ROUTE HORSE OR SPRINTER?

The future racing ambitions of speed demon and Congrats daughter, Applauding  will broaden considerably if she is able to add a third straight career win when she tackles the Grade 3 Silverbullet Stakes at Fair Grounds in Louisiana on the weekend.

Applauding literally burst onto the scene towards the end of 2011 with a scintillating 9 length debut win at Keeneland setting a new course record on the Polytrack – the main track at Keeneland since 2006.

She backed that next start with an even more dazzling effort at Fair Ground – winning by 6-lens at odds of 1/10 on to end her brief but unforgettable juvenile season in grand style.

With those two wins well and truly behind her, Applauding’s next mission is to stretch her peerless pace to long trips, hence the unusually high interest in this year’s running of the Silverbullet Stakes.

“The question about Applauding’s ability to route has implications for major 3-year-old filly races early this season, wrote the Daily Racing Form’s Marcus Hursh.
“If Applauding can transfer her obvious brilliance from sprints to a route of ground, she becomes a favourite to win the Fair Grounds Oaks in March and a candidate for the Kentucky Oaks on the first Friday in May. If not, the trajectory of her campaign changes, with a focus on major one-turn races, like the Acorn and the Test in New York.”

Hursh for one, is in the ‘can do’ corner, believing that Applauding’s natural brilliance is the key to victory.

“At one mile 70 yards, and with a field likely lacking horses of Applauding’s raw ability, the Silverbulletday should provide an ideal distance test for Applauding,” he says.
“Her sire, Congrats, was a route horse himself, but his offspring have tended toward middle distances, and Applauding is out of a mare by Forestry, another speed influence. But to spend time with Applauding is to recognize that the filly will do everything she can to negotiate as much ground as genetics permit.”