A key question swirling around the Aug. 21 Alabama Stakes (G1) will be a game-time decision.
What will trainer Rob Atras wear to the race for 3-year-old fillies? A suit and tie? Or his standard jeans, a collared shirt, and his ever-present Yankees cap?
"I don't know," he said. "I haven't decided yet. I probably won't decide until I get out of the shower Saturday morning."
While conjecture about someone's sartorial splendor might seem trivial when discussing a featured $600,000 stakes on Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course, it does say a great deal about the upswing in the Atras barn during the last eight months or so.
After going out on his own for the second time and opening his stable during the winter months at Aqueduct Racetrack in 2019, the Canadian-born Atras quickly developed a reputation as one of the better practitioners of the claiming game on the extremely challenging New York Racing Association circuit. Since then, he has become a well-known figure in the winner's circle in his casual wear after a claiming or allowance victory.
But in 2021, Atras has enjoyed some rather enjoyable reasons to dress for success.
In late January, Atras and his wife and assistant trainer Brittney recorded their first graded stakes win when American Power, who he claimed for $40,000, won the Toboggan Stakes (G3). In early March, Chateau gave them a second when he captured the Tom Fool Handicap (G3).
A month later, Maracuja was second in the Gazelle Stakes (G2) for 3-year-old fillies, earning a spot in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).
For a race as prestigious as the Kentucky Oaks with its famed walk-over, Atras broke from his typical garb and donned a formal outfit. Maracuja finished seventh that day behind the victorious Malathaat.
On Belmont Stakes Day, Atras sent out Musical Heart in the Brooklyn Stakes Presented by Northwell Health (G2) and once again put on his Sunday-best. The gelding finished ninth and last.
So, when the 37-year-old Atras sent out Beach Haven Thoroughbreds' Maracuja in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), a July 24 race contested among the summer glitz and glamour of Saratoga, it was not surprising that superstition pushed him to wear his trademark jeans, untucked collared shirt, and Yankees cap.
Needless to say, Maracuja, a daughter of Honor Code, pulled off the biggest upset of the Saratoga meet, beating previously undefeated Malathaat by a head at 14-1 odds.
"I never expected to win the Coaching Club," Atras said. "I was just hoping she would finish second or third."
All of which leads to an inevitable question: In a race that will feature a rematch with Malathaat and have a major say in crowning the champion 3-year-old filly, does Atras tempt fate Saturday in the Alabama by switching his wardrobe?
"I try not to think about all that," Atras said. "That's one of my things. I try not to think about a race too much. I let everything play out and try to keep things calm around the barn."
Atras' low-key approach to training and life was best reflected by his reaction to winning his first grade 1 stakes. At a time when he should have been flying on Cloud Nine, he spent the next morning on the interstates driving to Belmont Park to check on his string of horses there.
"I went to sleep that night after the Coaching Club like normal and then got up and went to Belmont," Atras said. "I went back to work without it really sinking in."
Clearly, success, be it in a claimer, allowance race, or grade 1 stakes, has not gone to Atras' head.
After making a solid impact during his initial year in New York with 39 wins and earnings of $1.8 million, he rose to 43 wins and $2 million in earnings in 2020 despite a reduced racing season due to the pandemic. This year, he has made an even bigger splash, already topping those totals with 47 wins and $2.8 million in earnings through Aug. 15 while winning at a 22% clip.
"It's been a good year so far," Atras said.
As true as that might be, thanks to those graded stakes wins a growing number of owners are viewing him as much more than just a claiming trainer.
"Rob and Brittney have been great to work with," said Sol Kumin, who owns a share of about six horses with Atras, including Aug. 15 debut winner at the Spa, Silipo, who was named after Mike Silipo, a lacrosse coach at Boston University. "He's a very good communicator and they always know what's going on with their horses and they generally put them in spots where they can be competitive. They understand what they have. Winning the Coaching Club was enormous for him. He's been starting to get better horses and you're seeing what he can do with them. He's one of the good young trainers and we're excited to work with him."
