Kauai Katie’s July 20 unveiling couldn’t have been any more impressive, and for that effort the bay received a gaudy 100 Beyer Speed Figure–by far the highest number earned by a juvenile of either sex through Saturday. She towered over her rivals on paper here despite the presence of stakes winners Cayllano (Bluegrass Cat) and Salamera, and came through as expected while not quite duplicating what she did first out. Emerging from in between horses to establish the early lead, Kauai Katie doled out splits of :21.77 and :44.93 and was still traveling well within herself as Salamera revved up three wide at the head of the lane to challenge. The favorite quickly shut the door on that rival and kept plugging away in the lane with a number of right-handed reminders from Napravnik, who was snapping an 0-for-48 streak.
“When you go :22 3/5, :44 and change, you always worry how much they=ll have in the tank coming back on short rest and going from 5 1/2 [furlongs] to 6 1/2 [furlongs], but I thought she did it well,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. As for what might be next, he offered, “We’ll let the dust settle and talk to the connections and come up with a game plan. They’re fortunate they have at least three really nice fillies, so we’ll have to look at that.”

Stronestreet Farms is now a perfect six-for-six at the current Saratoga stand, and has unveiled a trio of ‘TDN Rising Stars’–all 2-year-old fillies. “This is absolutely wonderful and that Katie (the daughter of Barbaraanke and the late Jess Jackson) got to watch her namesake run and win is very special,” offered Banke. “She was a beautiful filly at the sale. We have her full sister, who’s super fast in the morning, but hates to race. We knew she was from a very fast family.” Courtesy of TDN