Francesca Le Donne Photo

O’Brien trainees Mendelssohn, Seahenge gallop over Saratoga main track for first time since arriving from Ireland

by NYRA Press Office

• Catholic Boy looks to make history in Travers from Post 11
• Lukas: Triple Crown-tested Bravazo at his best for Travers
• Limousine Liberal looks to punch Breeders’ Cup ticket in Saturday’s G1 Forego

Trainer Aidan O’Brien’s European contenders Mendelssohn and Seahenge on Thursday made their first venture to the Saratoga Race Course main track, galloping under their respective exercise riders, Alan Crowe and Craig Bryson. The tandem arrived in Saratoga on Tuesday after making the approximately 12 ½-hour trip from Ireland.

On Saturday in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers, Mendelssohn will attempt to regain the brilliance he displayed when he won the Group 2 UAE Derby by 18 ½ lengths in March. The Travers, carded as the 11th race with a post time of 5:44 p.m., is a 1 ¼-mile event for 3-year-olds and will be broadcast live on NBC.

“They just did a gentle canter around from the seven, seven and a half [pole],” said T.J. Comerford, assistant to O’Brien. “They trotted the opposite way, and we brought them back and just washed them. Tomorrow, they’ll pretty much do the same; a little bit quicker from the same [starting point] again.”

In his two previous trips to the United States, Mendelssohn was last of 20 in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs and third, beaten 9 ½ lengths, as the 3-2 favorite in the Grade 3 Dwyer on July 7 at Belmont Park.

“I think after his bad run in the Kentucky Derby, I suppose he has to build on it,” said Comerford. “I think the last day at Belmont he did build on it. He had to get a little bit of confidence from somewhere to come back and run like he did. I know they made him favored and I suppose a lot of people expected him to win, but it was a steppingstone for the days ahead more than anything. I think running positive on the dirt was a big thing for him. He did that at Belmont, and if he can run a good race [in the Travers] that’s all we’ll be asking for.”

Both colts are owned by Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, and Derrick Smith. Comerford admitted that it’s difficult for O’Brien’s Ballydoyle training operation, which is based in County Tipperary, Ireland, to get a horse fully prepared for the frenetic style of American dirt racing.

“We just train on our own premises at home, pretty much the same as we always do, so we can’t really prepare much for [American dirt races],” said Comerford. “For the Kentucky Derby we went to Dundalk, and that was on the synthetic surface. That’s as close as we can get. We have the American styles and we can jump them from the gate. We can do all of that, but in regards to running them on the dirt, we have to come here. So, really, our only preparation is to run in these races. The closest we can get to it is our all-weather tracks.”

O’Brien has selected the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic in November at Churchill Downs as his long-term objective for Mendelssohn, who, like Triple Crown winner Justify, is a son of Scat Daddy.

“We have to try to get back to that form [Mendelssohn showed in the UAE Derby],” said Comerford. “That’s why we’re coming here. We’re trying to persist with what the plan was originally, and that is to get him to the Breeders’ Cup. We’re just hoping to see that spark again because that was a good day and that was a really good performance. It’s hard to imagine, ‘Was that it?’ I’m sure he can come back to that again. We just have to try.”

Seahenge has accompanied Mendelssohn on his two previous trips to the United States, finishing seventh in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile in May at Churchill and seventh in the Dwyer. Winner of the Group 2 Champagne in England as a 2-year-old, Seahenge will be switching back to grass and facing older horses for the first time Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Sword Dancer at 1 ½ miles on the inner turf course.

“I actually thought he came home well and finished well [in the Pat Day],” said Comerford. “I thought it was a positive run from him, if you could build on that. When he ran at Belmont he didn’t run to that grade again. We’re coming here to trying to win a turf race as well. The turf is not a problem for us. That’s what we really dabble in.”

Although the Sword Dancer looks like a tough assignment for Seahenge, who was tabbed at 30-1 on the morning line, Comerford said there were several reasons why the race was a logical selection.

