2011 Saratoga Meet

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;5764388]
Rick Porter (Fox Hill Farm) is indicating that Havre de Grace may take on Blind Hill … Aug. 28th is the Personal Ensign Stakes …[/QUOTE]

Don’t book your tix just yet as “Blind Luck’s next start is still not set”

[Still open] options are the $300,000 Personal Ensign Stakes for fillies and mares at Saratoga or the $1 million Pacific Classic against males at Del Mar. Both races are over 1 1/4 miles. Blind Luck has never run against males.

“There are pros and cons to either race,” Hollendorfer said. “This is not an easy race here.”

[Glimmerglass]

This Saturday - August 13 - yet again Versus (a/k/a NBC Sports Network channel) will broadcast from Spa the $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational (Grade 1-Turf) from 5-6 p.m. EST.

Who is entered? Well M/M Bert Firestone’s solid runner - Winchester - for one! In 2010 he won the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) and Manhattan (G1), and placed in four graded stakes prior to a fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1). The six-year-old didn’t make his 2011 return until the off-the-turf Stars and Stripes S. (G3) on July 23, recording a decent second over the Polytrack at Arlington Park.

PP. Horse <> Jockey. Wgt. Trainer <> ML Odds

1. Drosselmeyer (KY)<> J Lezcano. 116. W I Mott <> 8-1
2. Grassy (KY)<> J Castellano. 118. C Clement <> 5-1
3. Rahy’s Attorney (ON) <> E-J Wilson. 116. I Black <> 8-1
4. Bim Bam (FL) <>D Cohen. 116. R Moquett <> 2-1
5. Boisterous (KY) <> J R Velazquez. 116. C R McGaughey III <> 4-1
6. Al Khali (KY) <> A Garcia .118. W I Mott<> 15-1
7. Teaks North (FL) <> E Castro. 123. J Sallusto <> 3-1
8. Winchester (VA) <> C H Velasquez. 120. C Clement <> 5-2

By the way - why is this race called the Sword Dancer? Answer:

The Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap, a Grade I on the turf, is named for the late Mrs. Isabel Dodge Sloane’s Brookmeade Stable colorbearer, Sword Dancer, who was named Horse of the Year in 1959, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1977.

His final record was 39: 15-7-4 plus accolades of U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1959); U.S. Champion Male Handicap Horse (1959); the aforementioned United States Horse of the Year (1959)

[Glimmerglass]

Just curious but with today’s running of the inaugural $70,000 Mrs. Ogden Phipps for fillies/mares only in steeplechasing it brought up this question: has the current Phipps Stable (as owned by Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps and his children) had a 'chaser on their roster?

[Glimmerglass]

This weekend Versus with their coverage (Saturday’s $500k Sword Dancer) will be joined in a commentary role by Rosie Napravnik. She is still on the mend and won’t be seen otherwise during the Saratoga meet. Hopefully she’ll have better “luck” than her older sister Jazz did today:

In the $75k Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes over hurdles it was Jazz’s trainee “Farah T Salute” who was declared a non-starter. That is why the inquiry sign went up at the end of the race. “Farah” just dwelled and would not break with the field whatsover. She wasn’t even the longest price in the race.

Farah T Salute won the $30,000 Crown Royal Hurdle at Callaway Gardens in Georgia last November. However this year the eight-year-old bred and trained by Jazz Napravnik was pulled up in the Henley and finished seventh in the Valentine. Doesn’t sound like she wants to this career anymore.

No word yet on the condition - they both looked fine and walked away - with Jonathan Sheppard trained Beating the Odds with Brian Crowley up. They fell at the 3rd hurdle in the race.

[Glimmerglass]

Numerous outlets will be airing live on the web this morning’s Hall of Fame Induction ceremony from Saratoga Springs: example

http://www.drf.com/events/saratoga-national-museum-racing-hall-fame#live-video

It starts at 10:30 a.m. ET. Another direct live feed link (Keeneland’s Broadcast Services is helping produce the video)

http://www.racingmuseum.org/

Celebrity chef and racehorse owner Bobby Flay will be the keynote speaker.

