This is a great win for one of the great ladies of the turf (Dilschneider) and Claiborne Farm."

Medaglia d'Oro gained her maiden victory at Oaklawn in 2002 for trainer David Vance and returned a year later to win the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap for the late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel. Cheery, a Claiborne homebred by Distorted Humor, won Oaklawn's 2013 American Beauty as a 4-year-old for trainer Al Stall Jr.

Sports on 08/20/2017

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