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Spirit Wind registers 91 BSF in G2 Honorable Miss

by NYRA Press Office

• Spirit Wind registers 91 BSF in G2 Honorable Miss
• English Conqueror looks to make the grade in G2 Bowling Green
• Cagliostro to target G1 Forego
• