Mighty Oaks

Year 21 • No. 5 Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Tod

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The aratogaThe aratoga

Saratoga’s Racing Newspaper since 2001

Mighty OaksMighty OaksMaracuja (left) nips Malathaat in Grade 1 slugfestMaracuja (left) nips Malathaat in Grade 1 slugfest

2 Wednesday, July 28, 2021The saraToga special

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3Wednesday, July 28, 2021 The saraToga special

The Saratoga Editors/Publishers/Owners:Sean Clancy: (302) 545-7713. [email protected] Joe Clancy: (302) 545-4424. [email protected]

Managing Editor: Tom Law: (859) 396-9407. [email protected]

259 East Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

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2021 publication dates: Wednesdays and Saturdays July 15-Sept 4.Plus Opening Day & Sales Week Daily Aug. 6-11.

The Saratoga Special, thisishorseracing.com, Thoroughbred Racing Calendar, The Best of The Saratoga Special, New York Thoroughbred Breeders work, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred and a whole lot more.

Call us about your editorial needs.

Writers: Mary Eddy, Paul Halloran, IV Hendrix, Terry Hill. Photographers: Tod Marks, Dave Harmon, Connie Bush,

Susie Raisher, Michael Trombetta Jr.

Marketing/Distribution: Samantha Loud, Olivia Johnson.

Handicappers: Charles Bedard, Jessica Paquette, John Shapazian, Rob Whitlock.

LICENSE PLATE OF THE DAYWINPHOTO, New York. DLYDBL, New York.

BY THE NUMBERS994: Pounds Diana winner Althiqa weighs.

WORTH REPEATING“Hey, there’s news every day.”

NYRA’s Tim McKinsey, when told The Special is publishing twice a week this year

“She doesn’t look the best jogging, but you gallop her or work her she looks like a million bucks. And she is now.”

Trainer Neil Pessin on millionaire and Grade 1 winner Bell’s The One, favorite for today’s Honorable Miss

“Can you multitask?”Jockey John Velazquez to The Special’s Sean Clancy, driving a golf cart and conducting an interview Friday

“On with the sunglasses.”Owner/trainer/breeder Lizzie Merryman,

hiding some emotions after Caravel won the Caress Saturday

Here&There...in Saratoga

Motion Control. A morning gallop takes on a whole new look.

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NAMES OF THE DAYIt’s Gravy, third race Wedneday. Mr. Amore Stable’s homebred is out of It’s Macaroni.

Lake Avenue, ninth race Wedneday.Godolphin’s Honorable Miss stakes runner is out of Seventh Street and if you leave Saratoga Race Course headed north on East Avenue, Lake is the seventh street (not counting the tiny Snyder and Tipton lanes, which are more like an alleys) after Mitchell, George, Madison, Fifth, Caroline and Jumel.

Vineyard Sound, fourth race Thursday. Vineyard Sound, fourth race Thursday. The veteran claimer is by Stormy Atlantic. Vineyard sound separates Naushon Island and Martha’s Vineyard just south of Cape Cod.

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WORTH REPEATING“The ice-cream addict in me always calls her Carvel.”

NYRA’s Alysse Jacobs to Merryman about Caravel (named for a type of 15th century sailboat not the ice-cream shop)

Caravel’s trainer Lizzie Merryman: “If it’s OK, she’s going in the round pen tonight. Just so you know. Is that OK?”Soon-to-be Caravel’s trainer Graham Motion: “Like all night?”Merryman (with a look): “No, not all night. Just for a roll. Every time she runs and she comes back to the barn she goes in the round pen and rolls. Then she has a bath.”Motion was fine with that plan. “Merryman to Frock in the late double? Where are we, Timonium?”

Maryland racing fan, as Lizzie Merryman and Charlie Frock won the 10th and 11th at Saratoga Saturday

“You want our spokesman.”Beach Haven Thoroughbreds’ Ara Aprahamian, handing off an interview to John Sakkos

“Sometimes you override them and you get them beat.”Jockey Joel Rosario, on playing it cool

“I could have gone on the inside, but I wanted to be in the clear. At Keeneland, it was a mile and sixteenth, the first wire, the longer stretch helped today.”

Rosario, after winning the Shuvee aboard Royal Flag

“You just gave me a hook for my column this weekend. Don’t tell Sean though, he’ll steal it.”Jay Hovdey, keeping friendly rivalries alive among Turf writers

“He wrote a story about a Louisiana-bred horse who died and it went, ‘A piece of the mountain fell into the sea.’ That’s what it felt like, too.”

Trainer Al Stall, about a great line from sports writer Bill Gann

“I’ll never get those hours back.”Assistant trainer/van driver Laird George, about two trips

to Saratoga from Virginia in a week to (hopefully) run in one race

WORDPLAYCross substantial off the “20 for 21” word challenge we launched for this season. Be the first

reader to find one of the 20 words we published in the July 21 edition, send Tom Law an email at [email protected] and win a prize. It’s that simple. Substantial appeared in Tom’s recap of the Lake George Stakes titled “Odds Play” on Page 24.

Here are the remaining words: admirable, encroach, incremental, integrity, languish, lolly-gagging, mellifluous, mirth, nadir, nonsensical, peak, peek, penultimate, pique, plethora, prag-matic and sashay. Hope, Loom and Substantial are off the table.

New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association

The ChiefTo

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arks

“I tried to get her light on her feet.”

About breezing Society Selection four times in 14 days before winning the 2004 Test

“You’ve got to be brave

to train like that.” Trainer Bobby Frankel

Trainer H. Allen Jerkens, 1929-2015

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�e�resen�n� o�ners, trainers, breeders, jockeys, dri�ers and horse�en associa�ons in business transac�ons and

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Tod MarksWake-Up Call. Technical Analysis (who won Friday’s Lake George) asks for anoth-er hit of the snooze button.


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John Rotz & the 1962 PreaknessThe July 12 death of John Rotz, 86, brought widespread

praise for the Illinois stablehand-turned-Hall of Fame jockey and later a noted steward. Rotz’s 20-year path to 2,907 victo-ries included a dicey 1962 Preakness ride aboard Greek Mon-ey, who out-bobbed Ridan for the glory even as jockey Manny Ycaza thrust an elbow into Rotz’s ribcage. The Pimlico stew-ards missed it, but Baltimore Sun photographer Joe DiPaola Jr. didn’t; his head-on shot of the flanked frontrunners famously captured the misdeed. Ycaza, who futilely claimed foul, ulti-mately took a five-day suspension for reckless riding. Preak-ness spectator Bill Boniface, son of then-Baltimore Evening Sun racing editor William Boniface and an upstart trainer, recounted to writer Vinnie Perrone the unusual doings:

“John Rotz never rode for me, but he was a classy rider;

very much Bill Passmore-style. Classy in the saddle, classy on the street too. After he died, the write-ups I saw mentioned him winning the Preakness with Greek Money, but they didn’t say how he won it. The rider on Ridan, Manuel Ycaza, was life-and-death, more Bill Hartack-style. So they come nose and nose to the finish, and Ycaza, in last-minute desperation, leaned outta the left side of the saddle so far I don’t know how he stayed on the horse, and he put his elbow into John Rotz. Rotz won the photo anyway.

“Now, Joe DiPaola, who was a photographer for my father for the Baltimore Sun, had set his camera up underneath the in-side rail; I think it was the first year they let ’em do that. He used a timing sequence and happened to capture a picture – didn’t

even know he had captured it. But he came back that night and developed his film and realized he had the most discriminating picture you could ever see. It showed the whole moment, and it became the sports picture of the year.

“But the irony of the whole thing was, the boy that engaged in the wrongdoing didn’t leg-lock, he arm-locked. He claimed foul against the guy that he was foulin’. I’ve been to a lot of Preaknesses in my life, but that’s one that I can never forget.

Editor’s Note: Boniface sent out 1983 Preakness winner Deputed

Testamony and 1995 runner-up Oliver’s Twist.


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QUOTE OF THE DAY

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Oklahoma railbird Dick Knapp, about fellow club member Doc Richardson having

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STABLE TOURMeet the people & horses who make Saratoga special!

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The first Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour with Brendan Walsh came to life in 2017. The Irish-born trainer had six stalls tucked in between Ian Wilkes’ string inside Clare Court. The big horse was Proctor’s Ledge and she delivered, winning the Grade 3 Lake George and Grade 2 Lake Placid that summer.

Walsh returns to the Stable Tour this year, shar-ing Barn 83, the old stomping grounds of Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas. Calumet Farm’s Jack Sister-ton takes up residence on the side facing Fifth Ave-nue while Jonathan Thomas bedded down a few on the western end.

Walsh didn’t hesitate when asked about the last time he was featured in the Stable Tour.

“Four years ago with Proctor’s Ledge,” Walsh said. “It’s a bit healthier than it was back then. It’s nice to be back up here.”

In his 10th full season training, Walsh has won 40 races for $3.3 million this year. His numbers have grown with 15 horses in Saratoga, “40 odd” at Keeneland and “30 odd” at Ellis.

Walsh walked his shedrow with The Special’s Sean Clancy Monday morning.

Temple City Terror: Owned by Pocket Aces Racing, the daughter of Temple City has four wins, including the Keertana Stakes at Churchill Downs, from 21 starts. “She won the mile and a half stake at Churchill, the first time I stretched her out. It took her about 10 runs to break her maiden, she broke her maiden and she’s been a hard-knocking filly ever since. We had been toying with the idea of stretching her out, she won that stakes, ran down that good filly of Al Stall’s, Dalika. We went back to Delaware and she had a bad trip and Dalika beat us. We’ll run her in the Glens Falls, she’ll be competitive, stretch-ing her out has done the trick.”

Actuary: Owned by Electric City Racing, Oh Happy Days Sta-ble and Christopher Dunn, the British-bred son of Helmet won on heavy ground at Gowran Park October. “He’s in Friday. I ran him a little short at Churchill. He’s going a mile and three eighths, I’m hoping he runs a little better, if not we’re going to have to drop him for a tag.”

La Signare: French-bred 6-year-old mare made her 11th consecutive stakes start in the Diana here opening weekend. Owned by Madaket Stable, Tim and Anna Cambron and Brad-ley Thoroughbreds leans over blue webbing and white cross runners like she’s been waiting for a mention in The Special. “Finished third in the Diana, second in the Gamely, third in the Grade 1 at Keeneland (Jenny Wiley). She’s a law unto herself to train, she’s headstrong, just been project since we’ve gotten her. She’s hard knocking, she ran great in the Diana, it was a

horrible trip, really, she had to move way out, by the time she got rolling, the two Godolphin fillies were gone. Ricardo (San-tana) said if he had a better trip, he would have possibly been second. I’m going to run her in the Flower Bowl, probably.”

