Susie Raisher Photo

A Raving Beauty tops Brown’s Thursday turf workers, Rushing Fall back in action in Saturday’s G2 Lake Placid

by NYRA Press Office

• Catholic Boy ‘makes life easy,’ on target for G1 Travers
• Piedi Bianchi looks to tackle serious test in G1 Alabama
• Stewart confident in homebred Alabama starter Auspicious Babe
• Talented sprinter Whitmore settled in as he preps for G1 Forego
• Rudy Rodriguez shooting for a Saratoga Dew hat trick on Friday
• Full field set to line up for Friday’s $100,000 Skidmore

Trainer Chad Brown sent out a plethora of turf workers to Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track Thursday morning as his contingent readies for the later stages of the summer meet.

A Raving Beauty, targeting the Grade 2, $400,000 Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa on Travers Day, August 25, breezed a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.65 in company with Santa Monica, returning off a half-length win in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly on June 30 at Woodbine.

Third behind Ultra Brat and stablemate Sistercharlie in the Grade 1 Diana on July 21, A Raving Beauty will be looking to rebound in the 1 1/16-mile Ballston Spa. The 5-year-old Mastercraftsman mare won the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 12 in her North American debut and then took the Grade 1 Longines Just a Game on June 9, Belmont Stakes Day, at Belmont Park.

Brown said the English-bred 5-year-old Santa Monica will get the chance to race at the Spa for the first time in the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls on September 1. Contested over 1 3/8 miles on the turf, the Glens Falls is the last turf stakes for fillies and mares before the meet closes.

Santa Monica was originally scheduled to run in the Fasig-Tipton Waya on August 12 but was scratched when the race was moved off the turf to 1 ¼ miles on the main track.

Also under consideration for the Glens Falls is Homeland Security, who breezed four furlongs in 49.31 seconds in company with Onthemoonagain. The 4-year-old Smart Strike filly is coming off a successful stakes debut last out, winning the River Memories on July 8 at Belmont in her sixth career start.

Call Provision, fourth in the Grade 1 Man o’ War on May 12, is set to return to stakes competition following a win and a second-place finish in a pair of optional claimers. The 5-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid will be stretching out to 1 5/8 miles in the $100,000 John’s Call on Wednesday, Brown said.

The trainer added that Good Magic and Gronkowski – his two expected entrants for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on August 25 – are training well and are expected to turn in their final works this weekend for the Mid-Summer Derby.

“They’re doing super, so we’ll just base their last workouts around the weather,” Brown said. “I have a little flexibility. They are both fit and doing well. So, we’ll go either Saturday or Sunday.”

Good Magic put in his first breeze on the Saratoga main track on August 11 for his first work overall since winning the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 29 at Monmouth Park. The Eclipse Award-winning 2017 champion juvenile male is 3-3-1 in eight starts with his only off-the-board effort coming with a fourth-place finish in the Preakness on May 19 at Pimlico.

Gronkowski, the runner-up to Triple Crown-winner Justify in the Belmont Stakes, has been training at Saratoga since July.

Rushing Fall, installed as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid for 3-year-old fillies on the Mellon turf course, is making her first start since she finished second to Toinette by a neck in the Grade 3 Edgewood on May 4 at Churchill. She started her career 4-for-4, including a win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in November at Del Mar.

Drawing post 6 in the seven-horse field, Rushing Fall will have the services of Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano as she stretches out to the Lake Placid distance of 1 1/8 miles for the first time. Rushing Fall has also done well under soft or yielding turf, with wins in the Grade 3 Jessamine on October 11 and the Grade 2 Appalachian on April 8 at Keeneland under those conditions.

“I’m excited to get her back. She seems to be doing real well,” Brown said. “She shouldn’t have a problem handling the soft turf, if it does rain like it’s [forecast].”

Brown will also saddle Significant Form, who is 3-1 on the morning line and drew post 4 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. named to ride. After running fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 17 at Belmont at 1 ¼ miles, Significant Form will return to the distance at which she ran second to La Signare in the Grade 3 Wonder Again on June 7.

“I think the cutback to a mile and an eighth should help her; she’s doing very well,” Brown said.

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Catholic Boy ‘makes life easy,’ on target for G1 Travers

Grade 1 Belmont Derby winner Catholic Boy, set to switch surfaces after consecutive victories on turf, will likely breeze Sunday over Saratoga Race Course’s main track in his final serious move before the Grade 1 Travers August 25.

“He’s carrying great flesh and moving well,” reported trainer Jonathan Thomas of the More Than Ready colt, who races for Robert La Penta, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stable. “Javier [Castellano] seems pretty pleased with him. Sunday, weather permitting, we’ll look for more of the same from him, a continuation of what we’ve been seeing the past few weeks. We’ve been pleased with how he’s progressed, especially in the middle half of the year. He’s put on good weight and has muscled up.”