“We have plenty of horses for turf races at home,” said Comerford. “We have good horses for all of the international races, and he’s a good companion for Mendelssohn as well. And there’s good prize money, and why not have a go? We had a go with Idaho [who finished sixth as the favorite in the Sword Dancer] last year. I thought he would win. It really didn’t work out, but it’s just one of those days. You just try to win what races you can on the way.”

*      *     *

Catholic Boy looks to make history in Travers from Post 11

Co-fourth choice in the Travers at 8-1 with Tenfold, Robert V. LaPenta’s Catholic Boy is looking to become the first horse since 1901 to finish first in the Travers leaving from Post 11.

In 1977, Jatski left from Post 11 in a 14-horse field and finished a nose behind Run Dusty Run but was promoted to first via disqualification. Interestingly, three days earlier, a chestnut colt named Affirmed won the Sanford at the Spa. A year later the Triple Crown winner finished first in the Mid-Summer Derby but was disqualified in favor of his rival Alydar, marking the last time a horse was disqualified in the race.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas, who got his wish when he asked to draw outside of Good Magic (No. 9), said he’d be happy if the Grade 1 Belmont Derby winner found himself forwardly placed behind comfortable fractions in the 1 ¼-mile race.

“He’s been putting himself into races more naturally,” said Thomas. “He’s breaking a little sharper, being a little more aggressive early on in his races, in a good way, so I’m not going to rob him of that. Now, if it turns into the Alabama, where they went 22 and change and 46, I don’t want to be anywhere close to that sort of pace scenario. I think his most effective weapon is his big action. If we can get him into a big kind of rhythm and close to the pace where he doesn’t have to work to close, that’s where I’d like to have him.”

Thomas, a former assistant to Todd Pletcher, vividly remembers his first Travers, as do many who witnessed Birdstone’s victory under a foreboding sky in 2004.

“I had come up here to try and make it in the north,” he recalled. “I was living on the backside and out of my truck. There must have been three of us watching from the backside; there was literally no one else out there. I remember the heavens coming down, and the lightning – I thought it was one of the coolest things ever. I didn’t even know Birdstone had won until they galloped out past us. It was like a snapshot I’ll always remember.”

*      *     *

Lukas: Triple Crown-tested Bravazo at his best for Runhappy Travers

Calumet Farm's Grade 1 Travers starter Bravazo is the lone active 3-year-old who can claim a start in all three Triple Crown races this year. Sixth in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness, Bravazo’s gutsy finish outside Tenfold in the foggy, sloppy stretch in the Preakness came within a half-length of ending Justify's bid to become the 13th Triple Crown winner in history.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who will saddle his 20th Travers starter on Saturday, and hopes to add his fourth Mid-Summer Derby victory, after guiding Corporate Report (1991), Thunder Gulch (1995) and Will Take Charge (2013) to the winner’s circle, thinks his colt is better now than in any of his 12 previous starts.

“He's getting better,” said Lukas. “He's following the same pattern as Will Take Charge. He looks better and stronger right now than anytime this summer. Now that might not be good enough, [he] still might be a second or third or fourth, who knows, but you'd have to, from where I'm sitting, say to yourself ‘this is the best we'd ever led him over there.’

“Now when you get down just beyond a Triple Crown horse, you get 11 horses that are very, very competitive, and you're getting a situation where even the expert handicapper has got to look at it seriously and say well maybe I'll play these, or maybe I'll play this one,” he added. “That's the kind of deal you have here. You can make a case about any of them, but about two, and I wouldn't mention those. I'm not a good handicapper.”

Based at Saratoga after his Triple Crown campaign, Bravazo made his next start in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park, where he finished second to Good Magic in a performance that may have been somewhat compromised, according to Lukas.

“He ran on three shoes in the Haskell,” he said. “He lost a shoe right out of the gate. He broke and left that shoe, right front. I didn't make a big deal, we got beat, what the hell.”