(pdf) Friday August 12th’s edition of the Saratoga Special - it includes details on the inductees

[Glimmerglass]

The good and bad - Thursday’s $75,000 Lucy Scribner Stakes at Saratoga Race Course did result in the 3rd death at this meet. Michael Trombetta trained Doing Great had a heart attack of sorts

Doing Great died of “cardiovascular collapse,” according to Dr. Anthony Verderosa, the chief examining veterinarian for the New York Racing Association.

Saturday’s showcase race was the $500k Grade 1 Sword Dancer with M/M Bert FIrestone’s Winchester - who I had to wager on:

Video: Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational.

Twenty-four years after winning the Sword Dancer Invitational at Belmont Park with Theatrical, owners Bertram and Diana Firestone were in the Saratoga winner’s circle after Winchester, a son of Theatrical, won Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational.

Ironically, Theatrical won it when the horse who beat him, Dance of Life, was disqualified from first by the stewards. Saturday, Winchester had to withstand a claim of foul by the rider of the third-place finisher, Al Khali, to maintain the victory.

Firestone, who turns 80 on Thursday, flew to Saratoga from Virginia along with his wife. The Firestones bred both Theatrical, who is 29 and is still at a farm in Kentucky, as well as Winchester.

“He’s a good horse, I know he’s a good horse,” Bertram Firestone said of Winchester. “He did what we thought he was going to do.”

From the Saratoga Special:

Saturday morning, the Firestones woke up on their farm in Upperville, Va., watched their daughter Alison school one of their show horses, flew to Saratoga and led in their latest stakes winner.

“It was an exciting race, twice” said Bert Firestone, referring to the objection.

“It was a perfect ride. He’s a real pro, it’s fun to watch him run but he can sometimes give you heart failure waiting for him to go.”

The Firestones have campaigned six champions, including Theatrical who won the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 1987.

“The horse has to come first and then they’ll last. These two owners are wonderful with that. We’ve been very careful with them in their training and racing, we never abused them, they last longer,” Clement said. “At the end of the day, it’s still the horse, still the owner, still the people back at the barn, that’s why we love to win with Winchester today, great teamwork, great owners, the whole team, the grooms, riders, they’ve all tried hard hard, he’s not that easy to train, the whole team has been together.”

Winchester doesn’t make it easy in the morning, just in the afternoon.

“He’s actually a little bit naughty when he trains,” Clement said. “He can stop, he can be reluctant, so we’ve learned to train him, we never fight him and we just go with the flow. When they’re that good, it doesn’t matter.”

The Firestones originally campaigned Winchester in Ireland, where he won once in five starts.

Sunday’s spotlight race: video - Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes (fillies)

Quite a fight to the finish!

[Glimmerglass]

The longest winner thus far in the meet - Ess Shape: (chart) Race 11, Aug 13, 2011: winner at 66-1 odds

The Frank Martin-trained Ess Shape rallied down the outer portion of the main track to win Saturday’s nightcap, a $20,000 claimer, paying $134 in the process. (Martin’s last winner at the Spa was Contender’s Emotion on Aug. 25, 2005.)

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This Thursday - August 18th - is again another steeplechase double with races 1 and 2 being over hurdles. Folks will enjoy one entry for the 2nd race the ($70k Michael G. Walsh Novice S.) being Mr Hot Stuff

Entries (equibase) for 8-18-11 at Saratoga

Race 1: $53k non-winner, optional claimer @ Two And Three Eighth Mile distance race with 13-entries

Race 2: $70k Michael G. Walsh Novice S. @ Two And Three Eighth Miles with 9 entries

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On a very wet and sloppy Monday at Saratoga it was the 106th running of the Saratoga Special (G2) presented by Three Chimney’s for $150,000

Union Rags, trained by Michael Matz for Chadds Ford Stable and ridden by Javier Castellano just kicked ass in the race. Despite being all over the track down the stretch, he still left the field way behind in the slop.

Union Rags broke his maiden at DelPark on July 12th with 1 3/4-length victory.

[Glimmerglass]

Video: race replay - Grade 2 Saratoga Special (Aug 15, 2011)

By the way - while it was a total purse of $150,000 (meaning just $90k for 1st) the Chadds Ford Stable (owner) made substantially more with the bonus!

Union Rags ($8.50) earned $290,000 for the win, including a $200,000 bonus paid by Fasig-Tipton and the New York Racing Association to the owner of the first 2-year-old purchased at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale to win a graded stakes at Saratoga.

