Spirit of St Louis surpasses $2 million in career earnings with rallying score in Friday’s $200K West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital

Dual Grade 1-winner Spirit of St Louis, under a perfect trip from Manny Franco, flew home late to capture Friday’s $200,000 West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, a 1 1/16-mile Mellon turf route for New York-breds 3-years-old and up, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown for Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Richard Schermerhorn, the 7-year-old Medaglia d’Oro gelding twice finished second in this event in 2023-34 but broke though Friday to take the $110,000 winner’s share of the purse and eclipse $2 million in career purse earnings.

“It means a lot, to go over $2 million the hard way,” Brown said. “Running at different tracks, coming back to his New York-bred roots and knocking some money out and some races out, but then going open company often throughout his career. And my team, to keep the horse in good health and good condition at this age to be running this way... he has a great team around him that's always looking after this horse and giving him every opportunity to be healthy, and I think that plays a big role."

Brown also tipped his cap to Franco, the second-leading rider at the Spa, who had to hustle away immediately after the race to catch a flight to West Viriginia for a trio of stakes mounts this evening, including aboard Dragoon Guard in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic at its namesake track.

“He's in the middle of his career year. Any time you have Manny Franco on your horses, you feel very confident going in, and I'm just so proud of him and happy for him because he works hard,” Brown said.

The speedy Mi Bago, in search of his third Spa win this year, showed the way from post 3-of-8 under leading rider Jose Ortiz, while pressed by the sharp-starting Itsallcomintogetha through an opening quarter-mile in 24.03 seconds over the firm going.

Mi Bago and Itsallcomintogetha continued to lead the charge down the backstretch with Sounds Like a Plan nicely gapped in third position in front of Leon Blue in fourth and Spirit of St Louis saving ground in fifth after leaving the inside post as the half-mile elapsed in 46.89. Spirit of St Louis advanced into contention approaching the final turn with an inside rush before tipping out five-wide for the stretch run to overtake the new leader Sounds Like a Plan as Mi Bago and Itsallcomintogetha retreated.

Spirit of St Louis was in command inside the final sixteenth and surged to the wire a half-length winner in a final time of 1:40.03. It was a half-length back to runner-up Sounds Like a Plan, who was a nose better than the rallying George Briggs.

“He drew great today. It was a good pace setup,” Brown said. “I talked to Manny, ended up with the one hole with the scratch. I said, 'You know, he doesn't love Saratoga, but he's doing so well, he's finding his youth. I mean, he's training like he's a couple of years younger currently, and if you are able to just get a dream trip with a good setup, he might be able to overcome the fact he's a couple of lengths slower on this turf course.' I think that's exactly what happened.”

Tonka Warrior landed fourth with Mi Bago, Leon Blue, Itsallcomintogetha and Russian Realm rounding out the order of finish. Two’s a Crowd and main-track only entrants Bank Frenzy, Doc Sullivan, Wynstock and Dr. Kraft were scratched.

Trainer Horacio De Paz said he was proud of the effort from the Ricardo Santana, Jr.-piloted Sounds Like a Plan, who saw a streak of three consecutive prominent wins come to an end.

“He showed a different dimension, obviously,” De Paz said. “They went fast and Ricardo worked out a really good trip, not letting him go up there [to the lead]. He settled nicely and came running. We just got run down by a nice horse.

"I figured Luis Saez [Itsallcomintogetha] would be up there with Mi Bago. They weren't going to let that horse go by himself,” De Paz added. “We may not have caught him at his best, either. He's coming off nice efforts, he's a nice horse, but I'm proud of our horse. It is hard to keep them undefeated. At some point they'll regress a little bit. If that's his regression, a half-length loss, to an honest horse, that's good overall." 

Ortiz said the dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse-trained Mi Bago, who went to post as the 4-5 mutuel favorite off a runner-up try in the Grade 1 Fourstardave here, was hampered by pace dynamics.

“We knew coming into the race that there was some other speed. I broke good, was able to clear the inside speed,” Ortiz said. “It felt like I cleared the outside speed pretty well for the first quarter-mile, but there was a constant pressure from the horse outside of me [Itsallcomintogetha]. There could also be a little soft ground there, that he didn't love as well, so a lot of things went on, honestly." 

Spirit of St Louis posted Grade 1 wins last year in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park and Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs as his only two on-the-board efforts in a six-race campaign. He chased home Mi Bago when second in the state-bred Kingston in June here and followed that performance with a third-place finish in an open optional claiming race on July 23 won by Grade 1-winning stablemate Salamis. Prior to the Kingston, he was second to Sounds Like a Plan in an optional claimer for New York-breds in April at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Brown said he was pleased to see Spirit of St Louis find his way back to the winner’s circle at Saratoga where he has won just twice in in eight turf attempts dating to a state-bred optional-claiming score in July 2023.

“I did think at the beginning of the year he was losing a step,” Brown said. “It's funny. He came here to train in Saratoga and has thrived, but the turf courses, numbers wise, have just never been his favorite courses. He's had a great career, just not here at Saratoga. A lot of close races. When you talk about that 12-for-24 record, a lot of the losses were here. Close losses, but here."

Bred in the Empire State by Chester and Mary Broman, Spirit of St Louis improved his record to 24-12-5-1. He returned $10.74 for a $2 win bet.

Live racing resumes Saturday at Saratoga with a 14-race card headlined by the 157th renewal of the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers in Race 13 at approximately 6:35 p.m. Eastern. The DraftKings Travers is one of five Grade 1s scheduled for Saturday’s blockbuster program, including the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial in Race 8 and three top-level Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifiers with the Personal Ensign [Distaff] in Race 9, the Forego [Dirt Mile] in Race 11 and the Resorts World Casino Ballerina [Filly and Mare Sprint] in Race 12. The card is supported by the Grade 2 Lake Placid in Race 10.

The DraftKings Travers will be showcased live on FOX as part of a two-hour edition of FOX Saratoga Saturday presented by Oceania Cruises from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. First post on Saturday’s card is 11:05 a.m. with gates opening to the public at 9 a.m. 
 
Saratoga Live presents daily coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

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