Saratoga Race Course Notes | ||||
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Trainer Bob Baffert sent out his two big 3-year-olds for workouts over the Saratoga main track Wednesday morning, and both Haskell Invitational winner Coil and Kentucky Oaks heroine Plum Pretty turned in sharp efforts. Mike Pegram’s chestnut colt Coil stepped through the gap on to the main track at 8:50 a.m. and warmed up under Shaun Bridgmohan before breaking off down the backside behind recent 3-year-old allowance winner Saddleranch for a four-furlong work. Coil, who is pointing toward the Grade 1, $1 million Travers on August 27, engaged Saddleranch on the outside coming off the turn and the two sprinted home side by side with Coil finishing slightly ahead at the end. The NYRA clockers got Coil in 46.15 and Saddleranch in 46.51, the top two works of the day at the distance. “I told him to go 48, but he couldn’t have done it easier,” Baffert said immediately afterward from his grandstand perch. “It looked like they were going in 49, didn’t they?” At 9:08 a.m., Peachtree Stable’s Plum Pretty worked for a possible start in the Grade 1, $500,000 TVG Alabama on August 20 with a powerful six-furlong effort. Also under Bridgmohan, the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro began her run about 15 to 20 lengths behind two other workers on the track and was easily by them inside the eighth pole. NYRA clockers caught Plum Pretty in a fast 1:11.87 with a gallop out in 1:24.76. Plum Pretty was the only worker at the distance for the day. “She looked good. Got a little tired at the end there,” Baffert said. Back at his barn, Baffert expressed optimism for both runners. “He didn’t get tired or anything,” Baffert said of Coil. “I’ve been watching him on the Oklahoma track and he doesn’t look that great on it. He worked fast (today), but he sort of goes through the motions. He’s got a good mind. The other horse (Saddleranch) is a very good work horse.” Of Plum Pretty, who lost a sensational stretch duel with TVG Alabama probable starter It’s Tricky on July 23 in the Grade 1 TVG Coaching Club American Oaks, Baffert said, “When she works like that, she is really on her game.” Asked if the work convinced him to run the TVG Alabama, Baffert said, “We’ll let [owner] John Fort make that call.” Fort, standing nearby, threw it back in Baffert’s court. “You’re the boss around here.” “I wasn’t thinking Alabama,” Baffert said, “but after watching her work today, she deserves a chance. It’s a tough race, but she’s speed, so … She looks good. Baffert, who planned to fly back to Del Mar on Wednesday afternoon, also mentioned West Virginia Derby winner Prayer for Relief as a possible Travers entrant. He also is mulling running Saddleranch in the Grade 1 Foxwoods King’s Bishop on Travers Day, although said he likely will opt for a softer spot. Mystery still surrounds Baffert’s speedy multiple graded stakes winner The Factor, who Baffert has considered for a run at Saratoga if he can get the son of War Front ready in time. “I’m going to give him a serious work when I get back [to Del Mar], then I’ll know,” Baffert said, declining to reveal the date of the workout. “His next work will be serious.” * * * Grade 1 Preakness hero Shackleford is also set to the return to the worktab for the first time since his neck loss to Coil in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 31 at Monmouth Park. Trainer Dale Romans said he is planning a six-furlong breeze on Sunday in anticipation of a likely start in the Grade 1 Travers on August 27, although there remains an outside chance Shackleford will go in the Grade 1 Woodward against older horses the following week. * * * Trainer Wesley Ward confirmed plans to take crack sprinter Flashpoint to the Grade 1 Foxwoods King’s Bishop on August 27, Travers Day. “It’s my reason for living right now,” said Ward, currently based at Aqueduct Racetrack, via telephone. Flashpoint, who has won his three sprint starts by a combined 20 ½ lengths, will enter the Foxwoods King’s Bishop off a seven-length domination against three opponents in the Grade 3 Jersey Shore at Monmouth Park on July 3. “He’s tearing the barn down,” said Ward. “He’s done everything we’ve asked and is training outstandingly.” Flashpoint turned in a 1:01.05 five-furlong