It begs the question - is that considered $290k in graded stakes money? Meaning almost a guaranteed Kentucky Derby slot. I do believe that bonus funds (if tied to a Graded race) do count towards that amount.

[MightyBobbyMagee]

High remarks from Castellano re: Union Rags. Read here.

"When I showed up and worked the horse (Union Rags) in the morning, it was unbelievable. I’ve never worked a horse like that and I’ve been very fortunate to ride horses like Ghostzapper and Bernardini. I’ve been a very lucky, fortunate guy, but this horse is unbelievable and special.”

[Glimmerglass]

In case anyone wanted to follow the tweets of Bob Baffert:

http://twitter.com/#!/Midnightlute

[frugalannie]

Glimmerglass, thanks for the report on the Saratoga Special. I’ve been awaiting news of Union Rags. Runs pretty well for a youngster!

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=frugalannie;5779934]
Glimmerglass, thanks for the report on the Saratoga Special. I’ve been awaiting news of Union Rags. Runs pretty well for a youngster![/QUOTE]

Yep - it was going to be a good race. Of course there is also this Saratoga Special, too, as profiled by Claire Novak

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Article and pictures: Times Union “Can’t bet on these Spa critters” - pets of the backstretch

(excerpt)

Trainer H. James Bond, who always has his Labrador retriever, Charlie, by his side, said he once paired a goat with a racehorse named Along Came Mary, winner of the Montauk Stakes in 2002.

“As long as that goat was close by, she was fine. If not, the stall would come down,” Bond said.

The goat was protective and loyal, too. It chased Bond’s clients out of the barn. When Along Came Mary retired, the goat would have nothing to do with another horse and quickly followed the racehorse into retirement.

[Glimmerglass]

Not cited widely and probably overlooked by Winchester’s victory, but the old campaigner from Canada - Rahy’s Attorney (age 7)- with Emma-Jayne up in the Sword Dancer was injured during the race despite the valiant 2nd place finish

Aug 16, 2011 “Rahy’s Attorney retired with injury”

Wilson pulled up Rahy’s Attorney on the backstretch, and the horse was vanned off.

“Emma thought something was not right,” said Ian Black, who has trained the 7-year-old gelding throughout his career. “But he cooled out okay.”

Rahy’s Attorney was back in his stall at Woodbine on Sunday and seemed to be none the worse for his experience.

The next morning, however, a problem was discovered.

“When we got him out Monday morning, he had a little filling in his left pastern,” Black said. "We decided to ultrasound it and found a lesion on his superficial digital tendon.

"If it was somebody a little younger, you could probably give him six months off and bring him back.

“But he’s done so much for everybody involved. It was hard enough to see him vanned off in one piece. You’d hate to see something really serious happen.”

Rahy’s Attorney will go home with an overall record of 14 wins, 10 seconds, and 4 thirds from 41 starts for earnings of more than $2.2 million.

“He’ll get another life, either as a pony or a riding horse,” Black said.

[Glimmerglass]

A bit too early to call him a new John’s Call for the year over year success at the Spa, yet there is a chance for Awakino Cat to take Wed (Aug 17) $75,000 Troy Stakes for the third consecutive year.

Awakino Cat, a 6-year-old gelding trained and partly owned by Linda Rice, is 4 for 5 at Saratoga, including victories in the 2009 and 2010 Troy, run at 5 1/2 furlongs. Awakino Cat’s only loss on the Saratoga turf came in his career debut four years ago.

Entries - Race 9 off at 5:30pm EST - Troy Stakes (Turf @ 5 1/2 furlongs)

Friday August 19th’s signature race is the filly/mare NY State-bred restricted $100k Yaddo Stakes (named for the adjacent artist colony pronounced like “shadow”) with, among others Gitchee Goomie. She has a career record of 12: 4-6-1

(Irony with a race named after his legacy considering that Spencer Trask was openly against gambling and was vilified by the Saratoga community for being against the local bread and butter of summer.)

As for Michael Matz and his success with Union Rags the DRF has a bit more on the juveniles parked with him

Union Rags was initially sold by his breeder Phyllis Wyeth as a yearling for $145,000. In February, Wyeth bought the horse back at the Fasig-Tipton 2-year-old-in training sale at Palm Meadows for $390,000.