The soon to be 83-year-old horseman has a great amount of respect for the Chad Brown-trained Good Magic, the 2-1 morning line favorite in the Travers.

“You know, I keep looking for him to bounce, and yet he keeps showing up,” said Lukas. “He's a good little horse. I think that Chad's done a good job with him. He's managed him well, he skips a couple to make sure that he's right. This might be the closest he's ever crowded him though so maybe we'll see, and this might be the most competitive [race] since the Derby field.”

*      *     *

Limousine Liberal looks to punch Breeders’ Cup ticket in Saturday’s G1 Forego

The last time Katherine Ball’s Limousine Liberal trained at Keeneland and shipped to New York, he won a seven-furlong graded stakes in capturing the Grade 2 Belmont Sprint Championship by a neck on July 7. Trainer Ben Colebrook said he’s hoping the 6-year-old gelding follows suit in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Forego, one of six Grade 1 races on a stacked Travers Day card.

The ultra-consistent Limousine Liberal has finished on the board in his last 11 starts dating to 2016 and has won six of his last 10 starts overall, including a victory by a head over fellow Forego contender Warrior’s Club in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs at seven furlongs on May 5. After stretching out to a mile in running third in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day June 9, the Kentucky homebred returned to Belmont’s Big Sandy for a come-from-behind win by a neck over Whitmore in the Belmont Sprint Championship.

“I think every time you lead him out there, you can count on him giving you his best effort,” Colebrook said. “The times he hasn’t, it’s probably my fault and not his. He’s a very consistent horse and lays it on the line every time. He’s a very neat horse to be around.

“He’s doing great; his last two works have been phenomenal heading into the race,” he added. “He got a bit of a mini break coming off Belmont. We’re just expecting a good effort.”

Limousine Liberal drew the rail in the eight-horse Forego. He was installed as the 3-1 second choice on the morning line behind 9-5 favorite City of Light and will have jockey Jose Ortiz in the irons.

“The post is what it is; I probably wouldn’t have chosen 1, but he has won from there before [including the Belmont Sprint]. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of speed, so maybe he can get a good break,” Colebrook said. “There’s not a whole lot of pace, so maybe he’ll be a little closer than he normally is, but that will be up to Jose.”

Limousine Liberal is 5-2-1 in 10 career starts at the Forego distance, which Colebrook said suits his running style.

“As he’s gotten older, seven furlongs might be his best distance,” Colebrook said. “Earlier on, I would have said 6 to 6 ½ because he was just such a fast horse. Now, he’s learned to restrain his energy a little bit and come with that run late. As an older horse, he knows where the wire is. He’s always battling at the end in all his races and really lays it on the line. He’s been an amazing horse for us.”

A “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, the Forego could allow Limousine Liberal to punch his ticket to another Grade 1 held near Colebrook’s base of operations in Kentucky, with Churchill hosting the two-day event in November.

“We stayed close to home and let him win a bunch of races last year and get some confidence with the idea of the Breeders’ Cup being in his backyard as a 6-year-old, so we really just focused and tried to figure out the best way of getting him there,” Colebrook said.

Colebrook said two of his juveniles who made their stakes debut earlier in the Saratoga meet – Knicks Go and Blame the Frog – are doing well training back at Keeneland. Blame the Frog, a Blame filly, ran 10th in the Grade 3 Schuylerville on July 20 after breaking her maiden at third asking on June 22 at Churchill.

“I gave them a little time after Saratoga,” Colebrook said. “Blame the Frog didn’t seem to handle the track that day. I just wanted to get her back home and give her a little bit of time after that race. I think sprinting on the grass could be something she could excel at.”

Knicks Go, a gray or roan son of Paynter, won his debut on July 4 at Ellis Park before finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Sanford on July 21 at the Spa.

“He didn’t run a bad race up here; we shipped him up here after a bit of a short rest, so we gave him some time afterwards,” Colebrook said. “That was the plan all along. We’re just going to concentrate on the fall campaign.”