Sunday Stateside - 19/09/21

Christophe Clement is a master with his 2 year old runners, averaging a 25% strike rate across his last 3 seasons.

His strike rate with his 2yo's in 2021 however have reached new heights, with a highly impressive 29% strike rate this season.

His runner in the Natalma Stakes is Pizza Bianca who is 1 from 1 thanks to a debut win at Saratoga last time out.

The daughter of Fastnet Rock raced from the rear and went widest of all round the home turn; the pace seemed to collapse from the front however that should not knock her performance given the ground she made up to run down the leaders and win.

The Clement team will be heading up to Woodbine confident that she will be a major player in this field and she should relish the step up in grade.

The in-form top jockey Joel Rosario is booked to ride, another tell tale sign of an expected big run.

Plum Ali started her career with three straight wins, all on turf, including listed and Grade 2 victories.

The daughter of First Samurai has since continued to race at Graded level this season however is yet to manage a win in 2021, despite running respectably in her races from Grade 3 to Grade 1 level.

Her trainer Christophe Clement has won the Pebbles Stakes twice in the past and now drops her back down in grade to listed level in order to be competitive here.

On form she has the leading claims in this field and it's interesting to see Jose Ortiz, who is 1 from 1 on board Plum Ali, back in the saddle.

She has the advantageous inside draw for the affair and looks well prepped now dropping back down to the mile after often having been left with too much to do over the longer trips.

Charlie Appleby has carried a continuous high level of form throughout the season, currently boasting a 35% strike rate across the last 14 days.

The trainer brings runner Albahr to Canada, in order to try his hand at the Grade 1 Summer Stakes.

Albahr, after a 3rd placed debut run, has stepped up to land 3 consecutive races from class 4 to listed level and is now bidding to land a 4-timer at Woodbine.

Given only 3 of his opponents have raced on turf before, there are some unknown propositions in the race, however Albahr currently has the best form in the book and looks the clear horse to beat.

The son of Dubawi is consistently improving and looks likely to step up again here, using his prior race experience to his advantage over his lesser raced rivals.

Frankie Dettori, at the top of his game of late (39% S/R; 14 days), makes the trip over to Canada in order to ride Albahr, a strong signpost of an expected big run.