Summer Colony Preview: Pletcher Trio Looms Large

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Trainer Todd Pletcher sends a trio of 4-year-old fillies out to contest Wednesday’s $85,000 Summer Colony Stakes at Saratoga.

The Summer Colony is a 1 1/8-mile dirt route restricted to fillies and mares ages 4 and up who have not won a graded stakes in 2020. This year’s edition attracted a field of five and will go off at 2:29 PM Eastern as the fourth event on a 10-race card.

Here is a look at the full field for the Summer Colony:

1. Golden Award 6/5 – The Bill Mott trainee has had a roller-coaster career; at her best, she is a multiple graded stakes winner, but she has also twice given up completely in the far turn and walked off without completing a race, including last time out in the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1). Her successes include taking last summer’s Shuvee Stakes (G3) over this same course and distance, but the danger with betting her is guessing whether or not she feels like running on that particular day.

2. Bellera 9/5 – This Pletcher trainee won all 3 starts at this distance last year – not counting when she got squeezed at the start and lost her rider in the Turnback the Alarm Handicap (G3). She returned to the distance last time out in the Delaware Handicap (G2), finishing third behind top filly Dunbar Road, and stands a better chance at victory here without facing any similarly strong-armed foes.

3. Always Shopping 8/1 – She seemd to have a huge future ahead of her after she won the Busanda Stakes (to break her maiden) and the Gazelle Stakes (G2) at this distance last spring. She has only hit the board once in 4 starts since, but she gets a major jockey upgrade with Jose Ortiz hopping aboard for Pletcher; the two have a 25% win rate together since the start of 2019.

4. Nonna Madeline 2/1 – The third Pletcher entry stretches out to attempt the longest distance of her career after failing to run down a loose-on-the-lead winner in the Added Elegance Stakes at Gulfstream Park. She has plenty of room to improve off of that career-best 92 Beyer speed figure; that late June effort was her first start after over two months on the bench.

5. Bossy Bride 30/1 – Her connections scratched her out of last weekend’s Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) when the waters appeared to be too deep. While not as difficult as a field, she still faces a tough task because she will need to significantly improve upon her career-best Beyer speed figure of 75, which came when defeating $25k non-winners of 2 claiming company in March.

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