Matz said Union Rags won’t run back in the Grade 1 Hopeful here Sept. 5 because he believes that race is too close to the Special. Union Rags also was on his way back to Fair Hill on Tuesday, but could return to New York for the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont on Oct. 8. The Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland also is possible.

Union Rags was the third 2-year-old winner of the meet for Matz. On Sunday, he won a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden race with the filly Welcome Dance. On Aug. 7, he won a maiden race with the first-time starter And Why Not, a $775,000 daughter of Street Cry owned by Helen Groves, Matz’s mother-in-law. Matz said And Why Not is a candidate for the Grade 1 Spinaway here Sept. 4.

Union Rags effectively pinhooked by IEAH Stable: they bought him for $145,000 at the Saratoga sale in 2010, but he was re-acquired by breeder Phyllis Wyeth (a/k/a Chadds Ford Stable) for $390,000 at the Fasig-Tipton 2-year-old sale in March. So don’t feel bad for Michael Ivarone, et al with missing out on the $200k bonus.

For the Middleburg, VA folks its noted Phyllis Mill Wyeth’s parents once owned the famed Hickory Tree Farm

Mrs. Wyeth’s husband, celebrated artist James Wyeth, is a son of honored artist Andrew Wyeth. Mrs. Wyeth’s mother is Alice Mills, who owned Hickory Tree Farm in Virginia. Mrs. Wyeth’s late father, James P. Mills, founded Hickory Tree and raced such goods ones as champion Devil’s Bag and grade I winners Gone West and Believe It

[Glimmerglass]

As mentioned before the chances of Blind Luck racing against Havre de Grace at Saratoga are seemingly slim - despite Porter/Jones reconsidering ‘Grace’ for the Personal Ensign. And now you can tell that just inducted Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is getting sick of the topic

Times Union Aug 17, 2011

Hollendorfer said he is not going to worry about where Havre de Grace goes. He says his decision — and he is part owner of Blind Luck — will be based on what is right for his horse.

“I don’t care what (Porter) is doing,” Hollendorfer said. “What he does with his horse has no bearing on what I am doing with my horse. If I was going to the Woodward or the Molly Pitcher or whatever, I would not have to just beat his horse. I would have to beat them all.”

Grade 1 $500,000 Alabama field was drawn.
Distance 1 1/8 miles
To be aired on NBC Sports (5 - 6pm EST)

PP. Horse … Jockey … Trainer. ML Odds

1. Royal Delta……Jose Lezcano……Bill Mott……6-1
2. Pince Pie….John Velazquez……Anthony Dutrow….15-1
3. Plum Pretty……Martin Garcia….Bob Baffert……2-1
4. It’s Tricky…….Eddie Castro……Kiaran McLaughlin……9-5
5. St. John’s River……Robby Albarado……Andrew Leggio Jr….5-1
6. Inglorious………Luis Contreras…….Josie Carroll…. 6-1

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;5783083]
A bit too early to call him a new John’s Call for the year over year success at the Spa, yet there is a chance for Awakino Cat to take Wed (Aug 17) $75,000 Troy Stakes for the third consecutive year.[/QUOTE]

Doubtful he would’ve won with the strength of Bridgetown (Pletcher/JV) who toyed with the field. That said Rice’s Awakino Cat shot himself in the foot by not breaking from the gate on time. He spotted the field a few lengths at the start of the sprint race.

He’s a closer but was too far behind to make it a fair fight. He took a fast closing 3rd but well behind the Eugene Melnyk owned sprinter. Eugene Melnyk named the colt for his primary home these days of Bridgetown, Barbados. In fact he’s purportedly that nation’s richest permanent resident.

[Glimmerglass]

[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;5778597]
This Thursday - August 18th - is again another steeplechase double with races 1 and 2 being over hurdles.

Race 2: $70k Michael G. Walsh Novice S. @ Two And Three Eighth Miles with 9 entries[/QUOTE]

Maybe someone should buy the NSA starter a watch Utterly bizarre that they sent off the field 3-minutes before post time. It caught the betting public, Tom Durkin, and the networks completely off guard. As Tom remarked when they were already over the first hurdle “the train left the station a bit early”.

Mr. Hot Stuff was scratched well before the race, however a sentimental favorite trained/owned by Sheppard - Italian Wedding - was in there. Durkin however did not have the correct name with the saddle cloth - so he proclaimed the wrong winner.