Fully Subscribed reels in Scottish Lassie in Shuvee

When Scottish Lassie opened up in midstretch of Friday’s $250,000 Shuvee (G2), the 1.44-1 favorite appeared well on her way to victory at Saratoga. But Klaravich Stables’ Fully Subscribed was fully engaged in pursuit, and the Chad Brown filly got up in time by a half-length. 

In the process, Fully Subscribed raised her candidacy for the Aug. 29 Personal Ensign (G1) over this same track and trip, a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).

Sent off as the slight second choice at 1.72-1, Fully Subscribed was back in the win column for the first time this season. The daughter of Tiz the Law had settled for runner-up honors in the May 1 La Troienne (G1) at Churchill Downs, where she was rebuffed by Shred the Gnar, and again in the June 5 Ogden Phipps (G1) at the Spa, where she was no match for the imperious Nitrogen. 

With Nitrogen set for the Aug. 8 Whitney (G1) versus males, the Shuvee presented an opportunity for other players in the distaff division. Scottish Lassie was favored off her victorious comeback here, as well as the memory of her 15-length conquest of last summer’s Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at this track and 1 1/8-mile trip.

Bless the Broken, who dead-heated with Fully Subscribed for second in the Ogden Phipps, was the only other Shuvee contender in single digits. While Bless the Broken didn’t duplicate her Phipps effort on Friday, Fully Subscribed remained the soul of consistency.

For much of the way, Scottish Lassie was sitting pretty tracking Snowyte through steady fractions. The 12.94-1 Snowyte clocked :23.72, :47.98, and 1:11.75 before Scottish Lassie swept past her at the top of the lane. Snowyte, who had finished second to Scottish Lassie in the 2024 Frizette (G1), stayed on in hopes of replaying that exacta.

But Fully Subscribed was just beginning to rev up under urging from Flavien Prat. Nestled a few lengths off the pace on the inside, the chestnut gained traction once switched to the outside. She took aim at the favorite and steadily reeled her in, completing the circuit in 1:49.46.

“I had a good trip,” Prat recapped. “I wanted to sit close to (Scottish Lassie). It worked out good. Turning for home, it looked like (Scottish Lassie) opened up on me, and at that point I thought I was going to run second, and in the last eighth of a mile, sixteenth of a mile she found another gear.”

It helped that Scottish Lassie was tiring in her first two-turn run of the year, and the final furlong elapsed in :13.30. 

“I wasn’t sure she’d get there,” Brown said, “because I mean, that’s a really high-quality horse (Scottish Lassie) to run down there. But once she got off the rail, I figured it would be close at the finish because I know this filly, once she gets in the clear, she does her best running.”

Scottish Lassie crossed the wire 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Snowyte in third. Bless the Broken checked in another two lengths adrift, followed by Valtellina and Brown’s other entrant, stakes debutante Aeolian. Eunomia was scratched.

Fully Subscribed brandishes a record of 8-4-3-1, $763,000. The four-year-old was scoring her third career stakes victory, after last fall’s Mother Goose (G2) and Comely (G3) in dominant fashion at Aqueduct. 

“I always liked (Fully Subscribed) since I rode her last year,” said Prat, who first teamed up with her in the Comely. “I really thought she was going to be a good horse.”

Brown emphasized that Fully Subscribed bumped into a couple of top-class opponents in Shred the Gnar and Nitrogen this term. 

“I’m really proud of this filly,” her trainer said. “She’s trained really well. She’s run into two really, really good fillies in her first two starts of the year, and she ran into another really good filly today, but she was able to get the better of her.”

Bred by Payson Stud in Kentucky, Fully Subscribed sold for $300,000 as an OBS April juvenile. Her dam, Sweetbaby, is a daughter of Candy Ride and Grade 1-winning millionaire Rutherienne.