Lake Lucerne: Godolphin homebred has made three starts for Walsh, including a win against allowance foes at Churchill Downs in May. “She’s a nice filly, came from (John) Gosden last winter, by Dubawi out of Round Pond. I ran her at Gulf-stream and she ran really well in her first run in this country, I ran her back at Churchill and she won easy. I thought we were in good shape, had a horrible trip in a two other than in the spring and got struck into, whether that was an excuse or not I don’t know. Probably going to run her in a mile two other than, she’s a lovely filly, I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet.”

Maxfield: Of course, in the stall next to the tack room. The once-beaten dark bay son of Street Sense stands like the barn was built around him. Walsh grabs the tip of the 4-year-old colt’s tongue, “What have you got? What have you got?” It’s a game they’ve played before. “Here’s the big horse. He’s a beau-ty isn’t he? A big old beaut, finally growing into himself. He’s a cracking horse. The depth he’s got, everything. I’d say he’s got the lung capacity of an elephant. The plan is the Whitney. He’s doing great up here. Worked Friday, it looked like he was going easy? I’m glad I did it, I was maybe going to keep him on the Oklahoma until his last work, but I said I better get on into him because the track has been a little tiring. I’m going to let Jose (Ortiz) work him maybe Friday or Saturday and that’s it then, we’ll be good to go, right? After the Stephen Foster, we’ve aimed at the Whitney.”

Blue Cat: Calumet Farm’s homebred son of Big Blue Kitten seeks his third win Friday. “Three-year-old for Calumet, won a maiden at Tampa, finished fourth in a stakes, he won an open 50, he’s in for 40 Friday.”

Business Model: Godolphin homebred fin-ished sixth against allowance foes on Opening Day. “He got stuck down on the inside, I don’t think we saw the true him. We’ll hang onto him and run him back here in a month or six weeks time. He broke his maiden at Churchill, beat some nice horses, I’m hoping there’s more to come from him.”

Crump: Another Godolphin homebred, he’s been unplaced in two starts. “Into Mischief, out of Flashing. He was a little disappointing the other day, I’m hoping there’s a little better to come from him, he trains like a nice horse.”

Never Say Know: Owned by Marc Detample and American Equistock, the son of No Nay Never finished fourth here July 17. “He ran fourth in a grass maiden, I wanted to use it as an experience, I might send him back to Kentucky, he might not be quite good enough to win here.”

Townplace: Owned by F and F Racing Stable, the 2-year-old daughter of Speightstown graduated in her second start. “Going to run her in the Colleen at Monmouth on Sunday. If she runs well, I’m going to run her back in the turf sprint here.”

Choate Bridge: Bred and owned by Trish Moseley, the 5-year-old daughter of Street Sense has won twice since mak-

With Brendan Walsh

Continued On Page 7

Sean ClancyTrainer Brendan Walsh’s string is bedded down in Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas’ former barn on the Oklahoma side.

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ing her debut here in 2019. “She’s a half-sister to Proctor’s Ledge. She just shipped in this morning. She won an a other than in Florida this winter, has had her issues, she does have plenty of talent. Mrs. Moseley loves to have her horses up here. To pull off a two other than here would be great.”

Extravagant Kid: Owned by DARRS, the world traveler has returned after a win in the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan in March, a third in the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot and a 14th in the Darley July Cup. The 8-year-old has earned $1.6 million in a 52-start career “He’s back at Keeneland. He’s grand. He ran great at Ascot. When I got to Newmarket, I couldn’t believe how good he looked, he’s always looked good but he was actually dappled, I’ve never seen him dappled. The race didn’t work out great but at no point did he look like he was going to run a good race. I think he kind of bounced in a way. When you go on a jour-ney, you run them off the plane in a week to 10 days and then I think they hit a lull. Even though he looked good. We would have nearly been better off running him back in the 6-fur-long race three days after at Ascot than wait. In hindsight. I think when you go another month, maybe they’re on a little bit of a dip. We’ll give him a bit of time, he’s never left the barn and as much as I’d like to turn him out…some of them don’t do that well, I think we’ll just tip away with him for a little bit and bring him back, maybe the race at Keeneland and try to go to the Breeders’ Cup. He’s been some servant. His form is impeccable, never runs a bad race. If he has, he’s always had a good

excuse like he did at Newmarket. He’s given us some thrill. He owes us nothing at this stage.” Mintd: Owned by Bradley Thoroughbreds, Madaket Stable, Team Hanley and Tim and Anna Hambron, the white-faced Irish-bred mare owns four wins from nine starts. “She won the Mint Julep. She’s another filly who’s had her problems, ran her twice last year, ran her off the layoff, she won a 2X on Oaks Day, she’s as tough as nails. I’m hoping to run her in the Grade 2.”

Ego Trip: Imported by Rebecca Hillen, the 3-year-old daughter of No Nay Never over-came an awkward break to storm home for second in a turf maiden here. “She’s very good, she was drawn nine of nine, broke in a knot, only got running the last eighth of a mile, flew home. She’s very good. She’s a lovely, scopey filly.”

Keeper Of Time: Irish-bred daughter of Mehmas has posted three breezes since being imported from Ireland. “She’s an interesting filly, she won the Guineas Trial in Ireland to start the year and she was bought to come here. She beat a good field. She was on the front and held on. I worked her a half on the grass the other day. She’s interesting, she could be anything.”

Candy Landing: Mueller Thoroughbreds’ homebred won his debut at Churchill before finishing sixth in the Sanford here. “I sent him back. He was a little disappointing. He was drawn inside and didn’t break as well as he did that day at Churchill. He got buried, it was the first time getting in that kind of mix, as im-pressive as he was the first day, he probably didn’t learn a ton. He found this track a little deep. I don’t think he turned into a bad horse overnight. He’ll be fine.”

Stable Tour – Continued from page 6

Sean ClancyTrainer Brendan Walsh keeps an eye on Whitney hopeful Maxfield and exercise rider Tom Molloy while walking back to the barn.

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BY TOM LAWNeil Pessin walked up and down

the shedrow, doling out breakfast sandwiches and burritos to Al Stall Jr.’s team and any other takers before eventually making his way to the stall of the best horse he’s ever trained.

He had treats for Bell’s The One, too: a stash of wrapped peppermints in his windbreaker pocket crinkling just enough to entice the attentive bay mare to the front of her stall and away from checking out the activity on Clare Court from her back window.

“She’ll eat at least 30 of these a day,” Pessin said, squeezing another mint from its wrapper.

The treats come Bell’s The One’s way honestly. She’s won eight of 18 starts with five other placings heading

into today’s Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap, where she’s favored to col-lect a fourth graded stakes victory in her Saratoga debut.

“She’s made me look good, I ha-ven’t made her look good,” Pessin said. “How’s that saying go, ‘A good horse makes you look good and a bad horse makes you look bad.’ With her she’s probably 100 percent heart and 50 percent ability. She just tries every time she runs. Even when she runs a bad race there’s a reason. Sometimes it’s my fault, sometimes it’s pilot error. But not her.”

A $155,000 buy at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale of Tod Marks

Bell’s The One looks to add to her millionaire status in today’s Honorable Miss.

HONORABLE MISS PREVIEW

Treat TakerGrade 1 winner Bell’s The One looks tough in Saratoga debut

Continued On Page 10

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selected yearlings by Pessin on behalf of Bob Lothenbach’s Lothenbach Sta-bles, Bell’s The One comes into the Honorable Miss unbeaten in four starts at the race’s 6-furlong trip. The 5-year-old Majesticperfection mare also comes in off a win in the Rox-elana Stakes at Churchill Downs June 19, which followed a fourth in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Bell’s The One won last year’s Der-by City Distaff, when the race was run Labor Day weekend because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She fol-lowed up with a third behind Gamine and Serengeti Empress in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland.

Pessin hopes to get back to the Filly and Mare Sprint this fall at Del Mar and the Honorable Miss presents the next step toward landing a spot in the field.

“Timing, that’s the main key,” Pessin said of the decision to run in the Honorable Miss versus waiting

for the Grade 1 Ballerina later in the meet. “It was between this or the Bal-lerina and I was going to see how she came out of the last race and how she trained. She trained really well and is getting sharp, so here we are.”

A good showing in the Honorable

Miss, where Bell’s The One drew the outside post in the field of nine with regular rider Corey Lanerie in from Ellis Park for the mount, could lead to a run in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Thor-oughbred Club of America in early October.

“With the no Lasix stuff in grad-ed stakes and all the shipping, if we go to the Ballerina then I go back to Churchill and ship to Keeneland then I have to ship back to Churchill and ship to California for the Breeders’ Cup. It’s boom-boom-boom.

“The Ballerina would be six weeks to (the Thoroughbred Club of Amer-ica), then a month to the Breeders’ Cup. This gives me an extra 30 days. As soon as this race is run she’s prob-ably going to be turned out for about two and a half weeks. Timing wise the Thoroughbred Club didn’t fit in good for her but this year it comes into play and it’s a ‘Win and You’re In.’ That’s the one reason I was considering the Ballerina, that’s also a ‘Win and You’re In.’ ”

Pessin, who trained his first winner in 1985 at Atlantic City Race Course and a regular on the Louisiana-Mid-west circuits for decades before set-ting up shop at Churchill Downs in recent years, like Bell’s The One, makes his Saratoga debut in the Hon-orable Miss.

He worked here in the early 1980s as an assistant to the late Ronnie War-

Honorable Miss – Continued from page 8


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ren, including during Betty Money’s runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Spi-naway in 1981, but hasn’t been back since.

“Do you know where James Bond’s barn is out there? Down Gridley, the barn across the street, the first one,” Pessin said. “When I was working for Ronnie Warren his owner built that barn and we moved into it for the Saratoga meet. I was up here for about three months.

“The track itself hasn’t changed a whole lot, they built a new building near the clubhouse but other than that it pretty much looks the same. The town and downtown has built up quite a bit I think, but the backside doesn’t look a whole lot different.”

Pessin has six graded stakes vic-tories in his career – three by Bell’s The One, the Grade 2 Transylvania Stakes with Chin High in 2006 and the Grade 3 Keeneland Breeders’ Cup and Grade 2 Elkhorn with Coaxing Matt in 1993. Bell’s The One is 7-5 on the morning line to give him a seventh and she figures to set up shop off the early speed in mid-pack before mak-ing her preferred run on the outside.

The race figures to lose some of early speed with multiple New York-bred stakes winner Sadie Lady ex-pected to scratch.

Trainer Rob Atras, fresh off win-ning last Saturday’s Grade 1 Coach-ing Club American Oaks with Ma-racuja, plans to run the 5-year-old Freud mare later in the meet.

Owned by Dennis Narlinger, Sadie Lady won the Dancin Renee last time out after finishing second in the Grade 3 Vagrancy and winning the Correc-tion, both against open company.

“There are maybe some horses entered that we didn’t expect; some speed inside of us and outside of us,” Atras said. “She has a New York-bred stakes coming up in just over three weeks (Union Avenue, Aug. 19), so we’ll probably pull out and point to-ward that race. I would say most like-ly. I need to speak to the owner and

they left it up to me, so I’m probably going to advise that they scratch.

“She’s a nice filly and fits, but we’ll get a race where she looks like she could be a real contender for. It’s just three weeks, you hate to put her in a real tough spot this time and miss that one.”

Godolphin’s Lake Avenue, the 9-2 second choice for trainer Bill Mott and jockey Junior Alvarado, exits a close second in the Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses. The 4-year-old Tapit filly won the Heavenly Prize in early March at Aqueduct and also makes her Sarato-ga debut. Three runners are pegged at 6-1 on the morning line – Regret winner Honey I’m Good for Steve Asmussen, last-out Churchill winner Ain’t No Elmers for Bret Calhoun and Grade 2-placed Reagan’s Edge for Cherie DeVaux. The other four runners are double-digit odds on the morning line – Sadie Lady and Don’t Call Me Mary at 12-1, Miss Mosaic at 15-1 and Truth Hurts at 30-1.

• Wednesday’s card kicks off Week Three at Saratoga and also includes the Jonathan Kiser novice hurdle stakes as the first race. Seven line up, led by The Mean Queen and her perfect 3-for-3 record over jumps (all this year). The 5-year-old Irish-bred mare seeks to give trainer Keri Bri-on her second jump win of the meet. Fast Car, owned by Bob LaPenta and trained by 2021 Hall of Fame induct-ee Jack Fisher, looks to be the main ri-val off a Saratoga win last year and a prep in late June, along with the Fish-er-trained City Dreamer and Bodes Well.

• The Cab Calloway Division of the New York Stallion Series goes as race three and features a field of eight 3-year-olds by New York sires going a mile on the inner turf. Ocala Dream has won two in a row for trainer Tom Morley and is the 9-5 favorite on the morning line.

His June 19 win going 7 furlongs at Belmont Park came at the expense of Wednesday rivals Step Dancer, Barrage, Devious Mo, It’s Gravy and Dreamer’s Disease.

Honorable Miss – Continued from page 10

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Wednesday, July 28.1ST (1:05PM). $75,000, JONATHAN KISER NOVICE STAKES, 4 & UP, 2 1/16M (HURDLE)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Arch My Boy (GB) .......... B. Foley ............................ R. Valentine ................ 10-12 ..... 2 ............Fast Car .......................... G. Watters ....................... J. Fisher ....................... 7-23 ..... 3 ............A Silent Player (IRE) ...... R. Condon ....................... K. Brion ........................ 5-14 ..... 4 ............City Dreamer (IRE) ......... J. Bargary ........................ J. Fisher ....................... 8-15 ..... 5 ............Bodes Well (IRE) ............ G. Galligan ....................... L. Young ..................... 10-16 ..... 6 ............The Mean Queen (IRE) ... T. Garner .......................... K. Brion ........................ 6-57 ..... 7 ............The Happy Giant ............. R. Geraghty ..................... A. Fulmer ...................... 6-1

2ND (1:38PM). $66,000, CLM $40,000, 3 YO’S & UP, 6FExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 5, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Fox Red .......................... E. Cancel .......................... L. Rice .......................... 9-22 ..... 2 ............Yodel E. A. Who ............. L. Saez ............................. B. Russell ..................... 2-13 ..... 3 ............Madison’s Luna .............. T. Gaffalione ..................... P. Bauer ........................ 4-14 ..... 4 ............Rocking the Boat ............ I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ R. Diodoro .................... 5-25 ..... 5 ............Rejected Again ............... D. Davis ........................... L. Gyarmati ................ 15-16 ..... 6 ............Clench ............................ J. Rosario ........................ R. Rodriguez ................ 7-2

3RD (2:15PM). $150,000, STK - NEW YORK STALLION SERIES, 3 YO, 1M (INNER TURF)CAB CALLOWAY.Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 4, Daily Double, Quinella1 ..... 1 ............Dreamer’s Disease ......... D. Cohen .......................... R. Diodoro .................... 8-12 ..... 2 ............It’s Gravy ........................ J. Rosario ........................ K. Breen ..................... 12-13 ..... 3 ............Tales of Saratoga............ J. Ortiz ............................. H. DePaz .................... 30-14 ..... 4 ............Ocala Dream .................. J. Alvarado ...................... T. Morley ...................... 9-55 ..... MTO ......Market Alert ................... J. Lezcano ....................... J. Ryerson .................... 5-26 ..... 6 ............Step Dancer ................... D. Davis ........................... B. Tagg ......................... 2-17 ..... 7 ............Gator Bite ....................... J. Lezcano ....................... J. Sweezey ................. 15-18 ..... 8 ............Barrage .......................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ D. Gargan ..................... 4-19 ..... 9 ............Devious Mo .................... L. Saez ............................. R. Rodriguez ................ 8-1

4TH (2:49PM). $45,000, CLM $25,000, 3 YO’S & UP, F & M , 7FExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Cazilda Fortytales ........... M. Franco ........................ O. Noda ........................ 8-12 ..... 2 ............Hollywood Gina .............. D. Cohen .......................... D. Gargan ..................... 3-13 ..... 3 ............Alpine Queen .................. L. Saez ............................. B. Brown ...................... 9-24 ..... 4 ............Sweet Larissa ................. D. Davis ........................... M. Hennig .................. 15-15 ..... 5 ............Miss Alex ....................... J. Castellano .................... J. Ryerson .................... 8-16 ..... 6 ............Quasar ........................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ R. Atras ........................ 5-27 ..... 7 ............East Wing ....................... E. Cancel .......................... R. Lerman .................... 6-18 ..... 8 ............Scott Alaia ...................... T. Gaffalione ..................... R. Rodriguez .............. 15-19 ..... 9 ............Air Cavalry ..................... J. Ortiz ............................. M. O’Connor ............... 12-1

5TH (3:21PM). $85,000, MSW, 2 YO, 1 1/16M (TURF)Exacta, Quinella, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 6, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Raw Courage .................. M. Franco ........................ J. Abreu ........................ 4-12 ..... 2 ............Toga Dancer ................... R. Santana, Jr. ................. M. Nevin ..................... 10-13 ..... 3 ............Timbuktu ........................ L. Saez ............................. B. Cox .......................... 2-14 ..... 4 ............Resilient Courage ........... J. Ortiz ............................. D. Donk ...................... 10-15 ..... 5 ............Achilles Heel .................. D. Davis ........................... R. Atras ........................ 8-16 ..... 6 ............El Veinticuatro ................ I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ R. Rodriguez ................ 8-17 ..... 7 ............Heart of Savino .............. B. Hernandez ................... A. Chichakly ............... 15-18 ..... 8 ............Regal Empire .................. T. Gaffalione ..................... M. Maker ...................... 7-29 ..... 9 ............Kingdom On Paws ......... H. Harkie .......................... J. Mc Allen ................. 50-110..... 10 ..........Stop the Spread ............. J. Samuel ........................ E. Caramori ................ 30-111..... AE..........Khali’s Dream ................. E. Cancel .......................... C. Englehart ................ 15-112..... AE..........Boriman ......................... B. Hernandez ................... R. Rodriguez .............. 15-113..... MTO ......Bointheback ................... E. Cancel .......................... A. Dutrow ..................... 3-114..... MTO ......Spettro ........................... . Rider TBA ...................... D. Magner .................... 5-2

6TH (3:55PM). $100,000, MSW, 3 YO’S & UP, 1 1/8MExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 5, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............I Am the Law .................. L. Saez ............................. J. Terranova II ............ 10-12 ..... 2 ............Absolute Courage ........... J. Ortiz ............................. C. McGaughey III ......... 4-13 ..... 3 ............Pipeline .......................... J. Velazquez ..................... C. Brown ...................... 6-1

4 ..... 4 ............Vindictive ....................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ T. Pletcher .................. 10-15 ..... 5 ............Lucky Brody ................... D. Davis ........................... O. Noda ...................... 50-16 ..... 6 ............Cody’s Wish ................... J. Rosario ........................ W. Mott ........................ 1-17 ..... 7 ............Zuzudini ......................... H. Harkie .......................... E. Barker .................... 30-18 ..... 8 ............Unexpected (JPN) .......... T. Gaffalione ..................... J. Antonucci ............... 30-19 ..... 9 ............Beatbox .......................... J. Castellano .................... C. Brown ...................... 5-1

7TH (4:29PM). $110,000, AOC $100,000, 3 YO’S & UP, F & M , 1 1/16M (INNER TURF)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Pic 4, Daily Double1 ..... MTO ......Foxtail ............................ D. Cohen .......................... M. Kantarmaci .............. 5-12 ..... 2 ............Hogans Holiday .............. R. Santana, Jr. ................. R. Falcone, Jr. ............ 30-13 ..... 3 ............Hungry Kitten ................. M. Franco ........................ C. McGaughey III ....... 10-14 ..... 4 ............Speaktomeofsummer ..... J. Rosario ........................ C. Clement.................... 6-15 ..... 5 ............Passing Out .................... J. Ortiz ............................. C. McGaughey III ......... 5-26 ..... 6 ............Tamahere (FR) ............... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ C. Brown ...................... 8-57 ..... 7 ............Sweet Melania ................ L. Saez ............................. T. Pletcher .................... 5-18 ..... 8 ............I’llhandalthecash ............ T. Gaffalione ..................... M. Maker .................... 12-19 ..... 9 ............Witez .............................. J. Velazquez ..................... I. Wilkes ....................... 8-1

8TH (5:05PM). $103,000, ALW, 3 YO’S & UP, 5 1/2F (TURF)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Pic 3, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Charmed (GB) ................ R. Santana, Jr. ................. P. Antonacci ............... 15-12 ..... 2 ............Colton’s Command ......... J. Alvarado ...................... W. Mott ........................ 5-13 ..... 3 ............Big Package ................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ D. Donk ........................ 3-14 ..... 4 ............Yes and Yes .................... D. Davis ........................... P. Gleaves ..................... 6-15 ..... 5 ............By George ...................... M. Franco ........................ C. Clement.................. 12-16 ..... 6 ............Gypsy King ..................... J. Rosario ........................ W. Ward ....................... 8-17 ..... 7 ............Noble Emotion ............... J. Ortiz ............................. H. DePaz ...................... 5-18 ..... 8 ............Ballydooley (GB) ............ E. Cancel .......................... M. Nevin ..................... 15-19 ..... MTO ......Ampersand ..................... J. Lezcano ....................... P. Serpe ...................... 12-110..... 10 ..........Unitedandresolute .......... L. Saez ............................. T. Amoss ...................... 8-111..... 11 ..........King James .................... T. Gaffalione ..................... J. Jerkens ................... 12-112..... 12 ..........Amsden .......................... J. Velazquez ..................... W. Ward ..................... 15-113..... MTO ......Tuggle ............................ I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ J. Englehart .................. 8-514..... MTO ......Life Changer ................... J. Velazquez ..................... J. Terranova II .............. 5-115..... MTO ......Jake Rocks ..................... L. Saez ............................. D. Donk ........................ 3-1

9TH (5:39PM). $200,000, STK - THE HONORABLE MISS, 3 YO’S & UP, F & M , 6FExacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Daily Double1 ..... 1 ............Ain’t No Elmers .............. A. Beschizza .................... W. Calhoun ................... 6-12 ..... 2 ............Reagan’s Edge ................ J. Lezcano ....................... C. DeVaux..................... 6-13 ..... 3 ............Sadie Lady ..................... J. Ortiz ............................. R. Atras ...................... 12-14 ..... 4 ............Lake Avenue ................... J. Alvarado ...................... W. Mott ........................ 9-25 ..... 5 ............Truth Hurts ..................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ C. Summers ............... 30-16 ..... 6 ............Don’t Call Me Mary ........ L. Saez ............................. T. Pletcher .................. 12-17 ..... 7 ............Honey I’m Good ............. R. Santana, Jr. ................. S. Asmussen ................ 6-18 ..... 8 ............Miss Mosaic ................... M. Franco ........................ B. Colebrook .............. 15-19 ..... 9 ............Bell’s the One ................. C. Lanerie ........................ N. Pessin ...................... 7-5

10TH (6:13PM). $50,000, MCL $40,000, 3 YO’S & UP, 1 1/16M (TURF)Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta1 ..... 1 ............Readyseekgo .................. T. Gaffalione ..................... J. Antonucci ............... 20-12 ..... 2 ............Private Code ................... J. Lezcano ....................... R. Lerman .................. 30-13 ..... 3 ............Caribbean Gold .............. J. Ortiz ............................. M. Maker ...................... 5-14 ..... 4 ............Romantic Man ................ J. Rosario ........................ M. Nevin ..................... 20-15 ..... 5 ............Centurion ....................... E. Cancel .......................... J. Jerkens ..................... 4-16 ..... 6 ............Prayer Book ................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ T. Pletcher .................... 3-17 ..... 7 ............Boldish ........................... L. Saez ............................. J. Sharp ........................ 8-18 ..... 8 ............Theregoesmymiracle ...... J. Samuel ........................ R. Persaud ................. 50-19 ..... 9 ............Declareatruce ................. J. Alvarado ...................... T. Bush ....................... 10-110..... 10 ..........Bunker Hill ..................... D. Davis ........................... B. Tagg ......................... 8-111..... 11 ..........Empire Attraction ........... D. Cohen .......................... B. Levine .................... 20-112..... 12 ..........Flight to Paradise ........... J. Castellano .................... M. Trombetta ................ 6-113..... AE..........Loaded Joe .................... J. Lezcano ....................... G. DiPrima .................. 20-114..... AE..........Digital Software .............. M. Franco ........................ C. Brown ...................... 2-115..... MTO ......Value Chain .................... . Rider TBA ...................... L. Gyarmati ................ 12-116..... MTO ......Bold Victory ................... I. Ortiz, Jr. ........................ L. Rice .......................... 8-5

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SARATOGA ENTRIES


grid

the Power

Race #

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

The Mean QueenFast Car

The Happy GiantRocking The Boat

ClenchYodel E. A. Who

Step DancerDreamer’s Disease

Ocala DreamQuasar

Hollywood GinaEast Wing

SpettroRaw Courage

TimbuktuCody’s Wish

Absolute CourageBeatbox

TamaherePassing Out

Hogans HolidayTuggle

Noble EmotionBig Package

Bell’s The OneHoney I’m Good

Don’t Call Me MaryBold VictoryPrayer Book

Caribbean Gold

TomLaw

RobWhitlock

CharlesBedard

JohnShapazian

JessicaPaquette

Fast CarThe Mean Queen

City DreamerRocking The BoatYodel E. A. Who

Fox RedStep DancerOcala Dream

BarrageQuasar

Alpine QueenMiss AlexTimbuktu

Toga DancerRaw CourageCody’s Wish

Absolute CourageVindictive

Sweet MelaniaWitez

Passing OutYes And YesBig Package

UnitedandresoluteBell’s The OneLake Avenue

Honey I’m GoodPrayer BookCenturionBunker Hill

Fast CarThe Mean QueenA Silent Prayer

ClenchRejected Again

Rocking The BoatMarket Alert

BarrageOcala Dream

QuasarAlpine QueenSweet Larissa

Spettro Raw Courage

TimbuktuCody’s Wish

Absolute CourageLucky Brody

FoxtailPassing Out

SpeaktomeofsummerTuggle

Jake RocksBy George

Bell’s The One Ain’t No Elmers Honey I’m Good

Bold VictoryCenturionBunker Hill

The Mean QueenA Silent Player

Fast CarYodel E. A. Who

Fox RedMadison’s Luna

Market AlertBarrage

Step DancerAir Cavalry

Quasar Hollywood Gina

TimbuktuRegal Empire

Resilient CourageCody’s Wish

Absolute CouragePipeline

Passing OutTamahere

Sweet Melania Tuggle

King JamesNoble EmotionBell’s The OneLake Avenue

Honey I’m GoodCenturion

Prayer BookCaribbean Gold

The Mean QueenBodes Well

A Silent PlayerRocking The Boat

Fox RedClench

Ocala DreamBarrage

Gator BiteQuasar

Cazilda FortytalesSweet LarissaRegal Empire

TimbuktuResilient Courage

PipelineAbsolute Courage

VindictiveWitez

SpeaktomeofsummerHungry Kitten

AmsdenBy GeorgeGypsy King

Reagan’s EdgeLake Avenue

Honey I’m GoodCenturion

Digital SoftwarePrayer Book

2021 Records 28/91 33/91 26/91 27/91 18/91

https://www.vabred.org/


BY IV HENDRIXRudy Rodriguez pushed a feed

cart through his barn on the Okla-homa Training Track Tuesday morn-ing while Wudda U Think Now, the morning-line favorite for Thursday’s John Morrissey Handicap, craned his neck toward the New York-based conditioner and nickered with antici-pation.

“We’ve got Irad Ortiz on and he’s running with [other New York-breds],” Rodriguez said of the 6 1/2-furlong stakes. “So we’ve got a chance.”

After Rodriguez finished feeding his horses, he propped himself up against Wudda U Think Now’s stall guard as the gelding ate. The 4-year-old son of Fast Anna finished a game

fourth in a competitive allowance July 17 at Saratoga and Rodriguez is anxious to run him back.

“Man, that race was solid with tal-ent,” Rodriguez said of the allowance won by Beau Liam. “He hung in with them … I never thought the race was gonna be that tough.”

The plan originally wasn’t to run the gelding back in nine days, but the conditions were right and the $100,000 purse enticing. Regardless of the result, Rodriguez said Wudda U Think Now will have some time to “freshen up” following the Morrissey.

“He came out of the allowance good,” he said. “We’ve just been ba- Tod Marks

My Boy Tate is a player in Thursday’s feature, the John Morrissey.

JOHN MORRISEY STAKES PREVIEW

Short RestWudda U Think Now returns nine days after key allowance win


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TDN Rising Star WIT remained unbeaten with an effortless 8-length success in the G3 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga for Todd Pletcher, Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable and Gainesway Stable. Bred by Rosilyn Polan.

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By INTO MISCHIEF and unbeaten in 3 starts at Saratoga including the G1 Hopeful S. and the G1 H. Allen Jerkens S.

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ON DEBUT AT ELLIS PARK FOR BRAD COX!

bying him – galloping easy – since that race.”The stocky bay pricked his ears and turned to face

Rodriguez as a groom removed his feed tub and hung it outside the stall. As Rodriguez unwrapped a peppermint, Wudda U Think Now grasped, lips clapping.

“He’s a nice, solid horse,” Rodriguez said. “He always runs for sure.”

Out of the Unbridled Jet mare Unbridled Grace, Wud-da U Think Now was a $60,000 yearling purchase by The Elkstone Group at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred sale. He’s hit the board seven times in nine starts to earn $188,460.

Rodriguez hopes to repeat his 2010 Morrissey win with Endless Circle as Wudda U Think Now looks to re-cord his first stakes victory. He’ll face the Michelle Nev-in-trained pair My Boy Tate and Our Last Buck, both listed at 7-2 on the morning line, and six others in the Morrissey.

Nevin and My Boy Tate have history: not only did she breed, start and campaign the gelding, she rode his par-ents. Now 7, My Boy Tate could add a sixth stakes win to his 24-start resume Thursday.

“He’s a tough old boy,” Nevin said Tuesday morning. “He’s not an easy horse to ride; very strong, very aggres-sive. Tough as nails.”

After a walk back from training on the Oklahoma, Nevin sat down on a tack trunk in her shedrow as a

groom curried My Boy Tate. A winner from 6 furlongs to a mile, over fast and sloppy tracks, the son of Boys At Tosconova knows the drill.

“His biggest attribute as a racehorse is determina-tion,” Nevin said. “He just wants to go out and do it and prove something.”

Fellow veteran 7-year-old Our Last Buck enters the Morrissey seven months after his last race. The rangy bay doesn’t fit the archetype of a typical sprinter, but he got the job done by 3 3/4 lengths in the 7-furlong Say Florida Sandy Stakes in January.

“He had a hell of a campaign in 2020,” Nevin said. “He’s a big, huge horse. He got a little light on me and I wanted him to carry weight. I wanted to back off from him.”

After a few months of turn out, Nevin brought the gelding back slowly. Back on the work tab since mid-May, the son of Courageous Cat posted a bullet 5-furlong work in 1:02.23 July 20 on the Belmont training track.

“They’re two polar opposites,” Nevin said of her two entries. “[Our Last Buck] is a big softy. He’s afraid of chickens, squirrels … he’s very kind-hearted.”

The field also includes Jemography, an earner of $315,140 in 27 allowance and claiming starts, in his stakes debut for trainer Mark Hennig. Foolish Ghost, an-other stalwart of the allowance and claiming ranks, is the 9-2 fourth choice for trainer Ray Handal.

Pat Reynolds sends out the field’s leading earner in Morning Breez, who has banked $569,929 to date with-out a stakes win from 42 starts. Longshots Captain Bom-bastic, Wow Brown and Runningwithscissors complete the field.

Morrissey – Continued from page 16

Saratoga LeadersTRAINERS ...................... 1STChad Brown ............................... 6Steve Asmussen ........................ 5Christophe Clement .................... 5Brad Cox .................................... 5Mike Maker ................................ 5Bill Mott ..................................... 5Todd Pletcher ............................. 5Wesley Ward .............................. 4Danny Gargan ............................ 3

JOCKEYS ....................... 1STJose Ortiz ................................. 16Luis Saez .................................. 16Irad Ortiz Jr .............................. 14Tyler Gaffalione .......................... 8Joel Rosario ............................... 8Ricardo Santana Jr. .................... 6Manny Franco ............................ 5Dylan Davis ................................ 4Javier Castellano ........................ 3Jose Lezcano ............................. 3

Through Tuesday

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Today’s $150,000 Cab Calloway Divisionof the NYSSS is one of 10 yearly stakes races restricted

to horses sired by New York stallions.The NYSSS offers the richest state-bred races

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Saratoga New York Showcase Day is the second ofthree events on NYRA’s calendar this year offering

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SIX STAKES RACES & MORE THAN$1 MILLION IN PURSE MONEY

EIGHT STAKES RACES WORTH$1.2 MILLION

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$500,000 in average daily purses. Respective owner/trainer bonus of $1,000/$300 per starter.

MON, TUES & WED | 1:45PM(ET)

RACING | JULY 19 - SEPTEMBER 1

COLONIALDOWNS.COM

BY JOE CLANCYTwo years ago at Fasig-Tipton’s

Saratoga select yearling sale, a chest-nut colt with socks on both hind legs and a carrot-and-stem blaze down his face drew praise for his looks, build, pedigree and deportment – and promptly sold for a co-high of $1.5 million.

Bloodstock agent David Ingordo, who helped make the purchase, called him “a classic.” Consignor Arthur Hancock, who raised him, called him “Curlin Jr.” after his Hall of Fame sire. West Point Thoroughbreds’ Ter-ry Finley, part of the group with Si-ena Farm, Woodford Thoroughbreds and others, made the winning bid and said the Kentucky-bred offered a rare

chance to capitalize on veteran horse-man Hancock’s “wisdom” and lofty opinion.

And here they all are.Owned by West Point, Siena,

Woodford and breeder Bobby Flay, First Captain steps into Friday’s Curlin Stakes undefeated in three starts and looking to get into the 3-year-old picture for 2021. Trained by Shug McGaughey, First Captain didn’t race as a 2-year-old but made up for it with a maiden win in April, a first-level allowance score in May and a triumph in the Dwyer July 5. Tod Marks

First Captain seeks his fourth win in as many starts in Friday’s Curlin Stakes.

CURLIN STAKES PREVIEW

SaluteUndefeated First Captain eyespath to bigger in Friday feature


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All three races came around one turn at Belmont Park, stepping up from a 7-furlong debut to the 1-mile allow-ance and Grade 3 stakes. There’s only one place to go now, and that’s Sara-toga for a stakes race. First Captain and Jose Ortiz face six others in the 1 1/8-mile Curlin, a $120,000 stakes restricted to 3-year-olds who have not won a graded stakes at longer than a mile in 2021.

McGaughey sees the race as the next step on the ladder, with hopes of tackling the division’s best in the Tra-vers Stakes here Aug. 28.

“He’s going to have to keep mov-ing it up, the reason being is he’s just behind, he’s behind an Essen-tial Quality, a Hot Rod Charlie and those horses because they’ve all raced, they’ve been in hard races,” the train-er said Monday. “This horse has only run three times. Some of those horses are pretty good, but I think he’s pretty good too. It’s just a matter of whether he’s going to be ready for those type of horses. He might be. He gets a good

solid race into him on Friday and we’ll see where it takes us. I’m glad we got the Dwyer in him. It would have been hard to run in Friday’s race without the Dwyer. That was sort of a last-minute decision, but I’m glad we made it. That race helped him, he’s re-ally trained well since then.”

First Captain has breezed a half-mile twice on Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track since the Dwyer, fur-thering the progression from his three

races – all the while letting his train-er know that the added distance and two turns of the Curlin made sense.

“I didn’t know, off the first two races,” McGaughey said. “He made a couple mistakes where you didn’t see a clear run from him. The other day, you did. He sat back there, made a run, passed those horses and won so you could really kind of tell that it looked like it was something he wanted to do. And pedigree-wise it’s something he should want to do. His mother ran in all the long filly-and-mare races. Curlin, you know.”

Curlin Jr., the one horse brought to Saratoga by Hancock’s Stone Farm in 2019, we’re still learning about. After setting the bar at the sale – with anoth-er son of Curlin, unraced but named Conquer The World – First Captain came to McGaughey as a 2-year-old in 2020. Well on his way to a summer debut with breezes at Fair Hill Train-ing Center and Belmont, he went to the sidelines with an injury.

“I worked him out of the gate and he had a little soft-tissue thing and we just had to turn him out for a while,” said McGaughey. “He lost his whole 2-year-old year so he’s a bit behind in that respect, but he’s talented and

he’s got a really good way about him. You can pretty much do whatever you want with him.”

Typical of the Curlin, the ninth of 10 races with a 5:39 p.m. post time, Friday’s runners come from all direc-tions. Beren leads the field in starts with 10. The Pennsylvania-bred won half of them, including stakes in New York and another at Parx Racing for owners/breeders Sue Quick and Chris Feifarek. Trainer Butch Reid may yet opt for the Amsterdam going 7 fur-longs Aug. 1.

Dynamic One makes his first start since finishing 18th in the Ken-tucky Derby. Harvard (a half-broth-er to champion Classic Empire) has won two in a row for China Horse Club and WinStar Farm. Juddmon-te Farm homebred Snow House was third in the Dwyer after winning two straight for trainer Brad Cox. Miles D, a $470,000 Keeneland September yearling for Peter Brant and Robert LaPenta, makes his stakes debut off a maiden win June 12 for Chad Brown. Collaborate finished fifth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby and third in the Roar this spring for Saffie Joseph Jr. and owners Three Chimneys Farm and e Five Racing.

Curlin – Continued from page 20

Tod MarksDynamic One returns in the Curlin.

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ONE HORSE Keeneland September buyers and sellers remember some names from the past.

Hip 3065, the dark bay Twirling Candy filly brought $20,000 after failing to sell ($19,000 RNA) as a weanling the previous November. She went on to win six of seven starts, including a Grade 1, and earn $1.2 million.

“She was bred and raised by Ron Patterson, who used to work at Lane’s End in our stallion barn and we go way back and he might breed two mares of his own each year. Normally he likes to offer them as weanlings. She didn’t sell and we re-offered her as a yearling. There was nothing major, but she had a small (bone) chip that was going to need surgery. Justin Wojczynski bought her as a pinhook and she sold pretty well.

“It’s very satisfying to see her make her own way and improve herself through the ring and at the race-track. She helped give Twirling Candy the reputation he has today. She helped prove he’s a very versatile stallion. It was icing on the cake to offer her again as a broodmare prospect (in November 2020, where she brought $1.95 million). Stories like that are so satisfying because it’s so easy in today’s commercial marketplace to think that horses have to be a certain way and tick all the boxes and look like this and vet like that. Horses that are small and inexpensive or didn’t pass all the vet checks can go on to great things and when horses do that it proves us wrong and I find it very refreshing. To be proven wrong on a daily basis by these animals is one of the joys of working in this business.”

CONCRETE ROSE, 2017 Allaire Ryan, director of sales at Lane’s End

SEPTEMBERM O N . 1 3 - S A T . 2 4

Tod Marks

BY SEAN CLANCYTodd Pletcher, gray suit, binoculars, watched

from a fifth-row box in the clubhouse. Rob Atras, jeans, short-sleeved shirt, Yankees hat, watched from Mike’s Bar on the ground floor of the grand-stand.

Over 9 furlongs in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga Saturday, the two train-ers volleyed between elation and deflation.

Pletcher, seeking his 167th Grade 1 stakes win, watched the undefeated Malathaat establish a lead, get pressured, brush off that pressure, lose the lead and rally again. Atras, seeking his first Grade 1 Dave Harmon

Maracuja (left) nips Malathaat at the finish of Saturday’s Coaching Club American Oaks.

M&MLongshot Maracuja nails Malathaat in Grade 1 thriller

COACHING CLUB AMERICAN OAKS RECAP


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stakes score, watched Maracuja es-tablish a stalking spot in second, slide out of that spot, drift back, churn in place and rally again.

After 1 1/8 miles and 1:49.29, Ma-racuja ousted Malathaat by a head. Owned by Beach Haven Thorough-breds, the 3-year-old daughter of Honor Code notched her second win in her sixth career start, earning her first stakes win.

With just four entries, the CCA Oaks became a war in tactics from the time the pills dropped onto the racing office counter Wednesday af-ternoon. Malathaat drew the inside post, limiting Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez’s options. Maracuja, too far back in her 7 1/2-length defeat to Malathaat in a crowded Kentucky Oaks, drew post 2 for Ricardo Santa-na Jr., aboard for the first time. Rock-paperscissors, in her stakes debut, drew post 3 for Luis Saez. Expected second choice Clairiere, fourth in the Oaks and third in the Mother Goose, drew the outside post, for Irad Ortiz Jr.

Deal the cards. The four fillies broke in a line and

the four jockeys nudged forward, Ma-racuja responded the quickest, gain-ing a neck on Malathaat to her inside

as Rockpaperscissors and Clairiere stayed in the line. Nobody takes back in a four-horse field and Velazquez certainly wasn’t from the rail. By the time they hit the turn, Malathaat had made up the early neck deficit but had worked to do it. Her flag was on the hill.

Santana allowed Velazquez’s move but it wasn’t free as he stayed at Mal-athaat’s throatlatch through a quar-ter mile in :23.38. Rockpaperscissors and Clairiere tracked, a length off the front two as the field launched down the backside. Ortiz turned up the pressure immediately, blitzing past Rockpaperscissors and sliding past Maracuja after a half mile in :47.13. By the turn, Malathaat held a neck on Clairiere, Rockpaperscissors navigat-ed an inside move into third and Ma-racuja had quickly gone from second in the clear to fourth in question.