breeze at Aqueduct on Friday and is scheduled to complete his workout assignments at the Big A. Following his final breeze, he’ll ship to Saratoga where he will gallop the week of the race, Ward said. Owned by Peachtree Stable, Flashpoint began his career racing for trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., for whom he debuted a 6 ¼-length winner on the inner track in January and captured the Grade 2 Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park in February. He was unsuccessful in a pair of route races, finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in March, his final start for Dutrow, and 14th in the Grade 1 Preakness in May. The Foxwoods King’s Bishop is shaping up to be a corker, with Uncle Mo training toward the seven-furlong race and The Factor also under consideration. That said, Ward believes Flashpoint fits well with that group. “He’s on target for a big one,” said Ward. “There’s ample spacing from his resounding victory in the Jersey Shore. He came out of that race with resounding confidence.” * * * Grade 1 Carter winner Morning Line, last in the Grade 1 Whitney on August 6, departed Saratoga Race Course Wednesday afternoon bound for owner Will Farish’s Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky. “We took some X-rays of his knees and ankles, and nothing has changed there,” said Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito. “He looks good. They’ll give him some time off, and then let [Dr. Larry] Bramlage look at him and see what he says. Hopefully, he’ll come back and we’ll see the real Morning Line, because that sure wasn’t him the other day.” Prior to the Whitney, the 4-year-old son of Tiznow was fifth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile, which marked the first time since his debut at Aqueduct in 2009 that he had finished off the board. Overall, Morning Line is 4-4-1 from 12 starts with earnings of more than $1.2 million. * * * On Tuesday, Convocation zipped a half-mile in 49.44, fifth fastest of 21 at the distance. “He’s doing fine, and we’re still looking at the Woodward as a possibility,” said Jerkens of the Centennial Farms color-bearer. Convocation is 4-6-2 from 17 lifetime starts, most recently coming home a 3 ¼-length winner of an optional claimer at the Woodward distance of 1 1/8 miles on July 29. Victorious in a similar spot last year, he was fourth in the 2010 Woodward behind Quality Road. John Oxley’s promising 2-year-old filly Delightful Magic likely will bypass Sunday’s Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes to run in a maiden race on the same card, according to Norman Casse, assistant to his father, trainer Mark Casse. The daughter of Mineshaft finished a strong second behind likely Adirondack Stakes favorite My Miss Aurelia in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race July 22. * * * The spotlight is on 3-year-old fillies next weekend at Saratoga, with Saturday’s Grade 1 TVG Alabama drawing divisional stars and Sunday’s Grade 2 Woodford Reserve Lake Placid bringing together talented turf fillies. Expected to head the field for the 1 ¼-mile TVG Alabama is Godolphin Stable’s TVG Acorn and TVG Coaching Club American Oaks heroine It’s Tricky. According to NYRA stakes coordinator Andrew Byrnes, she is likely to face Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner and TVG Coaching Club runner-up Plum Pretty, Queens Plate and Woodbine Oaks winner Inglorious, Grade 2 Delaware Oaks winner and Kentucky Oaks runner-up St. John’s River and possibly Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan winner Royal Delta, third in the TVG Coaching Club. Royal Delta is also being considered for Sunday’s Grade 2 Woodford Reserve Lake Placid, her trainer, Bill Mott, said Monday. Probable to head the field in that 1 1/8-mile turf event is Grade 2 Lake George winner Winter Memories, undefeated in three starts in graded stakes company in 2011. Among the fillies lining up to face her are More Than Real, who handed Winter Memories the only defeat of her career in last year’s Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and was most recently third in the Lake George, as well as Grade 2 Herecomesthebride winner Dynamic Holiday, Grade 3 Virginia Oaks winner Exited.
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