Minorinconvenience makes a slight turnback in $150K Funny Cide

Minorinconvenience cuts back in distance for Wednesday’s $150,000 Funny Cide, a six-furlong sprint for New York-bred 2-year-olds, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained and-co-owned by Amelia Green with Amanda Gillman, the Mendelssohn colt graduated impressively at second asking, drawing clear by 10 1/2-lengths in an off-the-turf state-bred maiden over seven-furlongs of muddy and sealed footing on July 31 here.

With returning pilot Ricardo Santana, Jr. up, Minorinconvenience tracked Force through splits of 23.24 seconds and 47.20 before advancing to the front and opening up a seven-length lead at the stretch call. The talented colt crossed the wire a ridden-out winner in a final time of 1:25.61 to earn a field-best 63 Beyer Speed Figure.

The victory provided Green, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, with her first win at the Spa – a result made even more impactful having selected the horse with Gillman, also a former Pletcher employee, for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.

“It was very exciting, obviously, being our first winner here at Saratoga and owning it with Amanda - and being a horse we picked out ourselves at the sales as a yearling makes it even more special,” Green said.

Minorinconvenience [post 5, Ricardo Santana, Jr., 122 pounds] is out of the winning Mission Impazible mare Skyler’s Lil Cutie, a half-sister to turf stakes winner Cloud Control.

Green said it was pedigree that led her to try the colt on turf where he had a difficult debut on July 4 here as the mutuel favorite, bumping with rivals out of the gate only to bore out around the far turn when last-of-7.

“His turf breeze was very good, but he'd done nothing wrong on the dirt. When it came off that day, we weren't scared to run on the dirt anyway,” Green said.

Green said Minorinconvenience has trained well out of his maiden win, including a half-mile breeze in 48.22 August 17 over the main track in company with 3-year-old colt Desperate Proposal.

“He held his own and breezed head-to-head with him. He's always been a good workhorse. I put him with older horses in the mornings, and he seems to hold his own with them,” Green said.

Gillman said there was lots to like about Minorinconvenience at the sale.

“He was a very well balanced, well-rounded colt with a good mind on him. There wasn't anything to not like. The uncomplicated ones are the best ones to find,” Gillman said.

Both Green and Gillman are looking forward to Wednesday’s stakes debut with the former noting the turnback in distance is only a minor inconvenience.

“I would rather it be seven [furlongs]. I think we'd have an advantage at seven having already won at that distance but nothing we can do about that,” Green said. “I think he has enough speed for the six furlongs. I’m not too concerned about the distance. Ultimately, he's a horse that I think will want to go longer but he’s training forwardly enough that I don’t think the six will be an issue.”

Minorinconvenience was bred by Steve Barberino.

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart will send out a pair of contenders in maiden winner Toga Twist [post 2, Manny Franco, 122 pounds] and first-time starter Fourth and One [post 3, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 118 pounds].

Legion Racing, Flash Toga Farm, Echo Racing and Stephen Lovelette’s Toga Twist, by Omaha Beach, broke inward before dueling with pacesetting Valentine Crusader in his July 6 debut here in a restricted 5 1/2-furlong maiden sprint. A head separated the duo at the stretch call with 6 1/2-lengths back to the rest of the field as a gritty match race to the wire ensued with Toga Twist prevailing by a nose in a final time of 1:06.34. The winning effort earned a 62 Beyer.

“He has a lot of ability and natural speed, so I wasn't surprised he put himself there,” Englehart said of the prominent effort on debut. “He came out of that last race good, and it seems like he's moving forward the right way.”

The Gold Square-bred Toga Twist, who was purchased for $75,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Yearling Sale, is out of the five-time winning Super Ninety Nine mare Little Miss Raelyn – a debut winner in August 2018 for Englehart at Laurel Park.

“I liked his overall look at the sale, and he checked all our boxes,” Englehart said. “I trained his mother and I've always been a big fan of Omaha Beach. He'll want to go further for sure as he gets older and more racing experience.”

Stony Pointe Stables’ Fourth and One is cross-entered for the main-track only in Friday’s opening race here. The Maxfield colt, who was purchased for $240,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February Mixed Sale, is out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Wajeeha – a half-sister to Group 2-placed Zainhom. His second dam, Kaseema, is a half-sister to dual Grade 1-winning millionaire Aragorn. He was bred by Chesapeake Farm and Rockridge Stud.

A compact but talented field also includes a pair of maidens for trainer Gary Contessa in Essentially Fast [post 1, Dylan Davis, 118 pounds] and Rumblyoungmanrumbl [post 4, Javier Castellano, 118 pounds].

The Funny Cide, originally scheduled for Sunday, August 24, is slated as Race 2 on Wednesday’s nine-race card which also features the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard in Race 1 and the Listed P.G. Johnson presented by Snap-On in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

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