SARATOGA SPRINGS – Trainer Bobby Frankel refuses to count his dollars before they’re hatched, all two million of them, which is the bonus his 3-year-old filly Spoken Fur will receive if she completes a sweep of NYRA’s “Triple Tiara” by winning today’s Grade 1, $750,000 Alabama Stakes at the Old Spa.
Spoken Fur, a winner of five straight, was purchased by Frankel last spring after winning an allowance race at Churchill Downs. In her first start for the red-hot Hall-of-Famer, the daughter of Notebook exploded to win the first jewel of the Tiara, the June 28 Mother Goose at Belmont Park, by 5 1/4 lengths, then took the second leg, the July 19 Coaching Club American Oaks, by 3 ½ going a mile-and-a-half.
But to take home the mile-and-a-quarter Alabama, which Frankel won two years ago with his fine filly Flute, Spoken Fur must outrun trainer Nick Zito’s Bird Town, winner of the Kentucky Oaks and Acorn. “Brooklyn Bobby” isn’t sure she can.
“That other filly [Bird Town] is a better filly,” Frankel said frankly. “Her [Ragozin speed] numbers are much better. Even when Spoken Fur won the Mother Goose, her number wasn’t even close. She’s four points slower at best.
“I’m just hoping [Bird Town’s] numbers don’t hold up [in the Alabama]. Hopefully, the distance will get to her. That’s the only chance I’ve got. I’m not sure Bird Town wants to go a mile-and-a-quarter. In Spoken Fur’s case, going a mile-and-a-half [in the Coaching Club] is an advantage. She’s got that stamina in her.”
Zito, after skipping the first two legs of the Tiara with the Alabama as his summer goal, prepped Bird Town in the seven-furlong Test here July 26. Marylou Whitney’s homebred daughter of Cape Town ran well to be second behind Lady Tak, who set a stakes record.
“This is the same pattern we took when she won the Kentucky Oaks,” Zito said. “She had seven weeks before the [seven-furlong] Beaumont [where she was second] and then three weeks to the Oaks. She had seven weeks before the Test and three weeks to the Alabama.
“I don’t look at it as a spoiler roll,” said Zito, referring to the Tiara. “Spoken Fur has done some wonderful things, but Bird Town has all the credentials in the world.”
The irony of Spoken Fur going for the $2 million is that when the bonus was first announced last December, everyone assumed the Tiara would be swept by then-unbeaten 2-year-old filly Storm Flag Flying. But the latter is injured, out for the year.
“The bonus is nice, are you kidding me?” said Frankel. “But I didn’t get her for that. I just wanted a 3-year-old filly and didn’t have one.”