Catholic Boy has hit the board in all eight of his career starts, with five victories, including turf wins in the Grade 3 With Anticipation last season and the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge this year, as well as a 4 ½-length score in the Grade 2 Remsen last fall over Aqueduct Racetrack’s main track.

He began his 3-year-old campaign with a solid second in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, but was given time off after bleeding in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, in which he finished fourth. With Castellano aboard, he then eked out a hard-fought victory over Analyze It in the Pennine Ridge and duplicated that effort in the 1 ¼-mile Belmont Derby.

“He’s the kind of horse that makes life easy,” said Thomas. “We have all the faith in the world in Javier, and Manny [Franco] was huge in cultivating this horse as a 2-year-old. As well, you couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people than his owners.”

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Piedi Bianchi looks to tackle serious test in G1 Alabama

Piedi Bianchi will take a major step up on Saturday as she gets set to make her second start of the year in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama for 3-year-old fillies, said trainer Todd Pletcher on Thursday.

Owned by Nice Guys Stables, Madaket Stables, Jack Bick, and Jay Oringer, the Indiana-bred filly by Overanalyze was originally entered in the Indiana First Lady for state-breds at Indiana Grand on Wednesday as well as Thursday’s eighth race at the Spa, a one-mile allowance optional claiming event, before her connections opted for the 1 ¼-mile Grade 1.

Piedi Bianchi was Grade 1-placed as a 2-year-old, finishing second to Moonshine Memories in the Del Mar Debutante, and third in the Chandelier last fall under the tutelage of California-based trainer Doug O’Neill. She closed out her year with a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, where she was beaten 5 ¾ lengths by eventual champion Caledonian Road, and a third-place finish to Dream Tree in the Grade 1 Starlet in December.

She subsequently moved east, making her debut for the Pletcher barn in a six-furlong allowance race on June 24 at Belmont Park. In that effort, the gray filly raced wide and made up ground late, but couldn’t catch the top two and finished third by four lengths.

“I thought her comeback race was probably better than it looks on paper and we feel like this is a race we want to take a chance in,” said Pletcher.

“My concern is always that we’re going from one race off a layoff to a mile and a quarter,” he added. “She was one of the better 2-year-old fillies on the West Coast and she’s trained consistently well since we’ve had her, so hopefully we have her fit enough for the assignment.”

Piedi Bianchi was an $80,000 2-year-old-in-training purchase last year, and boasts $244,700 in earnings with a 1-2-3 record from seven starts. At 15-1 on the morning line, she will be ridden in the Alabama by Hall of Famer John Velazquez from the rail.

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Stewart confident in homebred Alabama starter Auspicious Babe

Rock Ridge Racing’s homebred Auspicious Babe will be giving up plenty of experience to the rest of the field in Saturday's Grade 1 Alabama at 1 ¼ miles while making just her fourth career start for trainer Dallas Stewart.

“Why not? Just five or six other horses, and a mile and a quarter,” Stewart said. “Has any of them run that far before? I think mine can. It's a Grade 1, and it'll make the whole family. It’s the same thing like Unbridled Forever, same thing like Lemons Forever. You win one Grade 1 and it makes the whole family. The people that have the mare, have her [Auspicious Babe]. They have a farm, why not?”

Auspicious Babe debuted on May 4 after missing her 2-year-old season due to an ankle injury. She tired after a half-mile in her unveiling and remained towards the back of the pack throughout the one-mile maiden special weight.

The bay Kentucky-bred returned 23 days later and closed from mid-pack to break her maiden by 1 ¾ lengths against seven others at 1 1/6 miles. She returned over a month later and bested another field of seven scoring by a length at the wire after sitting a close stalking trip against conditional claimers.

“She was impressive the last two races,” said Stewart. “She's a big, strong filly and I think she can go that far [1 1/4 miles]. She won the second time and I was like, ‘Let’s try [the Alabama]. I think she can go that far.’

“It's really worth the shot. [If] she gets beat, we'll take her back and run her somewhere else. Regroup,” he added. “She's just big and strong and she finishes a race. She's finished her last three races good at Churchill, that long stretch, she took them and got it done. I feel good about her.”

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Talented sprinter Whitmore settled in as he preps for G1 Forego

Multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter Whitmore has settled in well at Saratoga since arriving from Churchill Downs Sunday as he readies for a start in the Grade 1, $600,000 Forego on Travers Day, August 25, trainer and co-owner Ron Moquett said Thursday morning.

Whitmore, stationed at the Clark stakes barn, is coming off a pair of close runner-up finishes at Belmont Park, getting run down by Limousine Liberal in the Grade 2 Belmont Sprint Championship on July 7 and finishing just behind Imperial Hint in the Grade 2 True North on June 8. Since those races, the 5-year-old gelding has been training steadily at Churchill, which Moquett said should have him ready for the second half of the racing season.

