Naomis Grabs Lake Placid in First U.S. Start

For more than a decade, owners Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Michael Caruso have successfully teamed with trainer Chad Brown to buy European turf runners and import them to American shores. You can add Naomis (FR) to that lengthy list of winners as the daughter of City Light (FR) closed impressively to score by a half-length in the $400,000 Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) for 3-year-old fillies Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course. But there was something different about this filly. Normally, the group quickly sends the horse to the United States and Brown's barn, but this purchase did not follow a typical path. In order to seal the $300,000 deal, the new owners had to agree to let Naomis run in the Prix de Sandringham (G2) at Chantilly Racecourse for original trainer Henri-Alex Pantall. They were rewarded with a group 2 victory that probably paved the way for a grade 2 win at the Spa. "It was rare for us to do a deal like that and let the horse run in France once," Kumin said about a filly also owned by Thirty Year Racing. "We learned something from it. When the horse came here, she was fit. Normally, they would sit four weeks in France before getting on a plane and then they would start them back up here on dirt and we've had some bone bruising. So, we let her run in France and she ran great and got a group 2 win and now she's a grade 2 winner and worth a lot more than we paid." The fitness gained in that May 31 race was needed as Naomis had to close from last in a field of eight against slow fractions of :25.02 and :49.44 on firm turf. But the daughter of the Lope de Vega (IRE) mare Biting bred by Mme Yvette Pantall and S.A.S. Ecurie Pantall, chewed up the ground from sixth in the final furlong under Flavien Prat with gusto and scored in 1:35.72 for the mile on firm turf. "Off those fractions, I thought the race was hopelessly lost," Dubb said about the 6-5 favorite ($4.54). "But she's good and very classy. You don't see finishes like that." Brown said the Oct. 10 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland was a likely next start for a filly who missed the Aug. 1 Lake George Stakes (G3T) because of a temperature. "She had trained like she could be a potential Queen Elizabeth horse and it sure looks like that off one run," he said. Live Oak Plantation's Ultimate Love, a Curlin filly trained by Michael Trombetta who was third in the early stages, finished second, three-quarters of a length in front of Klaravich Stables' Deep Learning, a daughter of Cairo Prince, also trained by Brown. "When we turned for home, she took a bad step," Prat said. "She slipped and I thought it would cost me, but she recovered quickly and showed she was talented. Even with the slow pace, I thought she was good enough to overcome that, and she proved it."