Saratoga Race Course Notes

NYRA PRESS OFFICE —-

Grade 1 wins coast-to-coast for Team Brown
Concrete Rose out for rest of the year
Owendale on target for Travers following Saturday’s workout; arrives at Saratoga on Tuesday
Scars Are Cool looks to add character to G1 Runhappy Travers field
Varenka could point to Grade 1 QEII
Stakes company could be in Carotari’s future after record-setting win on Mellon turf
Tom’s d’Etat is ‘all systems go’ for G1 Woodward
Pletcher to start Channel Cat in Sword Dancer; Spinoff “unlikely” for Runhappy Travers
Magner expects another top effort from Fierce Lady

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Three-time Eclipse Award winning trainer Chad Brown’s Saturday at the races wasn’t dampened by the soggy weather at Saratoga Race Course, with Dunbar Road posting a win in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama presented by NYRA Bets just one race after his Regal Glory shared honors with the Graham Motion-trained Varenka in the Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid.

As the sun set at Saratoga, across the country at Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego, California, the regally-bred Cambier Parc, by Medaglia d’Oro out of Canada’s 2007 Horse of the Year Sealy Hill, rallied to an impressive 1 1/4-length score in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks to bookend a special day for the conditioner.

Peter Brant’s Dunbar Road earned a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure for her rallying effort in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama. Brown, whose 25 wins lead all trainers at the current Saratoga meet, said the Quality Road bay was in good order on Sunday morning.

“So far she looks great. She came out of the race in good order,” said Brown.

Leaving from the inside post under Jose Ortiz, who captured his third consecutive Alabama, Dunbar Road angled outside for the stretch run and powered home over a sloppy and sealed main track.

“She didn’t have the cleanest of trips, but Jose was able to get her out of some trouble turning for home and clear. She ran super,” said Brown. “We were expecting her to run really well at a mile and a quarter. We thought she’d been looking for this distance for a long time.”

Paul Pompa, Jr’s Regal Glory, a chestnut daughter of Animal Kingdom, won her third consecutive stakes when dead-heating with Varenka in a stormy renewal of the Lake Placid. The victory came on the heels of victories in the Pennsylvania Oaks and Grade 3 Lake George.

Brown said he was impressed with Regal Glory’s ability to find the wire.

“The pace was slow but she was able to close into it and ran really well,” said Brown. “She’s come out of the race in good order.”

Cambier Parc, owned by OXO Equine, nom de course of Larry Best, equaled her career-best 90 Beyer in securing her first Grade 1 victory. A four-time winner from seven starts, Cambier Parc won the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream Park in March and earned a 90 Beyer for her victory two starts later in the Grade 3 Wonder Again at Belmont Park. The talented bay entered the Del Mar Oaks from a strong third in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational, first leg of the newly minted Turf Tiara.

Brown said Hall of Famer John Velazquez engineered a perfect trip for Cambier Parc.

“She ran super. She’s a filly that really appreciates firm ground and she got it yesterday,” said Brown. “She got a great ride from John Velazquez. She had been training really well of late. We’d always liked her but I think, in particular, her last two workouts have been the best I’ve seen.”

Brown said the third leg of the Turf Tiara – the $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks set for September 7 at Belmont – is not likely for the improving Cambier Parc.

“I’ll talk to Larry Best about that, but it’s not in my plans for her,” said Brown. “I think the sky is the limit for her. I think she’ll continue to develop and get better. I’m really pleased with her development throughout the year.”

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Concrete Rose out for rest of the year

Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing’s Concrete Rose will miss the remainder of the 2019 season due to a hairline fracture in her right foreleg.

The Rusty Arnold-trained daughter of Twirling Candy was training towards a start in the $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational, final leg of the Turf Tiara, following wins in the first two legs of the newly minted Turf Triple series – the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational and Saratoga Oaks.

“We’re giving her some time off. It’s just hairline fracture,” said Ashbrook Farm racing manager Bo Bromagen. “It’s one of those situations where it’s easiest to give her the time off. It’s best for the horse and best for everyone involved. We got the news this morning, we’d like to keep her in Kentucky the next 60 days.”

Unbeaten in four starts this year, Concrete Rose put together a stellar campaign of four stakes victories, which started with a win in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks on March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs followed by a victory in Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Edgewood, where she bested Grade 1 winner Newspaperofrecord.

