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Cavallo Bay brings experience to competitive G3 With Anticipation

by Mary Eddy

Godolphin’s British homebred Cavallo Bay brings the most experience with a 2-for-3 record into Thursday’s Grade 3, $175,000 With Anticipation, a 1 1/16-mile inner turf route for juveniles, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Charlie Appleby, who has won 12 graded stakes in North America this year, the Pinatubo bay was a winner at second asking in a 7 1/4-furlong allowance over the all-weather surface on June 20 at Wolverhampton, besting next-out winner Brindavan by a half-length.

The talented colt followed with another gutsy half-length score when making his turf debut in a seven-furlong allowance on July 4 at Haydock. There, he rallied in the final quarter-mile to just get up in time and score the victory over stablemate Olympus Point in a final time of 1:30.64 over good footing.

Chris Connett, traveling assistant to Appleby, said he was pleased with the first workout the colt posted since clearing quarantine when covering a half-mile in 52.52 seconds over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training turf Friday in company with Al Qudra.

“He’s a lovely, big animal and he’s taken to it really well,” said Connett. “He’s well-placed and Charlie has picked a great spot for him. Whatever he does, he’ll be learning on the job a little bit. He’s run three times and won twice, and he deserves a step up to graded races.”

Cavallo Bay is out of the Grade 1-winning Godolphin color-bearer La Pelosa, who won Woodbine’s Grade 1 Natalma in 2018 for Appleby.

Dylan Davis has the call from post 8.

Additional European interest will be featured in the form of Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael Caruso's Zulu Kingdom [post 7, Flavien Prat], who makes his North American debut for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown off an impressive 3 1/2-length debut graduation on June 4 at Saint-Cloud in France.

Previously trained by Andre Fabre, the Irish-bred son of Ten Sovereigns bested a field of 12 in his debut, drawing away handily in the final stages of the seven-furlong test over soft footing. He has since posted five works over the Oklahoma training turf, most recently covering a half-mile in 50.25 seconds Friday in company with maiden-winner Clever Mischief.

“I’ve been pleased with how he’s been coming along,” said Brown. “He fits into our program and he’s ready to run.”

Kenneth Ramsey’s stakes-placed homebred Reach for the Rose [post 6, Edgard Zayas] returns to stakes company for conditioner Saffie Joseph, Jr. off a dominant 5 1/2-length graduation traveling one-mile in an off-the-turf event on August 3 here.

The Audible dark bay finished a 1 1/2-length second on debut in the five-furlong Royal Palm Juvenile in May at Gulfstream Park won by the impressive Gabaldon, who went on to finish a good second in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has entered two in search of a record-extending seventh win in this event, represented this year by Tenacious Leader [post 9, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] and the maiden Nudge [post 1, Ricardo Santana, Jr.].

Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable’s Tenacious Leader makes his turf debut off a second-out graduation going one-mile in an off-the-turf maiden on August 10 here. The Not This Time dark bay won with relative ease over six rivals, working an in-and-out trip under Ortiz, Jr. to draw clear by 4 3/4 lengths over Clock Tower. The effort was awarded a much-improved 74 Beyer Speed Figure after earning just a 44 Beyer for a dismal debut sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs in July here.

Pletcher said he is also considering the Listed $1 million Juvenile Mile on September 8 at Kentucky Downs for Tenacious Leader after he worked a half-mile in 48 seconds flat over the Oklahoma turf in company with multiple graded stakes-placed Talk of the Nation on Friday.

“I thought he looked pretty good,” Pletcher said of the work. “We were originally looking at the Kentucky Downs million-dollar race, but I will talk to the connections and make a decision here shortly.”

Repole Stable’s maiden Nudge showed great improvement last out when stretched out to the With Anticipation distance and switched to turf for the first time, running third in a July 20 maiden here won by returning rival Without Caution. The Uncle Mo gray was a distant fourth on debut when sprinting five furlongs in June over the Aqueduct Racetrack main track.

John Gunther’s Kentucky homebred Without Caution [post 2, Manny Franco] steps up off his aforementioned maiden win on July 20 here for trainer Cherie DeVaux. The Without Parole bay upset the nine-horse field at odds of 13-1 after a stalking trip engineered by Jose Lezcano.

Without Caution is out of the Indian Charlie mare Mama Tembu, a half-sister to Stage Magic, who produced 2018 Triple Crown hero Justify.

Completing the field are the New York-bred maiden-winner Dancing Bear [post 5, Romero Maragh] for trainer Carlos Martin; along with maidens Test Score [post 3, Junior Alvarado] for trainer Graham Motion and the George Weaver-trained Good Long Cry [post 4, Eric Cancel]. Uncaged and Joey Muscles have been entered for the main track-only.

The With Anticipation is slated as Race 10 on Thursday’s 11-race card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

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