Owner Mike Repole has had good luck with at least two fillies named after his free-spending wife, Maria. The stakes winner Stopshoppingmaria earned nearly four times her $100,000 purchase price and ran second in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).
Now comes Stopchargingmaria. This filly came to Repole Stables with a $220,000 price tag that now seems a bargain after her dominant score in the July 20 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga. The three-year-old miss now has four graded wins and $1,054,000 in the bank.
Winning a prestigous two-turn Grade 1 like the CCA Oaks didn’t seem likely early on based on Stopchargingmaria’s pedigree. She’s a daughter of Tale of the Cat, a speedy son of Storm Cat who is more known for siring speedy and early-developing runners. Stopshoppingmaria doesn’t get any stamina from her immediate female line either as she’s a daughter of the good sprinter and sprint sire Montbrook. In the CCA Oaks she came home in a respectable :13 and earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. She may really need to channel her second and third damsires, Kris S. and Sir Ivor, to capture he next expected assignment, the mile and one quarter Alabama Stakes (G1) on August 16.
Once consisdered a ‘classic’ for three-year-old fillies, the Coaching Club American Oaks has been won by such greats as Chris Evert, Ruffian, Davona Dale and Mom’s Command when it was still run at a mile and a half at Belmont Park. Stopchargingmaria is the fourth winner of the CCA Oaks in it’s current incarnation as a nine furlong event at Saratoga. The past two winners, Questing and Princess of Sylmar, have both gone on to capture the Alabama, the long-time Saratoga fixture for two-turn sophomore fillies.
While Stopchargingmaria will likely never be considered in the same class as Ruffian and Chris Evert etc., she has more than done her part to help keep Repole Stables in the black and to keep her namesake shopping and charging.
(originally published on http://www.myfantasystable.com)
Matt O'Neil Consulting 