Saratoga Race Course Notes 07/23

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Saratoga Race Course Notes

Wet Paint earns 89 BSF for G1 CCA Oaks triumph
Cody’s Wish works for G1 Whitney; Elite Power breezes for G1 Vanderbilt
G1 Oaks-winner Pretty Mischievous works in company for G1 Test
Roses for Debra garners career-high 99 BSF for G3 Caress victory
G1 Kentucky Derby-winner Mage to take his show on the road for G1 Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Wet Paint equaled a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure for her rallying neck triumph in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks, a nine-furlong test for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by two-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Brad Cox, Wet Paint notched the first Grade 1 victory of her career with a last-to-first rush under Flavien Prat to collar a game Sacred Wish in deep stretch and complete the course in 1:50.68.

“She came back pretty tired and jogged up the road good,” said Blake Cox, Brad Cox’s son and assistant. “She ate up great and she was hitting snooze a little bit this morning. She ran hard and she kept coming. She didn’t get much pace, but it’s always good when it works out.”

Wet Paint entered from a runner-up effort to Hoosier Philly in the Monomoy Girl on June 17 at Ellis Park and was due to face that rival again before the Tom Amoss trainee scratched yesterday morning due to a foot issue. Wet Paint now boasts three graded stakes triumphs after taking a pair of Grade 3s this winter at Oaklawn Park in the Honeybee and Fantasy.

Cox added that the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama going 10 furlongs on August 19 remains the logical next race for Wet Paint.

Yesterday, Cox sent out FMQ Stables’ graded stakes-placed Saudi Crown for a sharp five-furlong breeze in 1:00.85 in company with Everso Mischievous [1:00.65] over Saratoga’s Oklahoma dirt training track.

“He worked great and came out of it good,” said Cox. “Options are still open to where we go next.”

Saudi Crown was last seen finishing a game second to Fort Bragg in the Grade 3 Dwyer going a one-turn mile on July 1 at Belmont Park. He came up a nose shy of victory after setting the tempo under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano and bravely battling Fort Bragg to the wire.

While Fort Bragg has set his sights on the seven-furlong Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 26 for his next start, Cox said Saudi Crown will likely be pointed to two-turn races going forward.

“We’re trying to get him around two turns,” Cox said. “I’m not really sure where that will be yet, but that’s the plan.”

Qatar Racing’s Everso Mischievous finished a hard-trying second to Heartbreaker in a one-mile allowance on June 22 at Ellis Park. The son of Into Mischief broke his maiden two starts back at Churchill Downs going seven furlongs, which Cox said will be the target distance for the bay colt’s next outing.

“He’s going to point for a ‘1X’ here cutting back a little bit going seven-eighths,” said Cox. “He’s a nice horse. We added a set of blinkers with not too much cup and it seems like he’s more focused and on the bridle.”

Out of the graded stakes-winning Medaglia d’Oro mare Ever So Clever, Everso Mischievous sold for $600,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and for $85,000 at the 2022 Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale.

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Cody’s Wish works for G1 Whitney; Elite Power breezes for G1 Vanderbilt

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Cody’s Wish worked five-eighths solo in 1:02.81 Sunday over the Oklahoma dirt training track in preparation for the nine-furlong Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on August 5 at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 5-year-old Curlin bay was piloted through his breeze by assistant trainer Neil Poznansky, who guided the reigning Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner through splits of 26 2/5 and 38 2/5 before galloping out in 1:15 1/5, 1:27 1/5 and 1:41 3/5.

“He just let him off the bridle and he picked it right up,” said Mott

Cody’s Wish, a nine-time winner from 13 starts, heads into the Whitney on a six-race win streak led by Grade 1 scores in the Forego in August at Saratoga, the Dirt Mile in November at Keeneland, the Churchill Downs in May and the Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 at Belmont. He will look to secure his first win beyond one-mile, while making his first start at nine furlongs since a third-place finish in a maiden tilt here in July 2021.

