IN SPITE OF harrowing weather through Friday, Saratoga fans were blessed with a Jim Dandy Saturday, as Ma Nature cooperated once again with glorious weather over the weekend!
Finley’sluckycharm opened up this past week’s stakes action on Wednesday, by avenging her loss at the wire in last year’s Grade 2 Honorable Miss to Paulassilverlining, by dominating this year’s edition with her 2 1/4 length win over Vertical Oak.
The Twirling Candy mare has now amassed earnings of well over $900K+ for trainer Bret Calhoun, with 11 wins in 17 career starts, and her next stop should be the Grade 1 Ballerina on the Travers undercard, before prepping back home at Churchill Downs for the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
In Thursday’s John Morrissey, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for NY-breds, the 8-year-old crafty veteran, Weekend Hideaway, would have made the race’s namesake, “Old Smoke”, very proud! In his first win since defeating Diversify in the Commentator at Belmont in May of 2017, the son of Speightstown withstood an objection from last year’s John Morrissey winner, Celtic Chaos, to win the race for his second time, with Luis Saez aboard for Phil Serpe.
Weekend Hideaway certainly epitomizes the moniker, “Horse for a Course”, as this indomitable NY-bred broke his maiden at the Spa, over a similarly sloppy track in 2012, and has won here every even-numbered year since and has won at least one race each year since his debut!
After breaking his maiden at Gulfstream in early March, Hofburg did not taste victory again until last Friday’s 1 1/8-mile Curlin Stakes. Following a 2nd place finish to Audible in the Florida Derby, and then a 7th in the Kentucky Derby, and a 3rd in the Belmont Stakes behind Justify, Juddmonte Farm’s homebred son of Tapit needed a confidence booster, or as his Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott was quoted to have said, “so did I”!
Although Hofburg probably wasn’t crazy about the going on the sloppy track, the lightly raced, inexperienced chestnut had no problem putting away the small and modest field and recorded a 100 Beyer with his 5-length victory, while gaining valuable experience heading into the Travers.
Hofburg’s victory was just the beginning of another fantastic Birthday weekend for Bill Mott, as he also was part of the thrilling dead heat finish in Saturday’s Grade 2 Bowling Green with his Channel Maker, and Chuck Lawrence’s longshot Glorious Empire, while also collecting a win with Satisfy in the 4th.
On his actual 65th on Sunday, the Hall of Famer’s uncanny ability to find the Winner’s Circle on his special day continued, as he brought home Glossy in the 3rd, and a longshot named Length in the 5th, who paid $28.40! Mott won nine Saratoga training titles between 1992-2007 and has now won races in 17 out of 25 years on his Birthday! A seven-year streak from 2007-2013 was actually ended by a dark day in 2014.
Mott’s biggest Birthday gift came last year in the Jim Dandy, when his Good Samaritan beat Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, and Preakness winner Cloud Computing. Good Samaritan will make his return to Saratoga in this Saturday’s Whitney, which will be the Harlan’s Holiday colt’s seventh Grade 1 start of his career.
In other action on Saturday, Dale Romans helped fulfill the dreams of his longtime friend and client, local businessman Bob Baron, when Promises Fulfilled, a 3-year-old son of Shackleford, who Romans also trained, was victorious in the 6 1/2-furlong Amsterdam.
Baron, a graduate of RPI and member of their Hall of Fame as a QB, who earned Division III All-America honors his Senior year, was introduced to Romans by their mutual friend, another local businessman, Roddy Valente, some 20 years ago, and their relationship has continued to blossom.
Promises Fulfilled wired the field in the Fountain of Youth in early March but had disappointing finishes in the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby, which is when the team decided to make him a sprinter. It seems like a great switch after his commanding 3 1/4 length victory in the Amsterdam, under meet leading jockey, Luis Saez, and we will next see him in the H. Allen Jerkens on Travers Day.
While Romans has amazingly won a race at Saratoga for 26 straight years, he was hard pressed to ever remember winning two on one card, which he and Luis Saez combined to do on Saturday, as they also won the 3rd Race with Gray Nile.
In Saturday’s lone Grade 1, the 6-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Imperial Hint, a Parx shipper, proved that you can’t judge a book by its cover, as the little horse with a whole lot of heart and speed to burn, crushed the field! Trainer Luis Carvajal, Jr., who used to work at Saratoga as a kid, had to pinch himself as he and his family entered the Saratoga Room following the race, as it was his, and his gutsy little horse’s first Grade 1 victory! What a “feel good” story it is all around, as owner Ray Mamone, who has a body shop in Jersey, lost his wife not long ago, and horse racing has helped to fill the void in his life.
