Alda seeking more stakes glory in $100K Wild Applause
At 0h03, on June 26, 2021 • By BELMONT PARK
Wertheimer and Frere’s Grade 1-placed Alda will be in search of her third career stakes score in Saturday’s $100,000 Wild Applause, a one-mile Widener turf test for sophomore fillies at Belmont Park.
Trained by Graham Motion, the Munnings chestnut enjoyed a productive juvenile campaign, graduating at second asking under Hall of Famer John Velazquez in a six-furlong maiden special weight in July on the Belmont turf.
Alda then traveled to Woodbine for a pair of starts, winning the Catch a Glimpse by a nose in August ahead of a runner-up effort to Lady Speightspeare in the Grade 1 Natalma in September.
Alda completed her 2-year-old campaign with an off-the-board effort in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in November at Keeneland.
“She had always acted like one of our most precocious 2-year-olds,” said Motion. “Johnny finished third on her first time out and then she came back and won. She didn’t do too much wrong from then on. Maybe the Breeders’ Cup was one race too many, so we gave her a little break after that.”
Following a close sixth in her seasonal debut when sprinting 5 1/2-furlongs in the Limestone Turf Sprint on April 9 at Keeneland, Alda stretched back out to a mile for a rallying neck score over Seasons in the Hilltop on May 14 at Pimlico Race Course.
“I experimented by sprinting her first time back to get a race into her and I thought she could probably handle sprinting, but clearly a mile is more what she wants to do. I thought her last race was probably her most impressive race,” said Motion.
Motion said Alda is training well into Saturday’s test, including a recent five-furlong breeze in 1:01.60 in company with graded-stakes placed Invincible Gal, who is entered in Saturday’s Tepin at Churchill Downs.
“She’s had a couple of good works since the Hilltop,” said Motion. “Her and Invincible Gal have went together the last two times. They make a pretty good pair. They’re very different fillies but good workmates.”
With Velazquez in Kentucky to ride at Churchill Downs on Saturday, Flavien Prat will pilot Alda from the inside post.