Midway on the turn, Velazquez lowered into Malathaat’s neck and Ortiz followed suit on Clairiere but nothing changed between the two leaders. But it had changed behind them. Rockpaperscissors retreat-ed quickly and Maracuja reengaged gradually. By the quarter pole, the cards hit the table as Clairiere put her nose in front, Malathaat battled on the rail and Maracuja continued to chip away at a deficit that once looked insurmountable but now looked plau-sible.

CCA Oaks – Continued from page 22

Tod MarksMaracuja (left) and Malathaat hit the finish together.


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Clairiere was the first to crack, slid-ing back, a big middle move taking its toll. Malathaat, who had looked beaten, at the top of the stretch wres-tled her lead from the second choice and buffered for one more challenge from the staying-on Maracuja. She buffered but was ultimately rebuffed by a hard-earned head. Santana, black gloves tucked in the back of his breeches, switched his whip from his left hand to his right hand two strides before the wire and punched the air.

A few seconds later, Atras walked out of Mike’s Bar, stepped over a chain to keep the crowd back and walked into the winner’s circle.

“I don’t even know,” Atras said in disbelief. “I don’t even know.”

Atras won his first race in 2009 and trained a small string at outposts like Assiniboia Downs, Northlands Park and Turf Paradise until becom-ing Robertino Diodoro’s assistant. He went back on his own in 2019, winning won 39 races that season. He won 43 in 2020 and has already won 40 races this year. A Grade 3 To-boggan win by American Power and a Grade 3 Tom Fool win by Chateau were the career highlights, until Sat-urday. While watching Grade 1 fillies, he couldn’t help but think of claimers going the grueling one circuit of Sara-toga.

“There’s something about the mile and an eighth here everyone hits the wall, not necessarily in the stakes but in those cheaper races, they hit the wall,” Atras said. “It was kind of weird, we were right there and they came to us. Ricardo backed off, at

first I was concerned, I was like, ‘uh oh. What’s going on?’ Then he got back in a rhythm again, I was like, ‘OK, we’ve got one horse beat, at least, we’re Grade 1 placed.’ She still kept coming, I could tell she was still coming, I wasn’t sure she would get there, I was thrilled that she would be second to that kind of filly. The last two jumps…”

As good as it gets. Maracuja made her debut at Aq-

ueduct in December, rallying to be second by a neck while sprinting 6 furlongs. She finished third going 7 furlongs in her next start before break-ing her maiden going 6 1/2 furlongs at Aqueduct in February. Stretched to 1 1/8 miles for the Grade 3 Gazelle, she closed to be second. Atras and Beach Haven aimed at the Kentucky Oaks where she split the field in seventh. After that, Atras plotted a summer campaign.

“We thought about the Moth-er Goose, but I had a little virus in the barn and she wasn’t quite right,


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Tod MarksMaracuja and company head to the winner’s circle after the CCA Oaks.


Tod MarksWinning trainer Rob Atras.

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missed a little of training,” Atras said. “It didn’t go over too well, but I said, ‘Hey, give her four more weeks, two turns, mile and an eighth, a short field.’ ”

Four of a kind.For Beach Haven, a syndicate start-

ed by friends Ara Arprahamian and John Sakkos in 2018, it was a break-through win. Purchased for $200,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga sale, the gray filly jumped past four-time stakes winner Newly Minted and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Uncle Benny on the roll of honor.

“We’ve done well with New York-bred horses but having a Grade 1 winner is without a doubt a home run, the pinnacle. I’m the rookie here. I’ve been doing it three years. I got into it by accident and I’m still learn-ing,” Sakkos said. “The dream was the Oaks, but this is just as good. It’s a Grade 1 any way you look at it, still trying to believe it. It’s a great high, the nerves were going all day. Defi-nitely a serene moment.”

For Santana, he deflected all credit. “I was just a good passenger on

that filly. She’s honest, she does every-thing right, she put me in a position that she wanted to be in, she took herself out when the 4 put pressure on her. As soon as she got out, she came with a kick,” Santana said. “I give the credit to the filly. She always does the same thing, when she’s in-side, she doesn’t run. She proves it, she’s different when she’s outside. In a four-horse field, you need to make the right decision and she did it for me.”


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BY JOE CLANCYAfter her homebred 3-year-old filly Caravel won

a stakes at Presque Isle Downs last summer, trainer Lizzie Merryman tried to figure out if she’d ever had a horse win three consecutive races – let alone its first three starts.

Then the real improbability of it all hit. Cara-vel is the first foal from a free broodmare. Merry-man delivered the daughter of Mizzen Mast, raised her, taught her how to be a racehorse, watched her win her debut at Penn National at 28-1 after spot-ting the field 11 lengths at the start, got her to win again at Penn a month later and chose the $75,000

open-company Lady Erie Stakes when other op-tions didn’t materialize. Oh, and the owner/trainer/breeder drove the truck and trailer the 368 miles from Fair Hill Training Center to Presque Isle and back.

“Total like, what? Fluke,” Merryman said then. “I have these other mares. They’ve had foals I liked but I don’t think any of them run like she does.”

And now the fluke is a star. Now co-owned by

Tod MarksCaravel (right) pulls away from everyone in the final stages of Saturday’s Caress Stakes.

Sailing Away

Caravel makes off with Grade 3 stakes

CARESS STAKES RECAP


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Merryman and Bobby Flay, the 4-year-old filly blitzed five rivals in Saturday’s Grade 3 Caress Stakes under Irad Or-tiz Jr. The Pennsylvania-bred scored by 2 1/2 lengths, won for the seventh time in nine starts and tossed her horseshoe in the ring for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint this fall. The trainer’s first grad-ed stakes victory – in a career that of-ficially started in 2004 but includes a lifetime with Thoroughbreds – came with a small dose of sadness as she handed the training to her friend Gra-ham Motion after the race.

“A little bittersweet, face it,” Mer-ryman said while walking to her car af-terward. “It’s great, it’s great, I’m glad that I went out on a winning note with her and I’m proud of her, but you can’t help but have it be a little bittersweet.”

Caravel’s success last year prompted plenty of purchase offers from racing’s big names. Merryman entered her in the Wanamaker’s online sale in Octo-ber, but didn’t let her go at a final bid of $330,000 after the three wins and a third in Pimlico’s Hilltop Stakes going a mile.

The steel gray filly closed 2020 with a win in Presque Isle’s Malvern Rose for Pennsylvania-breds. Off for the winter, she returned to finish third in the License Fee at Belmont Park in

Caress – Continued from page 26

Tod MarksWinning trainer Lizzie Merryman (left) em-braces groom Maddie Rowland after an emo-tional Caress score by Caravel.


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April, got up in the final step to win the The Very One at Pimlico in May and blazed 5 furlongs in :54.97 in Monmouth Park’s Goldwood Stakes June 25.

If the purchase offers flew in 2020, they took a jet (and brought luggage) in 2021 – and Merryman crafted a solution she can live with. She sold 75 percent to Flay, retained 25 percent, and made sure Motion (whose barn is next to Merryman’s at Fair Hill) was on board.

“Hopefully the goal is the Breed-ers’ Cup Turf Sprint and Graham has so much experience with that, with going that route and all that, that it seemed like a really smart thing to do from my perspective,” Merryman said. “Not that I don’t think I could handle it, I just think with the change in the ownership and everything, he has a system that works great, he’s been through all that, it’ll be a good way to go.”

Caravel made sure her final start for Merry-man went the right way too. From the rail as the even-money favorite, she broke quickly but al-lowed second choice Robin Sparkles and Jakarta to clear while still on a light hold from Ortiz. Third and 3 lengths down after an opening quarter-mile

in :21.64, Caravel moved around Jakarta off the turn, switched leads after a half in :44.58 and col-lared Robin Sparkles just before the sixteenth pole and drew off late as Ortiz checked the infield screen for competition. Caravel needed 1:02.38 to cover 5 1/2 furlongs as In Good Spirits rallied for second and Robin Sparkles held third.

She’s been ridden to victory by six jockeys, so it might not seem to mat-ter but her trainer said the filly ap-preciates a certain hands-off style to convince her to save her speed until it’s needed.

“Be as quiet as you can be leav-ing the gate,” Merryman told Ortiz, aboard for the first time. “The least twitch of your reins and she’s going, so just quiet, quiet, quiet.”

Ortiz listened, and barely moved his hands early while coming off the rail to find a stalking spot before the turn. He stayed still until the stretch, asked Caravel for gear with two slaps on the shoulder and received an immediate response as she leveled off after changing leads and won while being geared down.

Mornings can be much more of an adventure for Caravel.

“She’s gotten more confident in the fact that she’s right and every-body else is wrong,” Merryman said. “As a yearling she was really good, but a little nervous. Then she was al-ways a little like if you put the wrong rider on her she would lay her ears

back and fight. If you put a rider on her that would try to tell her what to do, she would lay her ears back and not want to go.”

Morning riders have included Merryman’s son McLane Hendriks, former champion steeplechase


Tod MarksCaravel and Irad Ortiz Jr. gear down with a Saratoga graded stakes win.

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jockey Danielle Hodsdon, trainer and part-time exer-cise rider Damian Towler and most recently Marshall Kinnamon (who rode Caravel early in her 3-year-old season as well before reuniting with her at Fair Hill this year).

“She’s weird,” said Kinnamon, who made the trip to Saratoga to watch the Caress. “Some horses that are really strong, you’re like, ‘Oh sweet,’ and you just pull your irons up and pull against them. This horse, you pull your irons up and she pins her ears back, bucks the whole time. You have to ride her in a hap-py medium. If she sees a horse, she’ll take off. Then she’ll just throw in a couple bucks. When you’re jog-ging, you’ll be like, ‘Oooh, it’s a clear, empty track, we can start galloping.’ She stops, plants, goes side-ways to the outside rail right behind Lizzie on the pony. Sometimes she does the exact opposite for what you ask her to do.”

But he loves her. And so does Merryman. The trainer couldn’t help but think of Caravel’s early starts last sum-mer and long drives over the mountains to Presque Isle and back. Could she have seen Saratoga in the future then?

“I don’t have a crystal ball,” she said, “but she’s pretty fast. You watch Saratoga and just think, ‘That’s the place to be,’ and to come up here with a filly like that is pretty amazing.”


Hey Lizzie Merryman, what would Mom and Dad think of your first graded stakes win as a trainer?

