Breeders’ Cup On Radar for Talented 2-Year-Old Filly

BALTIMORE – Klaravich Stables Inc.’s Consumer Spending made her stakes debut a winning one, surging past horses late and drawing away by 2 ½ lengths while under wraps in Saturday’s $150,000 Selima at Laurel Park.

The 91st running of the Selima for 2-year-old fillies, and 94th renewal of the Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds, both at 1 1/16 miles, topped a Fall Festival of Racing program featuring five stakes worth $600,000 in purses over Laurel’s world-class turf course.

Joining the co-headliners were the $100,000 Japan Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up going 1 ½ miles, $100,000 All Along at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares 3 and older, and $100,000 Laurel Dash for 3-year-olds and up sprinting 5 ½ furlongs.

Ridden by Victor Carrasco for trainer Chad Brown, Consumer Spending ($2.80) was the 2-5 favorite in a field of eight and completed the distance in 1:43.21 over a firm All Along layout for her second consecutive win.

The gray or roan daughter of More Than Ready, a $200,000 yearling purchase last fall, exited a 4 ½-length triumph at the Selima distance over yielding ground in a Sept. 6 maiden special weight at Saratoga, where she ran second in debut Aug. 8.

Sharing won the Selima as a prep for her upset victory in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1). Consumer Spending could follow a similar path to a race Brown has won five times in 12 runnings with Maram (2009), Lady Eli (2014), New Money Honey (2016), Rushing Fall (2017) and Newspaperofrecord (2018).

“She’s a really nice filly. We wanted to give her a race to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup, for the big races,” Brown’s assistant trainer Luis Cabrera said. “We know she’s got a lot of class. When he asked her to go, she responded. She’s a very talented filly.”

Carrasco settled Consumer Spending in fifth along the rail as 80-1 long shot Evangeline Allons went the opening quarter-mile in 23.22 seconds under pressure from Consumer Spending’s stablemate, Hedy Lamarr. The half went in 47.83 with Consumer Spending trailing all but one horse, She’s Like Thunder.

Consumer Spending began to roll leaving the backstretch but still lacked room on the turn until straightening for home while Evangeline Allons stubbornly held the front after six furlongs in 1:12.27. Carrasco tipped Consumer Spending to the middle of the track where he passed Hedy Lamarr to the inside and outran She’s Like Thunder making a move on the far outside.

She’s Like Thunder, off at 80-1, was two lengths ahead of Evangeline Allons in third with Sparkle Blue another length back in fourth. Hedy Lamarr, Petition Prayer, Determined Charm and Luna Antonia completed the order of finish.

“She’s a superstar. The instructions were, ‘You’re going to be sitting on the best horse in the race. Just be patient and whenever you’re able to get her clear down the lane she’s going to explode,’ and she did it,” Carrrasco said. “She got the job done. I felt like I had enough horse and I was going to be able to work my way out. I didn’t even hit her. I just showed her the stick and she was gone.”

First run in 1926, the Selima is named for the great English race mare who was imported to the U.S. in the 1750s by Benjamin Tasker Jr., manager of the famed Belair Farm in Prince George’s County. The daughter of the Godolphin Arabian, considered ‘Queen of the Turf,’ also gained fame as a broodmare. The Selima lost its spot on the 2020 stakes calendar amid the coronavirus pandemic.