Stopchargingmaria romps in Spa debut; Hessonite rebounds

Repole Stable's Stopchargingmaria wired her career debut by 5 1/2 lengths in

Friday's

3RD race at Saratoga, the first two-year-old race of the track's 150th

anniversary meet.

Hammered into 1-2 favoritism with John Velazquez, the Todd Pletcher filly

sped right to the lead through splits of :22 4/5 and :46 1/5 on the fast track.

Stopchargingmaria opened up down the stretch, getting the five-furlong split in

:58 1/5 and completing 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04 3/5.

The 22-1 J. Quirk was easily best of the rest by 7 1/2 lengths, and the rest

of the field was strung out behind her.

Stopchargingmaria was a $220,000 two-year-old in training purchase at OBS in

March. Sired by Tale of the Cat, the dark bay filly is the first registered foal

from multiple stakes victress and Grade 3-placed Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook.

"You never take anything for granted here," Pletcher said, "and you

appreciate how hard it is to win a race. When you have a filly that has been

training well, you're always hoping what you are seeing in the morning is real.

"We thought she was pretty straightforward, pretty professional. It looked

like she did everything the same as she had in the morning. She was good in the

gate, broke alertly, showed some speed, and it looked like she finished with a

little something left.

"We'll see how she comes out of it," the trainer added regarding plans. "I

believe a stake will be in order; it's just a matter of which one."

Velazquez complimented the newcomer.

"I was told that she was right, and you know, she was," the Hall of Fame

rider summed up. "It was very nice the way she went through the stretch; she did

everything good."

One race later, Velazquez guided New York-bred ace Hessonite to a smooth

success in

the $100,000

On the Bus.

Unplaced in her last two in graded company, the David Donk mare got a

confidence-booster back against state-breds here, and accordingly went off as

the 4-5 favorite.

Hessonite, a horse-for-the-course

at the Spa, exuded her class while rallying to a 1 1/4-length

victory. She negotiated 1 1/16 miles on the

firm inner turf in 1:42 1/5, advancing her local mark to four-for-five.

Inimitable Romanee got up for a clear second, and Dreaming of Cara edged Mystic

City for third.

The top two were

unaffected by a roughhousing incident in the stretch, in which Wholelottashakin bumped repeatedly with the rail-hugging Shakeira. Shakeira

was shut off, forced to check, lost all chance, and wound up last of six.

Wholelottashakin finished fifth, 5 1/2 lengths ahead of Shakeira. The stewards

conducted an inquiry, but made no change.

Owned by William Punk Jr. and Philip DiLeo, Hessonite now sports a mark of 22-11-3-1, $879,644. The five-year-old

Freud mare has won nine stakes, nearly all versus New York-breds, except for the

Grade 3 Beaugay May 4. Since that signature score, Hessonite was a well-beaten sixth in

the May 25 Sheepshead Bay and fourth in the July 2 Dr. James Penny Memorial.

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