by B. Jason Brooks
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Phipps Stable’s well-bred filly Self Confident has rewarded the patience of her connections in recent months with maiden and allowance wins and seeks to continue her success on Monday, September 2nd in Race 5, her first career start at Saratoga.
The allowance optional claiming race for fillies and mares of ages three years and older has a purse of $115,000 and will cover a mile and an eighth over the inner turf. She will break from outside post No. 9 with jockey Tyler Gaffalione aboard. Post time is 2:46 pm Eastern.
After sitting out her three-year old campaign last year, she has progressed nicely, finishing fourth in her first two starts back in January and February at Gulfstream, followed by a third-place finish at Tampa in April.
She graduated in her fourth start this year in mid-May with an exciting win over mile and a sixteenth on the turf at Monmouth. Breaking from the outside post in a field of seven, jockey Samy Camacho settled her just off the pace in the two-path. After stalking in the far turn, she rallied three wide into the stretch and surged nearing the finish line to win by a head.
She returned in early July for an allowance at Laurel, a race that also covered a mile and a sixteenth on the turf. With Forest Boyce aboard, she saved ground around the first turn and stalked the pace from the inner rail down the backstretch and far turn. She moved to the three-path approaching the stretch before putting in a successful bid for the lead inside the eighth pole to win by a neck.
Despite her recent success, she enters the race as a 15-to-1 longshot. Among her competitors are grade 2 Wonder Again Stakes winner Prerequisite, by Upstart, grade 3 Gazelle Stakes winner Promiseher America, by American Pharoah, as well as stakes-placed fillies Root Cause, by Into Mischief, and Thegirlfromireland, by Goldencents.
Three weeks after her allowance victory at Laurel, she returned to timed workouts, putting in a series of weekly breezes at Saratoga on the turf training track, most recently breezing four furlongs in 50 seconds flat on August 23rd.
Coming off of 58 days of rest, Self Confident should be fresh for her first test at The Spa. Hall of Fame trainer Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey’s runners win 20 percent of their starts when coming off 31 to 60 days rest and he has the same success rate for horses who won last time out.
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione has had success riding for Phipps Stable, guiding homebred Dynamic One to victory in the 2022 Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs. Mr. Gaffalione is having a strong Saratoga meet, ranked third for wins with 36. From 195 starts, he’s won 18 percent and finished among the top three in 48 percent.
A ninth-generation Phipps homebred, Self Confident is from the elite Get Lucky branch of Phipps foundation mare Baby League. A daughter of the great French mare La Troienne, Baby League was acquired from E.R. Bradley’s Idle Hour Stock Farm in 1946 by Ogden Phipps and stands atop of one of the most sought-after female families in the stud book. Through the branch of her descendant Get Lucky, from which Self Confident descends, the family includes Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, grade 1 winners Bluegrass Cat, Callback, Dance Number, Frost Giant, Girolamo, Got Lucky, Numbered Account, Private Account, Rhythm, and Phipps-bred sires Imagining, Not for Love, and Polish Numbers.
Photo: Self Confident at Saratoga, July 2024, courtesy of Daisy Phipps Pulito
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