Immensitude Chasing First U.S. Win in G3 The Very One

Among Nine Stakes, Eight Graded, Worth $2.15M Saturday

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Wathnan Racing’s 5-year-old mare Immensitude, a Group 3 winner in her native France, continues the chase for an elusive first victory in North America in Saturday’s $165,000 The Very One (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The 37th running of the 1 3/8-mile The Very One for fillies and mares 4 and up scheduled on the turf course is the fifth of nine stakes, eight graded, worth $2.15 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program headlined by the $415,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds.

First race post time is 11:30 a.m.

Immensitude won three of eight starts in France in 2022-23, capped by a three-length victory over her elders in the 1 1/8-mile Prix Bertrand de Tarragon (G3) at Chantilly. She has one second and three thirds in six tries since coming to the U.S. last spring, beaten a neck when runner-up in the Waya (G3) at Aqueduct.

“She’s been running great. You really can’t take anything away from her,” said jockey Junior Alvarado, aboard for each of Immensitude’s last four starts. “She’s been really good [against] tough company. I haven’t had the dream trip with her yet.

“It hasn’t been that bad, but sometimes you need a little extra luck to get it done and I think we’ve been kind of failing in that part,” he added. “She’s been working very good in the morning, and I think she’s going to be very tough this time.”

In her last three races to end 2024, Immensitude ran third by a length in the one-mile, 70-yard One Dreamer at Kentucky Downs, was second in the Waya and third, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in the mid-November Long Island (G3) at Aqueduct, the latter two coming at Saturday’s 1 3/8-mile distance.

Since her arrival Immensitude has shown the ability to come from off the pace as well as rate near the front in her races. She and Alvarado will break from Post 4 in a field of nine.

“She’s very difficult in the morning, a very tough filly in the morning,” Alvarado said. “I have to kind of see in the warmup and try to figure out where I stand with her, how she’s feeling going into the race and that way I’ll figure out whether I have to rush a little bit just to be a little bit up close or take it from wherever she wants to be. Ideally, you want to be a little up close.”

Barry Schwartz’s Whatlovelookslike, a 6-year-old New York homebred by champion English Channel, has been third or better in 12 of 19 starts, five of them wins including the 2023 Port Washington on a yielding Belmont Park turf. She has one win in four tries against open company, the most recent coming Jan. 25 at Gulfstream where she ran fourth by a half-length in the 1 ½-mile La Prevoyante (G3).

“That was a tough beat all around last time. She got a good trip, just came up the inside and wound up a tick short,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It was a good effort. She seems to like these three-turn races and hopefully like a lot of the English Channels gets better as she gets older.”

Pletcher also trained English Channel, a 13-time winner with six Grade 1 victories and more than $5 million in purse earnings from 23 starts who evolved into a leading turf sire before passing in 2021 at age 19.

“She’s got a lot of her sire about her, the way she’s built conformationally and her attitude. She obviously likes the grass and a route of ground, so she definitely reminds you of the stallion,” Pletcher said. “She’s been very versatile and handled multiple turf courses and distances. She’s run well in open company, also.”

Completing the field are French Group 3 winner Blush; La Prevoyante winner Forever After All; Dec. 26 Via Borghese winner La Mehana, third by a neck in the Lay Prevoyante; 2023 Tropical Park Oaks winner Be My Sunshine; two-time Grade 3-placed Queen Regent, fifth by a length in the La Prevoyante; Grade 2-placed Beach Bomb, exiting the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1); and Youknownothing.