Cavorting / Adam Mooshian Photo

Saratoga Race Course Notes - 8/11/16

by NYRA Press Office

Saratoga Race Course Notes - 8/11/16

Stakes talk from the McLaughlin barn
Ortiz Jr. celebrates birthday with hot summer at the Spa
Exaggerator scheduled for first breeze this weekend
Forever Unbridled on target for G1 Personal Ensign; Tale of Verve considered for G1 Woodward

Grade 1 Personal Ensign hopeful Cavorting, who breezed Tuesday morning, will have one more work before the $750,000 race on August 27, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said.

Cavorting, who won the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps in her last start, covered four furlongs over Saratoga Race Course's main track in 47.47, the third fastest of 45 workers at the distance.

The 1 1/8-mile Personal Ensign will mark Cavorting's first start around two turns. She won both the Grade 1, 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps and the one-mile Ruffian around one turn at Belmont Park. 

Cavorting is undefeated at Saratoga, where she won the Grade 2 Adirondack as a 2-year-old in 2014 and last year's Grade 1 Longines Test and Grade 2 Prioress.

"She's won twice long now, but we still have to try the two turns," McLaughlin said Thursday morning. "We're happy with going longer. I give a lot of credit to Javier [Castellano] because when he rode her in the first race going long [the Ruffian], he told me, 'I'm going to take her back and make a run.' I said, 'Okay, good luck.' And he did it. Once she learned to settle and finish - she was always bred to go a mile or more being by Bernardini - it has been great. Javier helped us a lot, and then he had to take off of her in the [Phipps] and Florent [Geroux] did a great job, and now Javier is back on Cavorting for the Personal Ensign."

McLaughlin had good news to report on the Travers-bound Mohaymen, who finished fourth as the favorite in his last start in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy.

"We weighed Mohaymen this morning and he has put on 20 pounds since the Jim Dandy," McLaughlin said. "We've always struggled to put weight on him, so we're really happy that he is putting weight on. We're going to train toward the Travers."

McLaughlin said Mohaymen will have one work, eight to 10 days out, before the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers August  27.

While team Frosted mulls the next start for their Grade 1 Whitney winner Frosted, McLaughlin said Mubtaahij, who arrived from Belmont Park Thursday morning, is being pointed to the Grade 1, $600,000 Woodward September 3.

"Regardless of what happens with Frosted, Mubtaahij is being pointed to the Woodward," McLaughlin said of the colt who finished third in the Grade 2 Suburban in his most recent start, and was the runner-up in the Dubai World Cup before that.

Meanwhile, Frosted has resumed training on the Greentree track and McLaughlin said the 4-year-old came out of his spectacular performance in the Whitney last Saturday in terrific shape.

Frosted could be trained up to the Breeders' Cup Classic November 5 at Santa Anita, or have a prep before the big dance. McLaughlin mentioned New York's Woodward or Jockey Club Gold Cup as possibilities, as well as Santa Anita's local prep for the Classic, the Awesome Again Oct. 1.

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Defending leading Spa jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. turned 24 Thursday and the young journeyman has plenty of reasons to celebrate his birthday. 

Now in his fifth year riding full time on the NYRA circuit, Ortiz Jr. recently catapulted himself in top position for earnings amongst all jockeys in the nation this year, surpassing Javier Castellano with a total of $13,647,071.

"So far everything is going perfect," said Ortiz Jr. "All the trainers and owners have helped me and all the hard work is paying off. Without them this couldn't be possible."

Atop the leader board through the first four weeks of this year's meet with 28 victories from 159 races with two four-win days, Ortiz Jr. has already captured four stakes highlighted by graded stakes wins in the Grade 1 Diana aboard Dacita and a pair of Grade 2 wins in the Lake George on Ancient Secret and Camelot Kitten in the Hall of Fame. He is hoping to keep his momentum through the rest of the meet.

"The meet is going good so far," Ortiz Jr. added. "Hopefully, I can keep it going and win the title. That's the goal, but I know there's a lot of hard work left."

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Despite wet weather expected in the Saratoga area this weekend, Exaggerator remains on schedule to make his first appearance on the worktab since his 1 ½-length victory in the Grade 1 Haskell, said Julie Clark, assistant to trainer Keith Desormeaux, on Thursday morning.

Southern California-based Desormeaux will be on hand to check in on the Preakness winner, who is tentatively slated to breeze Saturday morning, although Clark noted that the weather may have the final say.

"Keith actually gets here [Thursday night] and the weather forecast doesn't look particularly appealing but that's the plan for right now," she said. "Obviously, the idea is to get a feel for where he's at and it's not always easy to do that on a wet track."

The forecast notwithstanding, Clark reported that the millionaire son of Curlin has remained in good order since notching his third Grade 1 victory of the year on July 31 at Monmouth Park.

"He's been great; his normal, handful self," she said. "He's had a couple of walk days so he was plenty fresh going to the track but he's been good."

Clark also said that multiple graded stakes-placed Swipe has been turned out for the interim following back-to-back seventh-place finishes in the Grade 3 Dwyer and Curlin while his connections make a decision regarding the 3-year-old's future.

"Swipe went to the farm in Kentucky," she said. "He's going to have a break while the owners assess what they would like to do with him. They want to do right by him so they want to figure out what the best course of action is."

A $5,000 yearling selection by Desormeaux, Swipe has amassed a 1-5-2 record from 11 starts and earnings of $622,630 for owners Big Chief Racing, Fizzy Racing and Billy Shelton. Most notably, the dark bay Birdstone colt turned in four consecutive runner-up finishes to eventual juvenile champion and Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist in Grade 1 races as a 2-year-old, including the 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

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Speaking from the shedrow of his barn Thursday morning, trainer Dallas Stewart was looking to finalize next out plans for Charles E. Fipke's multiple stakes winning mare Forever Unbridled and graded stakes placed Tale of Verve.

With three previous breezes at Saratoga since her arrival, Forever Unbridled is scheduled to breeze again tomorrow.. With the Grade 1, $750,000 Personal Ensign still her target for the summer, the 4-year-old daughter of Unbridled's Song this year has picked up graded stakes victories in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic on January 30 at Sam Houston and the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 15 at Oaklawn Park, before falling short to finish second in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on June 11 at Belmont Park.

"She's doing really well," said Stewart. "We'll watch the weather with the forecast calling for rain tomorrow, but I think we'll be okay early in the a.m. so hopefully we can get her done. The Grade 1 Personal Ensign is still our target, so that's what we're shooting for."

Tale of Verve, who won an allowance race at Saratoga on July 23, besting heavily favored My Man Sam, is under consideration for the Woodward, according to Stewart.

"He worked last week," Stewart said. "He'll probably work tomorrow a little bit. We're trying to figure out what to do with him next. Maybe the Woodward, it's certainly an option, but we'll see how it shapes out. The horses we bought here are healthy, so that's the main thing for us. Now we'll see how they compete."