In a quirky running of the Jim Dandy, Steve Asmussen’s Tenfold was able to overcome his crazy antics down the stretch, with a final lunge at the wire, to nip Mark Casse’s Flameaway.
Tenfold ducked out twice, getting spooked, and ended up way outside the middle of the track. Per his jockey, Ricardo Santana, Jr., the son of Curlin, by Tapit, was more intent on watching the big screen infield TV after that, than running his race!
Tenfold was not the only one showing signs of quirkiness, however, as Vino Rosso, another son of Curlin, and Sporting Chance, the son of Tiznow, both had their problems, too!
Vino Rosso, who obviously did not like the going on the sealed track, refused to run early on, but came flying late, to finish a head behind the runner-up.
Last year’s Hopeful winner, Sporting Chance, who is known for his characteristic ducking out in the stretch, which got him disqualified from the Blue Grass, totally blew the turn, and was pulled up by Luis Saez, when it was apparent he could not recover.
Following this madness, I cannot wait to see what the Travers will bring, when we see this wild crew join the likes of Good Magic, Wonder Gadot, Hofburg, Catholic Boy, Bravazo and Gronkowski.
Wonder Gadot’s connections made the decision to race her against the boys once again in the Travers, following her victory over a very sloppy track in last Tuesday’s 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales at Fort Erie, the second leg of Canada’s Triple Crown. This has complicated matters for Hall of Famer Johnny Velazquez, as he has the mount on both Wonder Gadot and Vino Rosso, and he is, of course, still first call for Todd Pletcher, which will bring loyalty into question while making this tough decision. It also will make things tricky for Mark Casse, as he trains both Wonder Gadot and Flameaway, and it seems that only the filly will go!
Good Magic cruised to an easy victory in the Haskell on Sunday, under Jose Ortiz, and stated his case for being the best 3-year-old colt left in training. The son of Curlin was never really threatened, enroute to a convincing, albeit misleading, 3 length victory over Bravazo, while Lone Sailor and Core Beliefs came in 3rd and 4th, off the pace. Good Magic has surely cemented his case to be the morning line favorite heading into the Travers with this Haskell victory.
Jose Ortiz had to have his spirits lifted with his excellent 4-win day at Monmouth, following his uncharacteristically slow start at the Spa, as not only did he win the Grade 1 Haskell, he also won the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup, the Grade 3 Matchmaker, and the Wolf Hill Stakes.
Saturday’s $1.2 million Grade 1 Whitney has turned into a showcase for New York-breds, with a much-anticipated matchup between Rick Violette’s Diversify and Chad Summers’ Mind Your Biscuits. Diversify was named the 7-5 morning line favorite during Tuesday’s Post Draw at Sperry’s, following his monster performance in the Suburban, that earned him a career-high 110 Beyer, and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. Biscuits was made the 2-1 second choice, and will be ridden by Joel Rosario.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Backyard Heaven, named after their 5th Avenue home here in Saratoga that overlooks the Oklahoma, was made the third choice at 9-2, and will be ridden by Javi Castellano for Chad Brown. Todd Pletcher’s Tapwrit will be ridden by Johnny Velazquez and was given 6-1 odds, while Bill Mott’s Good Samaritan will have Jose Ortiz up, at 12-1 odds. Rounding out the field will be Ian Wilkes’ McCraken at 15-1, with Brian Hernandez, Jr. up, and Dalmore with Ricardo Santana, Jr., and Discreet Lover with Manny Franco, both at 30-1.
The PDJF weekend culminated with the always hugely successful and wildly popular Jockey Karaoke at Vapor on Monday night. Veteran jockey Mike Luzzi and Phil Teator rocked the packed house with their rendition of the Kiss hit, “I Want to Rock and Roll All Night,” and with their classic black and white Kiss regalia and warpaint, were the judges choice, including a hilarious Wayne Lukas, in a spirited competition that will now have them teeing off against the California winner, Joe Talamo, in an online, YouTube and Facebook poll. Talamo performed “Play that Funky Music White Boy”, and the trash talking started soon thereafter!
Luis Saez is doing all his talking on the track, as he leads the Jockey Standings after 10 days with 13 wins! Juni Ortiz is right on his tail with 12, while wily veterans Javi C and Johnny V are tied at 10 with the hot, young Panamanian, Ricardo! Joel has 8 wins, Manny 6, and Jose Ortiz and Junior Alvarado are tied with 4.
Not surprisingly, Chad Brown leads the Trainer Standings through the first 10 days with 10 wins, while Steve Asmussen has 8, Bill Mott 7, and Todd Pletcher 6.
Stay cool on Whitney Day, but hot with your picks, ‘til we meet again, next week!
