SARATOGA SPRINGS — Call her the “Rachel Alexandra of Great White North.”
The 3-year-old filly Milwaukee Appeal, after crushing a field of fellow Canadian-bred fillies in the Woodbine Oaks, ventured against colts in the 11/4-mile Queen’s Plate, Canada’s version of the Kentucky Derby, on June 21 and finished third, beaten just a neck.
In her next start, July 12 at Fort Erie, the daughter of two-time Santa Anita Handicap winner Milwaukee Brew tried the colts again in the second leg of the Canadian triple crown, the mile-and-three-sixteenths Prince of Wales, and lost by a nose.
“It was a 10-minute photo,” trainer Scott Fairlie said. “It was probably the worst beat I’ve ever had.”
Today at the Old Spa, Milwaukee Appeal is back facing her own sex as the likely favorite in a field of eight for the 129th running of the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at a 11/4 miles.
The first four finishers in the 11/4-mile Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park on July 25, separated by just 11/4 lengths at the wire, will meet again in the Alabama: Funny Moon, who won by a neck over Don’t Forget Gil, who had a half-length on Wynning Ride, with Casanova Move another half-length back in fourth.
Funny Moon (by Malibu Moon, a son of A.P. Indy) is 3-for-3 over wet tracks, and thunderstorms are in the forecast for this afternoon.