Tommy Jo much the best in G1 Spinaway; Praying springs the upset in G3 Prioress

Tommy Jo much the best in G1 Spinaway

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Spendthrift Farm’s Kentucky homebred Tommy Jo, under a perfect ride by Kendrick Carmouche, powered away to a 6 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway, a seven-furlong sprint for 2-year-old fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.

The 134th running of the Spinaway, a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar, was among three graded stakes on Saturday’s program that saw Praying take the Grade 3 Prioress and Bellezza capture the Grade 2 Flower Bowl.

Eric Gustavson, owner and president of Spendthrift Farm, said he was thrilled by the performance from the Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher-trained Tommy Jo in her stakes debut.

“She ran great and is a homebred, which is extra exciting for us, that she was raised on the farm and every division on the farm had a hand in getting her here,” said Gustavson, who will be cheering on Ted Noffey, who they own outright, and Emphasis, who they co-own with Repole Stable, in Closing Day Monday’s Grade 1 Spendthrift Farm Hopeful here. “It was a big team win and we preach a ‘we, not me’ mentality at the farm first, so that’s a big deal for us. And she is named after our only granddaughter as well, so that is like the cherry on top of it all. Her name is Tommy Jo Gustavson.”

Tommy Jo, by Spendthrift Farm stallion Into Mischief, entered from a dominant debut victory on July 26 here under Hall of Famer John Velazquez, scoring by 3 3/4-lengths over next-out winner Tennessee Belle. With Velazquez in California to ride the Pletcher-trained Fierceness in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, Carmouche picked up the mount on Tommy Jo and engineered a perfect trip to secure his fourth career Grade 1-win and second at the meet following Deterministic’s victory in the FanDuel Fourstardave last month.

Tommy Jo exited post 5-of-7 and stalked from third position as previously undefeated graded stakes-winner Mythical dueled on the lead with Sina, who marked the opening quarter-mile in 22.22 seconds before the former put her head in front after a half-mile in 44.54 over the fast main track.

“That was pretty much what Todd and I thought going into it. We just let those horses develop the race,” Carmouche said. “With the stride this filly got and how she turned around the corner in her last race at the half-mile with Johnny V, I just let this horse cruise into the turn. I thought I was on much the best in this race, I just had to wait to go.”

Carmouche was content to track three-wide before advancing at the three-eighths and taking command late in the turn, opening up by six lengths at the stretch call and stopping the clock in a final time of 1:23.39.

It was a record-extending seventh Spinaway win for Pletcher, who had shared the record with the late Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, before Tommy Jo’s decisive score. Pletcher’s past Spinaway winners include Circle of Life [1999], Ashado [2003], Adieu [2005], R Heat Lightning [2010], Rachel’s Valentina [2015], and Sweet Loretta [2016 – dead heat].

“I think she got away a little cleaner today, put herself and Kendrick into a good spot. She is so push-button, runs the turns extremely well, and kind of blew the race open at that point, but she’s trained like a special one all summer and obviously her first two races have been very exciting,” Pletcher said.

The Luan Machado-piloted Percy’s Bar, last-out winner of the Listed Debutante at Churchill Downs, closed to finish second with another 4 3/4-lengths back to Rileytole in third. Day to Day and Mythical followed with Sina and Spirit Doll dead-heating for sixth. Meringue, who is entered in Sunday’s Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies; Steer Clear, who graduated in Race 2 here on Friday; and Ornellaia were scratched.

Machado said he was pleased with the effort from the Ben Colebrook-trained Percy’s Bar.

“The filly that beat us is very good. I’d like to see her [Percy’s Bar] going a little further. I believe she’s going to love it,” Machado said. “As you can see, she breaks well, but she doesn’t have a kick out of the gate and they kind of ran away from me. I believe going longer that won’t happen, we’ll see. I still like her. She’s still one of my favorite 2-year-olds. She’s very talented.”

Pletcher indicated Tommy Jo could make her next start in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Alcibiades on October 3 at Keeneland, a two-turn test that would serve as a bridge to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“The way she trained into this and the way she galloped out in her breezes, it gives us confidence that she is not just fast, but can stretch that speed out as well,” Pletcher said.

Tommy Jo banked $165,000 in victory while remaining perfect in two starts. She returned $4 for a $2 win bet. Tommy Jo is out of the multiple Grade 1-placed Pioneerof the Nile mare Mother Mother, a half-sister to 2014 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby runner-up Commanding Curve.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 14-race card highlighted by the 107th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup. A special edition of Saratoga Live presented by Caesars Sportsbook will air on FOX from 1-2 p.m. Eastern.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup [Race 5] awards a “Win and You’re In” berth into the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic and is one of two stakes on Sunday’s card, which also features the restricted $135,000 Disco Partner in Race 10. First post is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit nyra.com/tv.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at NYRABets.com.

