Plum Ali headlines $100K P.G. Johnson

by Ryan Martin

Trainer Christophe Clement will look to build on his successful meet when he saddles promising maiden winner Plum Ali in Thursday's 16th running of the $100,000 P.G. Johnson for juvenile fillies going 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course.

Owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Wonder Stables, Plum Ali made her career debut a winning one, with a last-out victory going two turns in a July 23 maiden special weight over the Mellon turf. The chestnut daughter of First Samurai was six lengths off the pace early on and made a four-wide bid to secure a two-length victory.

Plum Ali has breezed three times since her maiden win, recently posting a half-mile work on August 23 in 49.60 seconds over the Oklahoma training turf.

"She's a good filly, she's trained very forwardly," Clement said. "There's a bit of a question mark in terms of the ground, but I am very happy with her. I just hope that the ground is not too extreme."

A victory would give Clement an eighth stakes victory of the meet.

Jockey Joel Rosario, who has secured eight stakes victories this meet, will return to the saddle from post 2.

Clement also sends out Mischievous Dream, who will stretch out to two turns for the first time after finishing fourth in the Bolton Landing on August 19 at the Spa.

A Patricia Generazio New York homebred, the bay daughter of Into Mischief won on debut, sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over the Mellon turf at the Spa on July 19.

Mischievous Dream is out of the Trippi mare Just Livin a Dream, who is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winning multimillionaire on turf Presious Passion.

"She will likely be the speed of the race," said Clement. 

Mischievous Dream will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. from post 3.

Trainer Graham Motion will be represented by Invincible Gal, who was a half-length maiden winner on debut going 5 ½ furlongs on August 7 at the Spa.

The bay daughter of Invincible Spirit is out of the Acclamation broodmare Alsindi and is owned by Michael J. Ryan, Jeff Drown and Team Hanley. She was purchased overseas at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale last October, where she was hammered down to $258,109.

Jockey Jose Ortiz will be aboard from post 1.

Harold Lerner and Magdalena Racing's Simply Ravishing arrives off a maiden victory going two turns at Saratoga on August 1.

Bred in New York by Meg Levy, the Kenny McPeek trained daughter of Laoban defeated open company in her career debut at 14-1 odds. Simply Ravishing is out of the More Than Ready broodmare Four Wishes.

Jockey Luis Saez will seek his fourth stakes win of the meet aboard Simply Ravishing from post 7.

Completing the field is Matthew Schera's Thursday, who takes a big jump up in class for trainer James Lawrence II.

The daughter of Midshipman was a two-length winner on debut at Delaware Park, where she ran for a $40,000 tag.

Jockey Jose Lezcano, who piloted Coasted to a P.G. Johnson victory in 2016, will ride from post 4.

The Todd Pletcher-trained pair of Union Gables and Con Lima have been entered for main track only.

The P.G. Johnson pays tribute to the late thoroughbred conditioner who, according to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame won at least one race at Saratoga for 41 straight years from 1962-2003. The native of Chicago had a training career that lasted six decades with his biggest claim to fame taking place in 2002, when he saddled Breeders' Cup Classic upset winner Volponi. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997.

The P.G. Johnson is slated as Race 3 on Thursday's 10-race card, which offers a first post of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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