“Mom and Dad are pretty darn proud. Mom would be mucking a stall and say, ‘Oh, this is cool, we should watch. I made it, two min-utes to post, I’m so proud of my timing.’ She used to get to the races with two minutes to post. She didn’t waste a moment of her day. She’d go to watch every single one of her horses run and she would never get there before two minutes to post. They would be proud. Dad would be psyched, just the breeding, the winning, all of it. I guess he’d be OK with the sale, but he would have done something like I did and stayed in for a piece with a kicker or two.”

Merryman’s parents, John and Kitty (who passed away in 1993 and 2002, respectively), were longtime breeders and owners who campaigned – among others – Maryland-bred star Twixt. The daughter of Restless Native won 26 races (18 stakes), including the Grade 1 Top Flight Handicap in 1975.

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BY SEAN CLANCY Chad Brown had seen it before. Joel Rosario

making the last move to nab a big race on the line. “That definitely seems like his move, he beats me

a lot doing that,” Brown said. “I was happy he was on my horse today. He wins from everywhere but that’s his strongest move.”

Rosario saved his strongest move for Sunday’s feature, the Grade 3 Shuvee, imploring Brown’s Royal Flag to rally on the outside and flip the lights on a stretch-long dance between Horologist and Dave Harmon

Eventual winner Royal Flag (left) breaks with the field in Sunday’s Shuvee.

Table Turned

Royal Flag rallies late to win Grade 3

SHUVEE STAKES RECAP


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“DEADLINE DINNER” Crystal Ball in the $200,000 stakes.

Bred and owned by Will Farish, Royal Flag collected her fifth win in her 10th start, notching her second Grade 3 score to go along with the Turnback The Alarm Stakes at Aq-ueduct in November. In between, the 5-year-old daughter of Candy Ride had made just one start, another ral-ly with Rosario that fell short by a head in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland in April.

Rosario learned a lesson that day. “I just got beat, she came there and

wouldn’t go by the other horse. She got there and stayed there,” Rosa-rio said. “Today, I tried to stay away from the field, I came out and let her be by herself out there. It worked out. It helps sometimes when you ride them the second time, you try to do something different, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

It worked like a stick to a pinata. Breaking from the outside in the

field of six, Rosario hovered, waited and watched.

“You see the horses in front of you, you see the riders, what they’re doing in front of you,” Rosario said. “Seemed like everybody wanted to get a position. She’s normally not a slow filly, she’s usually pushing the first part, they got away from me, so I thought they were going fast.”

Royal Flag slid into last as Horolo-gist gunned for the lead from the rail and others followed. Through a quar-ter mile in :23.35, Horologist led by a half-length over Gold Spirit, mak-ing her American debut. Liberty M D pulled hard into confines in third and

Crystal Ball kept her foot in the door in a four-way scrum down the back-stretch. Dunbar Road loped along in fifth, alone, and Royal Flag tracked her. Horologist led by a length after a half mile in :47.01 as Gold Spirit jumped back into the fray, Crystal Ball aimed and Liberty M D retreated.

Passing the quarter pole, Horol-ogist led by a neck over Gold Spirit, a half-length in front of Crystal Ball to her outside. Dunbar Road loomed and Royal Flag echoed her move to her inside. Passing the eighth pole, Horologist, Gold Spirit and Crystal Ball continued to slug, Dunbar Road relented and Royal Flag rolled down the center of the track, three lanes outside Dunbar Road and at least 10 lanes from Horologist. Rosario urged left-handed as Royal Flag turned ‘how can she?’ to ‘how far?’ in a mat-ter of strides. It was three quarters of a length after 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.42.

“I was confident and she got some confidence being out there,” Rosario said. “It all depends on the horse, the way they run, the way the race is set-ting up. Those kind make it easy for you.”

Royal Flag has not made it easy on Brown, making just nine starts before the Shuvee.

“Little things, just stuff that I was like, ‘I shouldn’t go on. I’ve got to stop.’ Mr. Farish is an old-school owner who does the right thing, he’s like, ‘do whatever you need to do,’ ” Brown said. “Not a lot of starts but that’s why she shows up every time because we only run her when she’s right.”

Royal Flag finished third in her de-but at Belmont Park September, 2019. She won her next two starts that win-

Shuvee – Continued from page 30

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ter, a maiden at Aqueduct and an al-lowance at Gulfstream before missing nearly four months. She returned to win another allowance to make it three in a row before jumping into stakes competition.

Third in the Molly Pitcher, second in the Shuvee here last year, second in the Lady’s Secret and a win in the Turnback The Alarm began to build momentum. That stalled out with an-other layoff before she returned in the Doubledogdare.

“It was a really exciting first start of the year and then she got really sick on me. We had a virus running ram-pant for months in my barn, I think it’s been around a lot from what I hear, but it really hit my barn hard,” Brown said. “It’s as bad this season as I’ve seen in 15 years training. I must have had 60 horses get sick, all over. I think it starts with the babies coming up from Ocala, it spreads and it affects the older horses more I be-lieve, I think the younger horses have a more vibrant immune system. The

older horses, some of them got really knocked out, she’s one of them.”

Royal Flag took it hard, missing about three weeks of training. She breezed twice after the Doubledog-dare, the second at Belmont Park May 8, but then didn’t breeze again until coming here and going 4 fur-longs June 19. She breezed four more times before the Shuvee.

“I thought maybe I would miss the whole summer,” Brown said. “She got over it and I started training on her, got her up here early, she’s been training over this track and really doing well. I am really proud of her, she showed a lot of heart to right the ship on her own and get training good again. It was a tough season, we are trying to put it in our rearview.”

Shuvee – Continued from page 31

“One horse gets sick and then it starts spreading. It was like

horse Covid and I know I wasn’t the only one, it was going around.”

– Trainer Chad Brown, about Shuvee winner Royal Flag

and others who got sick in his barn

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venile in 2019, Saratoga winner Time Limit has picked up right where she left off as a 4-year-old after missing last year. Com-peting exclusively in New York, she has vic-tories in two of her three starts – including a 2 1/2-length win in a Saratoga allowance for Three Diamonds Farm and Mike Maker Friday.

The chestnut filly is one of 22 stakes performers for Waldorf Farm stallion Bustin Stones and one of two winners for her dam by that stallion from three runners. A four-time winner herself, New York-bred Your Time Is Up is another successful broodmare for Freud with her two winners from three to run visiting the winner’s circle in a combined eight races.

A $30,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale graduate, Time Limit is the least expensive of her dam’s three to go through

the ring at that sale. Her 2-year-old full-broth-er Lil Stevie was purchased for $40,000 last year with her 5-year-old full-brother bringing $35,000 in the 2017 edition of the sale.

Time Limit is another successful runner bred by Hibiscus Stables, currently third by 2021 wins among all New York breeders. The

filly means a little more to the team at Hibiscus.

“Your Time Is Up has a special place in our hearts because we acquired her as a year-ling and have had her since,” said Hibiscus CEO Mike Oliveto. “We raced her and felt she had the inherent talent to be a brood-mare. She was trained by Rick Violette and we dearly miss Rick. It’s our hope that one day Your Time Is Up has a baby that’s able to run in the Rick Violette Stakes.”

With five wins by Fleet Warrior and three wins by Time Limit, Hibiscus Stable hasn’t wanted to interrupt the successful match and sent Your Time Is Up to Bustin Stones every year of her breeding career. In addition to her three runners by the Waldorf Farm stallion, Your Time Is Up also has a Bustin Stones year-ling filly and a colt born April 30.

– Melissa Bauer-HerzogTime Limit

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Mark CasseDelightful Mary. Casse talked last week about

how important his relationship with Harry Man-gurian Jr. was in helping his career – and ultimately a spot in the Hall of Fame. He enjoys a similar asso-ciation with John Oxley, and Delightful Mary bore the fruit of a successful relationship that continues today. Casse, as agent for Oxley, bought Delightful Mary out of the Hobeau Farm consignment run by Craig Wheeler at the 2010 OBS April 2-year-old sale for $500,000. The Florida-bred daughter of Lime-house went on to win three stakes, finished first or second in eight of 11 starts and earned $588,055. Delightful Mary started her career in Canada, win-ning a maiden and allowance at Woodbine, before a second there in the Grade 3 Mazarine and a third behind Awesome Feather and R Heat Lightning in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs. That earned her a Sovereign Award. She

raced seven times at 3, 4 and 5, winning four times including a career-ending score in the Grade 3 Hen-drie at Woodbine in June 2013.

“She was one of the first horses I bought for Mr. Oxley. Started out in Canada and ran a really good third in the Breeders’ Cup to become champion in Canada. She’s one that’s a little near and dear to my heart. A really nice filly for Mr. Oxley. Again, a lot of this is all about relationships and it’s the hors-es that ended up taking me to these relationships. That might not be as exciting for some people to talk about but it means a lot to me.”

Jack FisherScorpiancer. Owned by Bruton Street-US, the

Irish-bred won once in five hurdle starts in England before joining Fisher’s stable in 2015. He won his first two starts in 2015, taking a handicap hurdle at Shawan Downs and the Foxbrook novice hurdle stakes at Far Hills to finish that season. In 2016, the big bay gelding lost five in a row before winning the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park. In 2017, he won the Grade 3 Temple Gwathmey and Grade 1 Iroquois in his only two starts – and made it stand up while being crowned champion steeple-chaser with an Eclipse Award. He returned in 2019, pulling up in the Temple Gwathmey before winning another edition of the 3-mile Iroquois. He finished that season with a second in the Grade 1 Grand National before being retired. He can be found on the farm, rough-housing with Bruton Street’s 2020 champion steeplechaser Moscato.

“They bought him in England to be a good horse. He was a little mentally challenged. I’ve fallen off that horse more than any other horse in

my life, more than 10 times. One time, he was gal-loping up the track and he made a 90-degree turn and I fell off him, the only thing that made it good was he was laying alongside of me. I went back and looked at the track marks, it was a 90-degree turn. He would do that all the time, walking back and just lose it. Something in his brain, I don’t know what. He got better with age. He pulled up at Mid-dleburg, I said, ‘Man, we’ve got a problem here.’ He came back and won the Iroquois. I have no idea what happened at Middleburg. He scared me every time I rode the horse. I never let the reins go on that horse, walking back in, never. No warning, just all of a sudden it was like the two rocks would hit his brain and he would lose it.”

Todd PletcherJersey Girl. We wrote about More Than Ready

being one of the two most important horses in the early days of Pletcher’s training career and now we present the other. Purchased by Pletcher as agent for the Ackerley Brothers Farm for $220,000 at the 1997 Fasig-Tipton Calder selected sale of 2-year-olds, the New Jersey-bred daughter of Belong To Me started her career with a second at Belmont be-fore winning a 5-furlong maiden in :56.84 and the Astoria Stakes in succession.