Praying springs the upset in G3 Prioress

By Mary Eddy

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Newtown Anner Stud Farm’s Praying stunned a field of five with a rallying victory as the 21-1 longest shot on the board in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Prioress, a six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Robert Medina, the Vekoma dark bay entered from a distant off-the-board finish in an optional claimer over this distance in May at Churchill Downs where she broke through the gate before giving brief chase in the early stages and tiring. Praying showed no signs of weakening on Saturday when rallying from fourth to notch her first stakes victory and Medina’s second career graded score in his first trip to the Spa winner’s circle.

“In May, she completely lost her mind – the worst I’ve ever seen a horse act in the paddock,” Medina recalled. “She was beat before they gave the call to post – she had the one-post and she ran through the gate before the race and then she ran off for three-eighths of a mile and stopped.

“I had a race – she was actually in at Ellis at the end of July – our plan was to run there to get to this race, but they canceled the races because of the heat,” Medina continued. “I didn’t want to just run her – I just figured we’d bring her up here and train her to this race. We schooled her here and she was absolutely perfect. She’s been perfect since we got here. I knew she was sitting on a good one. I was hoping to get blacktype, but I didn’t think she was going to run bonkers like that.”

Praying was piloted to victory by Eric Cancel after her named rider Jose Lezcano was injured Friday at Saratoga. She exited the outermost post 5 and settled at the back as the sharp-starting Long Neck Paula took command through the early stages.

Flat Out Time and Stone Smuggler tracked close behind the pacesetter with a wide-running Praying biding her time in fourth ahead of Delightful Claire, the post-time favorite and expected pace presence who stumbled at the start under Luan Machado. Long Neck Paula marked the quarter-mile in 22.70 seconds over the fast footing, and Ricardo Santana, Jr. nudged along Stone Smuggler to take up second position over Flat Out Time.

The field exited the turn and Cancel made his move aboard Praying, who was already improving position three-wide and accelerated with another burst when Cancel shook the reins. Long Neck Paula dug in under encouragement from Dylan Davis, but Praying was rolling through the half-mile in 45.74 and Delightful Claire was finding her best stride widest of all.

Praying took command passing the eighth pole and drew off impressively to post the 3 1/2-length score in a final time of 1:10.10 over Delightful Claire, who showed courage to get her nose down over Flat Out Time at the wire after her poor start took her out of her preferred running style. Long Neck Paula and Stone Smuggler completed the order of finish while Rojo Rita was scratched.

Medina said Praying showed her class when second to the subsequent dual graded stakes-winning Rusty Arnold trainee Echo Sound in the Myrtlewood in October at Keeneland in addition to a second in the Southern Hospitality in March at Oaklawn Park.

“When she ran at Keeneland and was second to Echo Sound, she did all the dirty work that race,” he said of the prominent effort. “She chased a filly, put her away and then Rusty’s filly went right on by her and I don’t think there’s a better 3-year-old filly going three-quarters than that filly. I ran her at Oaklawn and she ran very well. The May race set us back. I thought she was sitting on a big one and I thought she was good enough to run with these.”

Cancel said delicate hands made for a divine victory.

“I had a wonderful trip. They told me just try to stay away from the filly’s mouth, try to keep her comfortable. That is what I did,” Cancel explained. “The post helped me 100 percent with it. I kind of felt like I had a lot of horse going to the three-eighths. I kind of knew [they] were going to have to run pretty hard down [to the wire] to beat her.

“Once I made the lead, she just kept on going,” he added. “Never gave up on me. I’m just really happy and grateful for the opportunity.”

Medina noted the Grade 2 Raven Run on October 18 at Keeneland is the next logical spot for Praying.

Machado said the Phil Bauer-trained Delightful Claire, the 3-4 mutuel favorite, was brave to recover from the stumbling beginning in her stakes debut off a local 9 1/4-length maiden romp on August 2 traveling seven furlongs.

“She ran amazing,” Machado said. “She was just cutting back in distance. She could’ve used a little more track, a little more distance would’ve helped, but she stumbled out of the gate. That kind of took me out of the race a little bit. That took her momentum away. I’m not saying it cost us the race, but that would be a factor. They took advantage of her missing the break. Then, she was great.”

Bred in Kentucky by Jeff Kerber, Praying was a $410,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and is out of the winning Bernardini mare Pray for Leslie, who also produced Grade 1-placed Alys Beach. Pray for Leslie is a half-sister to C J’s Gal, who produced Grade 3-winner Hidden Connection.

Praying banked $96,250 in victory while improving her record to 8-2-4-0 and returning $44.40 on a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga Race Course with a 14-race card, headlined by the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup in Race 5 – a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar – and the $135,000 Disco Partner in Race 10. First post is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.

Highlighted by the 107th running of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, a special edition of Saratoga Live presented by Caesars Sportsbook will air on FOX from 1-2 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, August 31.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit nyra.com/tv.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at NYRABets.com.