Bred in Kentucky by Ron Patterson, Concrete Rose is out of the Powerscourt broodmare Solerina. She was purchased for $61,000 from the Fasig-Tipton Mid Atlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale last May.

* * *
Owendale on target for Travers following Saturday’s workout; arrives at Saratoga on Tuesday

Trainer Brad Cox indicated this morning that Rupp Racing’s Owendale is on target for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers after his four-furlong workout over the Churchill Downs surface that went in 48.80 seconds on Saturday. The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief will arrive at Saratoga on Tuesday, and will gallop over the track leading up the “Mid-Summer Derby.”

“Our horse is doing really well,” Cox said. “He breezed great yesterday at Churchill and galloped out well and looked great this morning. He is coming into the race as well as we could ask or expect. He’s on top of his game. He will gallop out on the track Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.”

Owendale has won two of his last three starts with the Grade 3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown being his latest on June 22. While Owendale made a nice off-the-pace move to beat Math Wizard by a half-length, Cox suggested his horse struggled a little bit over the track under jockey Florent Geroux.

“It was a good effort at a mile and an eighth,” Cox said. “I think he might have struggled a little bit with the track and Florent thought the same thing. But he got the job done.”

Cox originally had not considered the Travers for Owendale, who has won 4-of-10 races for $668,725, that includes a victory in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland and a third-place finish to War of Will in the Grade 1 Preakness. However, the timing and other factors helped Cox made that decision.

“The more we thought about it, the more we thought this,” he said. “There is a bigger purse. It is a more prestigious race. It is a mile and a quarter. He runs like he is a mile and a quarter horse. If it is a good set up, it is possible. The numbers suggest our horse is a bit fast or just as fast any of these. If he can run his Preakness race or the Lexington race, he is going to be in the mix.”

After the horse’s two solid races at Fair Grounds over the winter, Cox thought Owendale could be a candidate for the Triple Crown trail and ran him in the Grade 2 Risen Star.

“We thought he was horse who would get better with time,” Cox said. “Over the winter, he was training really well and we did a lot with him. He ran really well and beat a good group of horses. Then we went right back with him in the Risen Star and we were doing too much with him too quickly. Obviously, we were chasing the Derby dream. He was a touch light and we were asking a lot of him. We slowed down with him and took a deep breath.”

Cox said Owendale is coming into the Travers just as well as he did for the Lexington and the Preakness.

“I feel like he is coming into this one just like he did in the Preakness,” he said. “We expected a big effort out of him in the Preakness. He’s a horse who appreciates time in between starts. Probably his best race this year has been the Lexington. He had time between the Risen Star and the Lexington.”

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Scars Are Cool looks to add character to G1 Runhappy Travers field

Trainer Stanley Hough has accomplished much since saddling his first winner in 1969. The veteran conditioner has nearly 12,800 starts to his credit and 2,184 victories entering Sunday, but he will set a career first when he enters Scars Are Cool in the 150th running of the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers.

Hough, who has amassed 41 graded stakes victories across four decades, will send out Sagamore Farm’s Scars Are Cool for his first starter in the “Mid-Summer Derby.”

It seemed as if Global Campaign, the Grade 3 Peter Pan winner in May at Belmont Park who finished third in the Jim Dandy on July 27 at Saratoga, would have the distinction of being Hough’s first Travers starter. But an injury sidelined him while opening the door for Scars Are Cool, who broke his maiden at third asking in a 1 1/8-mile route on a fast main track on July 21 at the Spa, setting up an ambitious spot for his stakes debut in the 1 ¼-mile Travers.

“It’s great. I thought my first starter was going to be Global Campaign, but it’s exciting to see what he can do,” Hough said. “He’s always been nice. As a 2-year-old, he got hurt, but he looked like he was going to be a nice horse. Each race, he’s improved. But in his race here, he looked really good.”

Scars Are Cool, unraced a juvenile, made his debut on May 12 at Churchill Downs, running fourth in a 10-horse field at 6 ½ furlongs. Stretched out to a mile on June 16 at Churchill, the Malibu Moon colt ran third. Shipping to Saratoga, he handled the stretch out in distance over a fast Saratoga main track, rallying from fifth-of-seven to post a four-length score last month. That effort netted him a personal-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

* * *
Varenka could point to Grade 1 QEII

Varenka emerged from her dead-heat victory in the Grade 2 Lake Placid in good order, according to trainer Graham Motion, who said the sophomore daughter of Ghostzapper could make her next start in the Grade 1, $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II on October 12 at Keeneland.