“We like to leave him there to train. He trains well on that surface,” Moquett said. “We have a spa and all of the things he needs as part of the routine. His exercise rider and groom is there. We want to keep him happy and familiar there.”

Moquett said he plans to have Whitmore work on the main track on Saturday, but that may change if wet weather has an impact in the morning.

“Here in the rainforest that we call Saratoga, we’ll have to go around weather,” Moquett said with a laugh. “So far, I have run [horses] on so many drying out tracks or working [horses] on sloppy tracks. We’ll have to see what happens.”

The Forego, contested at seven furlongs, is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on November 3 at Churchill.

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Rudy Rodriguez shooting for a Saratoga Dew hat trick on Friday

On Friday at Saratoga, trainer Rudy Rodriguez will try for his third consecutive win in the $100,000 Saratoga Dew for New York-bred fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles with a pair of 5-year-olds in Frostie Anne and Frosty Margarita.

Frostie Anne, 7-5 on the morning line, comes in off five consecutive victories, including an allowance at the Saratoga Dew distance, while Frosty Margarita, tabbed at 7-2, is returning off four days’ rest following her two-length win in Monday’s Jack Betta Be Rite at Finger Lakes.

“I don’t know if we’re asking too much from [Frostie Anne], but the race doesn’t look that tough, and we’ll hope for the best,” said the trainer. “[Frosty Margarita] looks like she came back good. I don’t have to do anything anymore. I’ll just bring her to the paddock, and hopefully she performs.

“They’re both coming up from short rest, so you just have to be happy that they came back good out of their races so far,” he added. “So far, they’re both eating very good. They’re pretty strong fillies, nice-looking fillies, and I don’t think the races have taken too much out of them, at least that’s what they show in the morning.”

The duo of Frost Giant mares face a less experienced field. Pink Twist, trained by John Terranova at 6-1 on the morning line, comes off an allowance victory last Thursday at 1 1/8 miles, her second win in six starts. Land Mine, for trainer Phil Serpe, is exiting two victories at Aqueduct and a second-place effort at Saratoga against open company and is listed as the 3-1 second choice.

Rounding out the field are 4-1 shot Verdant Pastures for trainer Charlton Baker and Held Accountable, the lone 3-year-old in the race, also for Serpe, at 15-1.

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Full field set to line up for Friday’s $100,000 Skidmore

With 14 entered, Friday’s $100,000 Skidmore for juveniles going 5 ½ furlongs on the turf will feature a contentious group each looking to notch a stakes victory at Saratoga.

Swamp Rat and Yes and Yes will be representing the Phil Gleaves barn, both coming off maiden victories at double-digit odds at Belmont Park.

Swamp Rat was sent off at odds of 24-1 and rallyed from behind to win his debut by 2 ¾ lengths on June 17. He will depart from post 8 with Julien Leparoux aboard.

Yes and Yes won his debut by a nose on May 25 at leaving the gate at odds of 36-1.

“[Yes and Yes] wasn’t as far back as Swamp Rat in his debut because he’s got a bit more speed,” said Gleaves. “He looked good winning his race. He’s stepping up in distance for this race and depending on how he goes we’ll consider the [Grade 3, $150,000] With Anticipation. Same as for Swamp Rat, getting to that race for him starting here is our goal.”

Yes and Yes will leave from the rail with Rajiv Maragh in the irons.

Shang Shang Shang will take on males for trainer Wesley Ward, who also sends out Gins and Tins.

The juvenile Shanghai Bobby filly enters the Skidmore after winning the Group 2 Norfolk on June 21 at Royal Ascot. Gins and Tins, a 2-year-old Scat Daddy gelding, will make his stakes debut after breaking his maiden by four lengths on July 14 at Monmouth Park.

Shang Shang Shang will leave from post 2 with Joel Rosario aboard. Gins and Tins will depart from post 3 with Eric Cancel in the irons.

Also entering a pair of runners for Calumet Farm is trainer Todd Pletcher with Good Good and Lexitonian, the latter of which is entered for the main track only.

A son of Quality Road, Good Good won his debut on the dirt on June 30 at Gulfstream Park. Lexitonian won his debut on June 27 at Belmont and returned to finish sixth in the Grade 3 Sanford on July 21.

“We worked him [Good Good] on the dirt here when we were considering the Saratoga Special and then we worked him on the turf here. I thought he actually worked better on the turf, so we’re opting for this spot,” said Pletcher. It seems like some Quality Road’s , like the filly that won the stakes yesterday [Stillwater Cove], have done well on the turf. I thought with his physique, he might take to it.”

Rounding out the field is Carter Cat, Sir Turebadour, Chase Greatness, Chattel, and Stayonthegrind. Backtohisroots is also entered for the main track only.