Juddmonte’s reigning Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint-winner and Champion Male Sprinter Elite Power worked a half-mile solo in 51 1/5 Sunday over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the six-furlong Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on July 29 at the Spa.

The 5-year-old Curlin horse has won seven straight starts dating to a nine-length maiden romp last June at Churchill en route to graded scores in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November at Keeneland, the Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in February at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia, and the Grade 2 True North last out on June 10 at Belmont Park.

Elite Power was clocked an easy opening split of 24 and change by NYRA clockers Sunday in a breeze that Mott indicated was similar to the chestnut’s half-mile work in 51.11 on October 28 over the Oklahoma ahead of his Breeders’ Cup coup.

“That’s him by himself,” Mott said. “He’s run well off of those kind of works right before his races. He did that in Saudi. He was working 51 before he won the Breeders’ Cup. He wouldn’t wow anyone when he’s working by himself.”

Frank Fletcher Racing Operations’ Kentucky homebred Frank’s Rockette will exit post 2 under Junior Alvarado in Wednesday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap, a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares.

The 6-year-old Into Mischief bay finished second to Kimari in this event last year – one of three runner-up efforts in graded stakes at the Spa for Frank’s Rockette to go along with a win in the 2020 Grade 2 Prioress.

Frank’s Rockette is a perfect 2-for-2 this season, taking the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie in March at Gulfstream Park and the Roxelana in April at Churchill Downs in which she bested multiple graded stakes-placed Last Leaf with graded-stakes winner Pretty Birdie in third.

“She always runs pretty good fresh,” Mott said. “We’ve skipped a race or two we could have run in if we were that anxious to run. She ran well in this race and ran well over this track before.”

The compact four-horse Honorable Miss field includes the 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Echo Zulu, who is undefeated in two starts at the Spa; and graded stakes-winners Maryquitecontrary and Dr B.

LNJ Foxwoods’ Kentucky homebred Scotland earned a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure for his 3 1/4-length score in the restricted Curlin on Friday here, taking both his stakes and two-turn debut in style.

Mott said the 10-furlong Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on August 26 is the likely target for Scotland.

“He came back good. We’ll talk to the connections, but I’d love to think about the Travers,” Mott said.

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G1 Oaks-winner Pretty Mischievous works in company for G1 Test

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred Pretty Mischievous, who has won back-to-back Grade 1 events, worked five-eighths in 1:01.66 Saturday over the Spa main track in company with multiple graded stakes-placed Gilmore.

Trained by Brendan Walsh, Pretty Mischievous has won 6-of-8 starts for purse earnings in excess of $1.4 million. She captured the nine-furlong Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in May at Churchill Downs ahead of a last-out score in the Grade 1 Acorn travelling a one-turn 1 1/16-miles on June 9 at Belmont. She will shorten up again next out for the Spa’s seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 Test on August 5.

Walsh said he was pleased with Saturday’s breeze in which she edged

Gilmore, who is entered in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam here, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomores.

“I thought she worked very well. She was cantering up outside him and worked good,” Walsh said. “He actually worked fine, too. He’s not a very good workhorse, never has been. He actually works a lot better with blinkers, but I left the blinkers off him because I didn’t want him to do too much a week out. His work was fine, too. Sometimes, she makes horses look like maybe they’re not working as well, but he worked away fine.”

Gilmore, a Twirling Candy colt, worked a sharp half-mile in 47.87 in company with Pretty Mischievous over Big Sandy on June 3 ahead of a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun on the same weekend as the Acorn.

“He had blinkers on the week before at Belmont. He had a bit of a lull the week before he worked and I wanted to get a nice work in him,” Walsh explained.

Pretty Mischievous, by Into Mischief, will shorten up to seven furlongs for the first time since October when capturing an optional-claiming sprint over a sloppy and sealed main track at Churchill Downs.

Walsh said his filly is up for the task which will feature a confrontation with the undefeated Maple Leaf Mel.

