Saratoga Race Course Notes 7.29.17

by NYRA Press Office

• Maragh back in Saratoga winner's circle for first time since 2014
• Tagg wins two in a row at the Spa; Tale of Silence likely for G1 Jerkens
• Keen Ice turns in final breeze for G1 Whitney
• Contessa pondering next stakes assignment for Tu Brutus

Big Mara's 8 ¼-length victory in Friday's opener was the first win at Saratoga since 2014 for jockey Rajiv Maragh, following his injury in a spill suffered at Belmont Park in the summer of 2015.

Friday's victory helped erase the memory of the 32-year-old rider's long road to recovery that was riddled with endless hours of pain and rehabilitation while locked through nine months in a back brace. 

Ultimately, Maragh endured 16 months away from the career he loves, and said he is happy to have come full circle.

"It's really special," Maragh said. "I'm glad to be here and have the opportunity to ride again at Saratoga. It's always a tough place to win races, every win is meaningful. It was a long time since riding due to injuries, the long wait makes it more appreciated to be here. I love riding at Saratoga."

Maragh suffered eight broken vertebrae, a fractured pelvis, broken ribs and a punctured lung when his mount Yourcreditisgood clipped heels with Mini Muffin, sending the Jamaican rider to the dirt in a race on July 10, 2015. The horse then rolled over the prone and stricken rider, causing most of the damage.

He returned to the races on November 4, opening day of Aqueduct Racetrack's fall meet. Maragh rode 30 straight races without a win, and finally returned to the winners' circle less than three weeks after his first race back aboard Bass River Road on November 23 at Aqueduct.

Since then, Maragh has notched 80 wins, including four graded stakes on his home circuit at NYRA tracks, topped by the Grade 2 Wood Memorial hero Irish War Cry, who Maragh will ride on Sunday as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

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Trainer Barclay Tagg saddled winners in back-to-back races on Friday at Saratoga Race Course, accomplishing the feat for the first time in nine years when Flattermefabulous won Race 6 - a claiming race for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up - and Tale of S'avall captured Race 7.

The consecutive trips to the winner's circle was the first time Tagg won two straight races at the Spa since August 6, 2008, when Nehantic Kat won Race 7 and Doc N Roll won the Cab Calloway immediately after.

"It always feels pretty good," Tagg said. "Flattermefabulous got claimed and Tale of S'avall came out of it really well."

Tagg said Tale of S'avall, a 4-year-old owned and bred by Charles Fipke, will likely return to stakes competition after taking a step down in class to win against allowance company. Before yesterday, three of his last four starts came in graded stakes, including a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile to cap his 3-year-old campaign and a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper on March 4 at Gulfstream Park.

"We'll look at a stakes, most likely at the end of Saratoga or at the start of Belmont," Tagg said. "He likes it here, but you can only run him seven furlongs. They don't have a mile race here. I think he's better at mile, but he ran really well yesterday at seven furlongs, so we'll see. At the end of the month [August], we'll look and see."

Tagg said Tale of Silence came out of his breeze on Wednesday in good order and is on target for the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 26. He worked four furlongs in 51.02 seconds on the main track.

Formerly the King's Bishop, the Allen Jerkens is contested for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs on the main track. Tale of Silence, a Tale of the Cat colt, will run for the first time since a runner-up effort to Practical Joke in the Grade 3 Dwyer on July 8 at Belmont.

"It's a tough field for sure, but he's training well. It's always tough with a Grade 1," Tagg said. 

Frosty Gal has also been in light training at Saratoga while she recovers from a temperature, Tagg said. The 3-year-old had made three consecutive starts in state-bred stakes after breaking her maiden on November 13 at Aqueduct.

"She's been sick the last couple of days so we had to scrap some of the plans and give her time," Tagg said. "She doesn't act like she's sick, but then we checked the thermometer and she is, so we'll just give her a break."  

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Donegal Racing and Calumet Farm's multiple graded stakes winner Keen Ice wrapped up his major preparations for next weekend's Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney at Saratoga Race Course with a half-mile work Saturday morning.

The recent three-length winner of the Grade 2 Suburban on July 8 at Belmont Park, Keen Ice took to the main track early in company with Patch, finishing just ahead of his workmate to cover the distance in 49.09 seconds and gallop out strongly past the wire. 

Clocker Mike Welsch of the Daily Racing Form caught the 5-year-old son of Curlin out five furlongs in 1:01 2/5 and out six in 1:13 4/5.

"I thought he breezed really, really well," said Todd Pletcher, a three-time winning trainer in the Whitney. "It seems like he's in superb form at the moment."

Among those Keen Ice is expected to face in the Whitney are: Gun Runner, who went gate-to-wire in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster to win by seven lengths on June 17; Breaking Lucky, third in the Foster last time out; and a Loooch Racing Stables-owned pair in Cautious Giant, last-out winner of a six-furlong optional claimer at Thistledown; and Grade 2 Brooklyn winner War Story.

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Since arriving to trainer Gary Contessa's barn in January, Chilean-bred Tu Brutus has made his presence known. In his first start in North America, the 5-year-old Scat Daddy horse finished a very game second to Send It In in the Grade 3 Excelsior at 1 ¼ miles in April at Aqueduct Racetrack, earning a 118 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort. 

He proved untouchable in his next start, the 1 3/8-mile Flat Out on May 7 at Belmont Park, where he led gate-to-wire and ultimately drew off to an 11-length victory, before following up with a disappointing third-place finish as the 1-2 favorite in the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational on Belmont Stakes Day.

Tu Brutus, owned by Winning Move Stable, Green, Saltor Thoroughbred Stables and Pine Stables, exited the Brooklyn with a guttural pouch infection, Contessa said, prompting the horse's connections to take their time with the stakes winner.

Contessa reported that Tu Brutus has trained regularly since arriving at Saratoga, including a sharp five-furlong work in 1:00.65 last Wednesday over the Oklahoma training track, and the horse is likely to make his return to the races next week, in either the Grade 1, $1.25 million Whitney on August 5 or the $100,000 Birdstone on Thursday, August 3.

"We're definitely running in one of them," said Contessa. "He's training great. He worked over the deep track and came back good. He galloped out seven-eighths in 1:26 and he's really where I want him to be right now."

With the Whitney run at a distance of 1 1/8 miles and the Birdstone at 1 ¾, Contessa thinks either race will fit Tu Brutus' style.

"If it's the Whitney, it doesn't bother me," added Contessa. "He's won at a mile and a eighth in Chile. He's not a bad 1 1/8-mile horse. I think the Birdstone would be a good distance as well. The owners and I will make a final decision in the next upcoming days."