For Atras, the Alabama will put him in the unusual position of being a main player on one of the sport's biggest stages. While Maracuja was overlooked in the CCA Oaks, that won't be the case Saturday when she will be sent off at considerably lower odds in a 1 1/4-mile test that should suit the distance-loving daughter of the Unbridled's Song mare Patti's Regal Song.
"I'm feeling some nervousness. It was nice to be a longshot last time because there are no expectations," Brittney said. "I believe she's training great for the Alabama and that's what you need for a race like that."
The career path to the Alabama had several turns in it for Atras. He started working at Assiniboia Downs in his hometown of Winnipeg filling a variety of jobs, including assistant trainer for Jack Robertson and Bert Blake. In 2009, he decided to start his own stable, racing at Assiniboia Downs and Turf Paradise. He had a string of just six horses in 2015 when his work at Turf Paradise introduced him to trainer Robertino Diodoro. When Diodoro offered Atras an opportunity to be his main assistant at Oaklawn Park, Atras packed his bags.
Working for Diodoro eventually brought Atras to New York and presented him with a major career decision late in 2018 when the stable's horses were shipped out of New York. Rather than head south with the string, Atras rolled the dice and decided to stay put and open his own stable in the Big Apple.
It didn't take long for the wins to roll in. Through the support of owners like Michael Dubb, Michael Caruso, Robert Bone, and Sanford Goldfarb, Atras recorded an astonishing nine wins from his first 15 starts.
"I talked to a few people and decided to take a shot with my own stable and see how it goes," Atras said. "Fortunately it was the winter and we got off to a hot start and it all worked out. We've been able to lead over some live horses."
While Atras' mother owned a share of racehorses, the 29-year-old Brittney grew up much more immersed in the sport. She is the daughter of Larry Dixon, who worked as an assistant trainer for Lynn Whiting. She was born in the same year as Whiting won the Kentucky Derby (G1) with Lil E. Tee. Her mother, Sandra, is a practicing veterinarian.
Though she received a degree in biological anthropology from the University of Georgia, racing was her passion. She worked for Fasig-Tipton and toyed with the idea of becoming a bloodstock agent but jumped at the opportunity in 2015 when she was chosen to participate in Darley's Flying Start program in Europe.
After she returned to the United States in 2017, she worked at Bridlewood Farm in Florida before she joined her mother at Belmont Park, where she met Atras.
"He wasn't interested in me, so that made me interested in him," she said.
Just like a Hallmark movie, they married in 2018 and are now inseparable on a daily basis, running a stable of 50 horses with 28 of them at Saratoga. The rest are back at Belmont Park, where the stable's well-known goat, Gilbert, is spending the summer and keeping a watchful eye on everything.
While the spotlight falls on Atras for heading the stable, he knows how difficult life would be without Brittney at his side.
"She means everything to the operation," he said. "Without her, none of this would have been possible."
Among Brittney's multitude of tasks around the barn are arranging the daily set list and exercise riders for the horses, bookkeeping, and, galloping horses from time to time, especially in the winter when it's harder to find help.
"I try to keep everything organized but Rob is the more organized of the two of us," Brittney said. "We are both very hands-on. We come from different backgrounds, so sometimes we look at horses differently and it's nice to be able to springboard ideas off each other. We have great respect for each other's opinions.
"I love that Rob will wake up in the middle of the night and decide to change something on a horse. He loves to solve puzzles with horses because each horse is an individual. That's why we're trying to stay small. We don't want to have multiple strings because Rob individualizes everything and tries to keep all the horses happy."
Four weeks later, Brittney says she still can't believe that Maracuja won the CCA Oaks.
"I am still like, did that actually happen?" she said about the victory by the $200,000 purchase from the Buck Pond Farm consignment at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's sale of selected yearlings in New York, who was bred by River Bend Farm and Austin and Janie Musselman. "Was it a dream?"
And like her husband, she is trying to stay on an even keel even as the days grow closer and the pressure intensifies for the stable's most important race to date and a showdown with Malathaat and several other graded stakes winners.
"I have zero expectations about the Alabama," she said. "I just hope we get a good break and a good trip. Malathaat is a special filly, but so is ours."
As for whether there will be special clothing for the Alabama, that's just part of the guessing game surrounding a race the Atras barn will long remember.