“Any Grade 1 is going to be tough, but there’ll be plenty of pace there. She has bags of pace, herself,” Walsh said. “We could turn around after the Test and decide she’s better going seven-eighths or a one-turn mile or a one-turn mile-and-a-sixteenth. She has bags of pace. You can see that in her works. She just cruises along.”

Fortune Farm, Robert Hahn, Emcee Stable and It’s All About The Girls Stable’s Secret Money picked up a graded placing with a third-place finish in Friday’s Grade 3 Lake George, a one-mile test for sophomore fillies over yielding Spa turf.

The Good Samaritan bay, who exited the outermost post 8 under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, was stretching out for the first time and set the pace before acquiescing to finish one length back of the victorious Surge Capacity and a neck in arrears of runner-up Tax Implications.

“If the ground was a little livelier, she might have been able to steal it,” Walsh said. “When I saw the 49 and 4 for the half, I thought they’ll have to run to get her but maybe the mile just stretches her. She got to the lead easy enough and I was quite happy with what Javier did. She ran a very credible race.”

Walsh said Secret Money, who sports a ledger of 5-2-0-1, will take a brief hiatus.

“I’ll kick her out today to the farm for a week and see how she comes back in,” Walsh said.

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Roses for Debra garners career-high 99 BSF for G3 Caress victory

John O’Meara’s Roses for Debra has a variety of options going forward after scoring her first graded stakes win in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Caress, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for older fillies and mares, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Christophe Clement said the daughter of Liam’s Map, who is a perfect 3-for-3 since entering his care, came back from the race in good order Sunday.

“Impressive race yesterday. She’s had three starts for us and been impressive,” said Clement.

Clement indicated a number of potential spots for Roses for Debra, including the $150,000 Smart N Fancy for older fillies and mares sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on August 25 at the Spa; the Grade 2, $1 million Ladies Sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs on September 9 at Kentucky Downs; or the Grade 2, $300,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs on September 18 at Presque Isle Downs.

“We’ve got a lot of options. There’s a stakes coming back in Saratoga, there’s a stakes at Presque Isle Downs in September, and there’s a stakes at Kentucky Downs in September,” Clement said.

Roses for Debra boasts a 8-6-1-0 record after earning a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure in the Caress, leading Clement to consider an engagement at this year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint for the talented filly.

“It’d be foolish not to think about it,” Clement said.

Roses for Debra’s win streak includes a pair of allowance coups in May and July at Pimlico Race Course and Belmont Park, respectively. Before then, she was trained by Michelle Brafford and hit the board in each of her first four starts sprinting over the Presque Isle Downs synthetic, including a win in the Malvern Rose last July.

In addition to Roses for Debra, Clement also sent out Siena Farm, Michael Kisber, Peter Deutsch, and The Elkstone Group’s Queen Picasso to a runner-up effort in yesterday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Ontario Colleen Stakes, a one-mile turf route for 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine.

The 2-for-2 Kingman-filly was entered in Friday’s Grade 3 Lake George at Saratoga, but scratched following a week of heavy showers that led to a yielding surface. The filly was shipped up on short notice, but performed admirably with a pacesetting effort where she was overtaken in the final sixteenth and came up 1 1/2-lengths shy of the victorious Mohawk Trail.

“She ran good. She’s probably better six or seven furlongs,” Clement explained. “She looked great at the quarter pole and finished second. It’s OK, we will bring her back in distance.”

The lightly-raced Queen Picasso scored a Grade 3 triumph at second asking in the Soaring Softly at Belmont Park in May following a debut victory going 1 1/16-miles over the Gulfstream Park turf.

Two other notable Clement runners breezed a half-mile over the Oklahoma training turf Sunday, with Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational third-place finisher Mondego [49.58] working in company with dual group-winner Malavath [49.49].

Clement, who described the work as, “very good,” said Malavath will be pointed to the restricted $135,000 De La Rose – a one-mile test for older fillies and mares on August 2 – while Mondego will aim for the Grade 1, $600,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational at 1 3/16-mile on August 5.