Jersey Girl went to the sidelines after a fifth in the Grade 2 Schuylerville at Saratoga then returned to go undefeated in seven starts at 3. That run in-cluded six consecutive stakes, three rated Grade 1 in the Acorn and Mother Goose at Belmont – the latter over the 1-2 finishers in that year’s Kentucky Oaks in Keeper Hill and Banshee Breeze – and the Test at Saratoga.

“She was my first Grade 1 winner, when she won the Acorn in 1998. Then she won the Mother Goose and the Test up here. Unfortunately, she got hurt in the Test and never made it back to the races. She was 7-for-7 that year, beat the Kentucky Oaks winner (Banshee Breeze)in the Mother Goose. Beat her head-to-head, went 7-for-7 but didn’t get cham-pion 3-year-old filly, which I thought was a little bit unfair. I guess the voters felt her season ended too soon whereas Banshee Breeze finished out the year (winning the Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama and Spinster, and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff after losing in the Mother Goose). The Acorn-Mother Goose-Test, all Grade 1 at that time, three major races. But, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be for her.”

WITH MARK CASSE | TODD PLETCHER | JACK FISHER

The Horses

Who Got us Here HALL TALK

Presented by

Tod MarksDelightful Mary won a Sovereign Award for Mark Casse.

The Hall of Fame. The highest honor in racing – in anything really – beckons only a select few and the class of 2021 (and 2020 since racing missed the cer-emony because of the coronavirus pandemic) is one of the most special in history as seven-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher goes in during his first year of eligibility and 13-time leading steeplechase trainer Jack Fisher joins him. Technically inducted last year, trainer Mark Casse gets his due in 2021 after joining Canada’s Hall in 2016.

We get each to discuss a special horse in each edition. These aren’t top 20 lists, just examples of the kinds of horses it takes to get trainers to the Hall of Fame. We asked a simple question: Who got you here? And they answered.

Induction ceremony 10:30 a.m. Aug. 6 at Fasig-Tipton

Tod MarksScorpiancer gave Jack Fisher an Eclipse Award in 2017.


Terror FactorBY TERRY HILL

76&sunnyThis would be a great job if it weren’t for those

pesky waves of Terror that make every assignment feel like a scene from one of those Halloween mov-ies.

For you to understand this Terror Factor, I’m go-ing to ask you to walk 8 furlongs in my shoes:

You’ve just been given the assignment of writing a race recap for the Coronation Cup. It’s a $120,000 stakes race for 3-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs.

On a Saratoga scale it’s no big thing, but still it’s a Saratoga stakes race, and your editor has trusted you to cover it. The race is run and won by a filly named Goin’ Good. The trainer is Brad Cox, the owner is Klein Racing and the jockey is Tyler Gaf-falione.

The winning photo has been taken, Tyler has weighed in, Maggie Wolfendale has corralled Brad for a postrace TV interview and here it is – the Ter-ror Factor! Who do you talk to for your race re-cap!?!

You’ve got about 20 seconds to decide. And your mind is racing: Cox is the reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer, a quote from him would make a terrific lead . . . Gaffalione gave the filly what you thought was a great ride, be nice to know what he was thinking … the owner bred this filly and won this very same race two years ago . . . I know what Cox looks like and Gaffalione must be the kid wearing silks and carrying a whip, right? But you have no idea what the owner looks like . . . Klein Racing is based in Kentucky, is the owner even here? . . . the woman standing by the filly for the winner’s circle photo is now leaving the win-ner’s enclosure . . . snap decision! . . . you ask her if she’s the owner; she gives you a curt “no” accom-panied by a look she’d been saving for the next time Harvey Weinstein asked her if she’d like a drink … c’mon those 20 seconds are running! . . . who do you talk to?

Are you understanding the Terror Factor yet?

In a split second I decide to talk to Tyler, but my split of that second was just a slim split behind two re-porters who were now walking on either side of Gaf-falione as he does the “Jockey Walk” through the club-house toward the Jockeys’ Room. I trail behind with my recorder on as the quicker report-ers ask questions. I can hear the ques-tions but not Ty-ler’s answers. My recorder can’t hear the answers either.

My two competitors finish their questions, thank Gaffalione and head off to win Pulitzers or some-thing. Me? I’ve got nothing; I’ve got no choice but to stick with Tyler as he continues his walk and get him to say something that my recorder can hear.

But again, I’ve got competition. This time in the form of children asking for autographs and selfies with the winning jockey. Tyler makes time for them. He’s open and friendly, asking their names, signing autograph books, posing for pictures, all the while calmly unaware of someone in the middle of a Ter-ror attack standing 10 feet from him.

After satisfying the children and waving good-bye, Gaffalione turns to me. He then patiently spends two minutes and eight seconds (by the count on my recorder) answering my questions and saving me a call to the Suicide Hotline.

Tyler Gaffalione is 26 years old and already in

the first rank of jockeys in the country. He is also poised, polite, articulate in talking about his craft, and kind to old men – he addressed me as “sir.”

Most important, in those two minutes he gave me an understanding of the strategy behind his win-ning ride. In short, he gave me something to write about.

There is no greater gift you can give a writer.But now comes the second wave of Terror. Be-

cause now I actually have to write the piece. Com-ing from someone who’s been a writer all his life this may sound strange, but I hate writing. I do it because I love having written.

But the actual process of writing is agonizing, un-satisfying work. Unsatisfying because there’s always another way of doing it and creating a different re-sult. When a horse race is run, minutes later they make it official and you know the winner (unless it’s the Kentucky Derby).

In writing it’s never over. I second- and third-guess myself on virtually every paragraph, sentence and even individual words.

I know for sure there are people who can write quickly and well just as I’m sure there are people who can get the caps off aspirin bottles. I am nei-ther. Four and a half hours later I had produced a 467-word recap of the Coronation Stakes and sent it to my editor. The next day “my” story ran in The Special.

I put “my” in quotes because my editor had done what editors do. He had edited it. And it was better than what I’d written.

I was gratified that he’d used virtually everything I’d written, but he’d restructured it, moved things around, added a few things . . . and it was better. I don’t know how long it took him, probably 20 minutes, but I’ll bet not one of those minutes was filled with Terror.

I guess that’s why he’s Tom Law and I remain the World’s Oldest Intern.

Dave HarmonTyler Gaffalione aboard Goin’ Good.

http://www.bonaventurestables.com/


He was our first reader. Well, he was our first reader who wasn’t named Clancy, wasn’t a trainer I rode for during a summer in Saratoga or wasn’t somebody who knew Joe from his backstretch days at Delaware Park.

I don’t know how he found us. Nobody found us that summer. 2001. Tom Coyle walked into The Special’s office in an empty yoga studio in the Palio Building on Broadway.

He just walked in, introduced himself, said he might like to write for us, maybe sell some ads, said he liked what we were doing. We gave him a sign with The Special logo that said, “We Read It” and he wedged it in the driver’s side back window of his two-door BMW.

Looking in the archives, it took him until Aug. 25, to write something for us or that long for us to print something he had written. It was Travers Day, Point Given on the cover, and we had pages to fill. A whopping 28-page, the big-gest of the year, needed copy. “Brass-O-Mania band looks, sounds good” filled out page 21, right above ads for Lyrical Ballad and Albany Cigar & Pipe. A music buff, Tom loved listening to the music at the track and wrote about the 16-piece band.

Perception sometimes can obscure reality. This was evident after their first season performing at the track. Someone from management felt their bright Hawaiian shirts might be a bit too much and sug-gested more sedate uniforms would be more appro-priate. So, in their second season, they appeared in white polo shirts. After receiving a comment from a listener at the track that “They were good, but not as good as those guys in the Hawaiian shirts that were here last year,” they abandoned the white polos in a heartbeat. And, if anyone asked, “what happened to the guys in the white polo shirts?” they had their answer ready…“Oh, they were fired. They just weren’t that good.”

Classic racetrack. Classic Tom Coyle.

Over the next 18 summers, we would run into each other at the track or in town, we’d catch up on our lives, talk about a few races, share a few tips. I’d see him sitting on the steps in front of Section F or at the paddock rail for the stakes or in his BMW as he rolled down East Avenue at the end of the day, always the same time, a few minutes after the last. Sometimes with some cash from his only bet, the grand slam. The sign was always in his window, faded by the sun, cockeyed, but always there.

From Dayton, Ohio. A member of the musical group, The Campus Owls. A graduate of Miami University. The United States Navy. Distribution sales manager for Globe Motor Industries. An avid bridge player, a Diamond Life Master (that’s big in bridge). A racing fan. A Saratoga fan.

Two sons, Ted and Andrew. Two daughters, Pam and Betsy. Grandkids. And Glenn, a friend of Ted and Andrew’s who came to Saratoga every summer with or without them to stay with Tom, a place to stay, a friend at the track.

Not a gambler, a two-dollar better at the most, the grand slam his quest. He loved the horses, the music, the vibe, he simply loved the track, loved Saratoga. The magic of meeting people and sharing this place with his friends, his family. He visited on weekends, then retired in 1997 and came here every summer after that, rented on Clinton. East. Broadway. His favorite horse, Spend A Buck. Saved every is-sue of The Special, they’re still in piles back in Dayton. He took a photo of every horse in the stakes, deleted all of them but the winner and put them in a journal, a binder, maybe the first blog and give them away at Christmas. The daughters have every one of them.

He would listen to Reggie’s Red Hot Feet Warmers and the other bands, walking the beat for the beat, but always start and end at Section F, in front of the grandstand, about halfway up the stretch. Put his cooler down in the morn-

ing, come back in the afternoon, the unwritten, un-derstood decency of the track. It’s really what life’s about, the people you meet, the impact they make on your life, the positive difference. There was a community in Section F. He met Ann, she’s still here, they would go to happy hour. Barb from Cohoes would sit over there on her towel. Bill would bring his whole family, homemade picnic, stand by the rail for the finish.

Thomas W. Coyle died Aug. 10, 2020.Sunday morning, we gathered in front of Sec-

tion F to celebrate a father, a grandfather, a friend, a reader, a racing fan. His family asked me to say something. I gathered my nerve and scoured by memory, by the end, I wasn’t sure who was talking, me or his sons or his daughters. All of us, I guess. “There are a lot of Tom Coyles around this track.” We nodded, smiled and thought about the one we knew, the one we lost.

His family found the sign in the garage.

He read it cupofcoffeeBY SEAN CLANCY

http://pinoakstud.com/


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