Owned by George Strawbridge Jr.’s Augustin Stable, Varenka scored her first stakes victory in the 1 1/16-mile test over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course. Her prior effort was an allowance victory over the Saratoga lawn, which came two starts after an impressive two-length maiden win at Belmont Park.

Patiently ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, Varenka was placed at the back of the field early on, made a sweeping six-wide move at the top of the stretch and hit the wire in tandem with Regal Glory, resulting in the dead heat.
The race was run just moments before a severe thunderstorm rolled through the Saratoga Springs area.

“I thought she looked good [Sunday] morning, she was a little tired as most horses are after they run up here,” Motion said. “I thought that Javier gave a great ride and was patient with her. I was surprised he was able to close into those kind of fractions. Credit to Javier, credit to the filly she was very, very game.”

While the Queen Elizabeth II that came to Motion’s mind as far as a possible next start is concerned, he still wanted to relish Saturday’s triumph.

“I haven’t looked too far beyond this race. A race like the QE II is one that you would have to put in the back of your mind,” Motion said. “She’s had two tough races up here. Not in a hurry to bring her back quick.”

A Kentucky homebred, Varenka is out of the stakes winning Dynaformer broodmare Dynamic Cat and is a full sister to stakes winner Lift Up and a half sibling to stakes winners Appealing Cat, Dynamic Holiday and Cat’s Holiday.

* * *
Stakes company could be in Carotari’s future after record-setting win on Mellon turf

William Branch’s Carotari came out of his record-setting win on Saturday at Saratoga in good order and could be on target to try stakes company, trainer Brian Lynch said Sunday morning.

Carotari dueled pacesetter Sayyaaf through blistering fractions on the firm Mellon turf course, with the quarter-mile in 21.01 seconds, 43.08 for the half and 54.31 for five furlongs before hitting the wire in a final time of 1:00.21, breaking the 5 1/2-furlong course record of 1:00.23 set by Leinster on August 3.

Notching her second win in six career starts, the 3-year-old Artie Schiller gelding finally broke through after a pair of runner-up efforts and a third-place finish against allowance company in her previous three starts.

“It certainly was impressive. It’s nice to get a horse like him back in that type of direction,” Lynch said.

Carotari earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the win. After a seven-month freshening, he started his sophomore campaign with a runner-up effort at Indiana Grand on the turf on July 3 before running third in an off-the-turf 5 ½-furlong sprint on July 26 at the Spa.

“We cleaned up some chips in his knee during the winter and gave him some time and ran him into condition,” Lynch said. “I thought he ran well at Indiana Grand and we ran him on the off-track at Saratoga, and I thought he ran good that day, too. He’s a competitor and he trained on very nicely in between. To give you a performance like yesterday, it gives you a lot of hope and something to look forward to.

“Off of that effort, it’s a big swing for him,” he added. “So, I’ll give him some time. I don’t want to get too creative at this stage. But potentially, he gives you the feeling that he can be a stakes horse, for sure.”

Award Winner, also owned by Amerman Racing, is getting some time off after running sixth in the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame on August 2 at Saratoga. The 3-year-old Ghostzapper colt has raced eight times since starting his career in October, including four starts in his juvenile year.

As a sophomore, Award Winner won against allowance company on May 19 at Churchill and ran second, a neck behind Eons in the Grade 3 Kent on July 6 at Delaware Park before running in the one-mile Hall of Fame earlier this month.

“His last race wasn’t one of his better efforts,” Lynch said. “We never really gave him a break, so we gave him 45 days off and we’re looking forward to getting him ready for the fall campaign.”

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Tom’s d’Etat is ‘all systems go’ for G1 Woodward

Returning to the workout tab on Saturday for his first breeze since winning the Alydar on August 2, G M B Racing’s multiple graded-stakes placed runner Tom’s d’Etat completed four furlongs in 50.24 seconds at the Oklahoma training track.

The 6-year-old sired by Smart Strike picked up his first victory of the year from four starts in the Alydar, after kicking off his campaign with a ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park followed by a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Alysheba and third-place running in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs.

