Stopchargingmaria Wins for New Owners

Top class mare Stopchargingmaria (4m Tale of the Cat x Exotic Bloom, by Montbrook) was back in the winner’s circle at Pimlico when taking out the $150,000 Grade III Allaire Dupont Distaff Stakes. A dual Grade I winner last year for the Todd Pletcher stable, Stopchargingmaria was sent to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Breeding Stock Sale last year by her owner Mike Repole, but left the ring unsold when bidding stalled at $3.15 million. A daughter of outstanding sire Tale of the Cat, she was later sold privately to Louise and Kiki Courtelis’s Town and Country Farms, who decided to leave her with Todd Pletcher to race on. Second in her first run for her new owners in the Grade I Madison Stakes at Keeneland in April, Stopchargingmaria returned to her best to win this 1 and 1/18th mile feature by four lengths. “She had a really good work last week at Belmont for this race,” Pletcher said. “It was as good as I had ever seen her. She got away bad and I was a little worried, but when I saw the fast fractions, I figured we would be O.K. I’m not sure what’s next.” Stopchargingmaria has the overall record of seven wins and four placings from 13 starts with prizemoney topping $1.6 million and is the first winner for stakes-winner Exotic Bloom, who comes from the family of Grade II winners Vision and Verse and Bourbon Bay.