Top Decile likely to have two preps on road to Kentucky Oaks

Top Decile likely to have two preps on road to Kentucky

Oaks

A poor start and a speed-favoring course are arguably all that stands between

Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence's Top Decile and an undefeated

championship season. Still, the daughter of Congrats could have even bigger

accomplishments on her horizon as she prepares for her sophomore year with

trainer Al Stall, Jr.

A stellar first-out maiden winner at Saratoga this summer, the chestnut filly

missed the start in the Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland next out

and recovered to finish a half-length second after a tumultuous trip.

Subsequently shipping across the country to take on the best in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, she ran into a different kind of

adversity: a track that was arguably speed-favoring earlier in the card after

metropolitan Los Angeles received rain for the first time in months. This

time, Top Decile once again fell a half-length short of Grade 1 glory, with

loose-on-the-lead 61-1 shot Take Charge Brandi -- a filly she had beaten by 11

lengths at Keeneland -- winning.

Since then, the petite chestnut has enjoyed some leisure and is now back in the

care of her conditioner at his Fair Grounds base.

"She's doing great right

now," Stall reported. "She got three weeks off by design. There was

nothing for her and we just gave her a little break before bringing her here.

As far as her races, things have been a little awkward for her. She missed

the break at Keeneland and what happened at Santa Anita with the track and it

having rained for the first time in six months. They had it sealed up."

Such is in the past for Stall, who remains very high on his filly and expects a

big year out of her.

"I purchased her myself on behalf of Klaravich Stable

and Bill Lawrence and she started getting our attention in June at Churchill and

then we took her up to Saratoga and she kept going forward," he explained.

"Rosie (Napravnik) worked her a few times and -- interestingly enough -- the first

thing she said was that she was a route filly. I had thought she might be

a speed horse, but obviously Rosie was right. That's why I waited for the

6 1/2 (furlong race) at Saratoga to get a little more ground underneath

her. Once we won that, we took a long look at the (Alcibiades) and that's

how she ended up in there. There was (initially) no plan to go to Santa

Anita -- she earned her way out there."

A social and

very kind personality around the barn, Top Decile can often be found observing

her surroundings and curious as to what the humans around the barn doing.

"She is always in front of the stall and spends most of her time looking at

what's going on," Stall said. "That's just the way she is. Some

horses will just go to the back of the stall and stay there, but not her.

She spends 95 percent of her time with her head out."

Even with her gregarious disposition, the athletic charge amplifies herself once

it is time to do her work. At Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup, she was

noticeably on her toes prancing around the paddock and often seen with her head

high in the air in the mornings during training.

"She was really fired up and on her toes leading into the Breeders' Cup," Stall

explained. "She was ready to run, but she has the right kind of energy you

want to see."

With a lucrative local stakes set that lends itself as a preparatory program for

the Kentucky Oaks, it will be no surprise to see Top Decile

race once or twice this Fair Grounds season -- perhaps even as early as the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on February 21.

"I will look at two races for her (leading into the Kentucky Oaks)," Stall

confirmed. "It's hard to dance every dance. We'll look at the Fair

Grounds Oaks or Ashland and a race back of those to get her started."

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