“It was his first breeze back. I told our rider to go in 50 [seconds] and he went in 50 and a tick. He caught a really nice racetrack and we like what we’ve seen so far,” said conditioner Al Stall, Jr.

Tom’s d’Etat is unbeaten in three starts at Saratoga. He broke his maiden at second asking by four lengths in August 2016 and added an allowance win by a widening nine lengths at Saratoga in July 2017.

Stall said Tom’s d’Etat would return to face graded stakes competition in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward on Saturday August 31 but with a new jockey aboard in 2018 Eclipse award winner Irad Ortiz, Jr who takes the mount from Joel Rosario, who is committed to riding multiple graded stakes winner Yoshida in the race.

“He’s confirmed for the Woodward with Irad,” said Stall. “Rosario is going to stick with Yoshida which you can understand that, but he’s [Tom’s d’Etat] got a great record up here and we’re excited.”

* * *
Pletcher to start Channel Cat in Sword Dancer; Spinoff “unlikely” for Runhappy Travers

Trainer Todd Pletcher will have an uncharacteristically light footprint during the Travers Festival, with his two confirmed starters being Calumet Farm’s Channel Cat in the Grade 1, $850,000 Sword Dancer, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Saturday and Bulletin in Sunday’s $100,000 Better Talk Now for 3-year-olds at one mile on the inner turf.

Although nominated to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers, Wertheimer et Frere’s Spinoff likely will skip the race, said the trainer.

“At this time, we’re not going,” he said. “If there were another significant defection, it would be under consideration, but the Pennsylvania Derby is the plan.”

Pletcher added that Bal Harbour, second in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup last out, is unlikely to run in the Grade 1 Forego presented by Encore Boston Harbor.

Channel Cat, a 4-year-old son of English Channel, enters the 1 ½-mile Sword Dancer off his best effort to date, a front-running victory in the Grade 2 Bowling Green on July 27, his first graded stakes score. Prior to that, he was third in the Grade 1 United Nations, fifth in the Grade 1 Manhattan and fourth in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy in his 2019 debut.

“I think like a lot of English Channels, he gets better with age,” said Pletcher, who trained English Channel to win the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top turf horse in 2007. “Along with that comes the opportunity to run longer distances. I think 1 ½ miles is his best distance.”

In his only start at 12 furlongs, Channel Cat was a decisive 5 3/4-length winner of the Bald Eagle Derby at Laurel Park.

At the other end of the spectrum is WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing’s Bulletin, who has not raced further than 5 ½ furlongs. The City Zip colt won his first three starts sprinting on the turf, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, but in his last start gave way and finished fourth in the five-furlong William Walker on April 27 at Churchill Downs.

“In retrospect, we ran him back too soon,” said Pletcher of Bulletin, who had won the Palisade Turf Sprint three weeks prior. “We were trying to put him in position to go to Royal Ascot and he was a touch flat. Subsequently he got a temperature and he wound up losing a couple weeks of training. We’re going to try him at a mile and see where that takes us.”

* * *
Magner expects another top effort from Fierce Lady

After just missing out on picking up his first career stakes win when Nice Guys Stables and Steve Hornstock’s juvenile New York-bred filly Fierce Lady was defeated by a nose in the Stillwater on July 18, trainer Dermot Magner is anxious for her return in Friday’s $200,000 Seeking the Ante on New York Breeders’ Showcase Day.

The up-and-coming Magner, originally from Ireland, emigrated to the United States in 2012 and worked as a foreman for trainer Todd Pletcher and assistant to Chad Brown before going out on his own in 2018. Halfway through his second solo season, his horses have earned nearly $500,000.

Purchased for $75,000 as a yearling at the Keeneland September sale, Fierce Lady, sired by multiple graded stakes winner Competitive Edge, won her debut by six lengths on June 22 at Belmont Park.

Sent off as the 1-5 post-time favorite in the Stillwater, she broke on top of the five-horse field before encountering traffic. Breaking free in the late stretch, she was nosed out of the victory by My Italian Rabbi.

“The Stillwater was probably one of the best finishes of any 2-year-old race this meet,” said Magner. “We just came out the wrong side of head bob. She’s trained and breezed well since. She’s a talented filly, which we really got to see in her debut, and with her effort last time. We’re happy to have another go with her. Hopefully we draw somewhere in the middle, but we’re definitely looking forward to having another shot.”