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G1 Kentucky Derby-winner Mage to take his show on the road for G1 Travers

From the moment Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Mage crossed the wire third in the Grade 1 Preakness, the connections had their minds set on the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on August 26 at Saratoga Race Course.

Following a hard-fought second in Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, co-owner Ramiro Restrepo said the 10-furlong Travers remains the primary objective for the Good Magic chestnut.

Owned by Restrepo in partnership with OGMA Investments, Sterling Racing and CMNWLTH and trained by Gustavo Delgado, Mage settled in between horses in sixth going down the backstretch of the Haskell while odds-on favorite Arabian Knight controlled the pace. Mage appeared poised for victory at the top of the stretch with Geaux Rocket Ride, trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella for Pin Oak Stud, also launching a rally. Mage battled gamely in the stretch run, but could not reel in Geaux Rocket Ride, who won by 1 3/4 lengths.

Mage’s Haskell effort garnered a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, and reminded Restrepo of the colt’s runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in April at Gulfstream Park, where he finished a game second and one length behind Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Forte, who targets Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy presented by DK Horse at the Spa.

“Sometimes, you get a win without winning. It gave us a lot of Florida Derby feels, kind of the same mentality,” Restrepo said by phone Sunday morning. “It was an eerily similar run to the Florida Derby, and hats off to Richard Mandella and Pin Oak. They ran a great race yesterday.”

Mage graduated at first asking going seven furlongs on January 28 on Gulfstream Park’s Pegasus World Cup undercard. The 3 3/4-length win prompted his connections to try the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in March at the South Florida oval where he finished a distant fourth to Forte as well as Kentucky Derby alumnus Rocket Can and Cyclone Mischief en route to the Florida Derby.

Mage took his connections on quite the ride when capturing the ‘Run for the Roses’ at 15-1 odds. The triumph fulfilled one part of their dreams, with the other part being a triumph in the Travers.

Restrepo said a Travers win would be equally as important to Delgado, who captured the 2016 Grade 1 Test at the Spa with 55-1 longshot Paola Queen.

The last horse to sweep the Kentucky Derby-Travers double was Jim Tafel’s Street Sense in 2007.

“For us, the horse has been realizing our dreams since Day One,” Restrepo said. “Everyone in horse racing knows the Kentucky Derby is the holy grail and he got us the win there. That’s been a huge dream fulfilled. Gustavo’s greatest success other than winning the Kentucky Derby has been winning the Test at Saratoga. He’s run up there for multiple summers there with a barn of horses. He loves Saratoga and the Travers is probably his second biggest goal.”

Restrepo, a fifth generation horseman who turns 45 on Travers week, also holds Saratoga in high regard.

“I’ve only missed three Saratogas in my life. I’ve hot walked there. I’ve led horses over to the paddock at Saratoga,” Restrepo recalled. “The Travers is a dream, and having your colors on that canoe in the infield pond is a dream, having your colors painted on the jockey statue is a dream. Sam Herzberg of Sterling Stables is a native New Yorker who loves Saratoga and the CMNWTLH boys [Chase Chamberlin and Brian Doxtator] appreciate the tradition and history of Saratoga. For all of us, the Kentucky Derby and the Travers are our two biggest goals. From the moment he crossed the wire at the Preakness, that was our mindset – how can we get this colt to the Travers?

“Our horse has run in four straight Grade 1s, hit the board in the other three including an American Classic,” Restrepo continued. “The Travers would be his fifth straight Grade 1. It’s been four amazing efforts put forth and hopefully the Travers is the fifth.”

Restrepo reported that Mage would likely ship to Delgado’s string at Saratoga on Monday.

Bred in Kentucky by Robert Clay’s Grandview Equine, Mage is out of the graded stakes-placed Big Brown mare Puca and was bought for $290,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He has banked in excess of $2.4 million and boasts a 6-2-2-1 record.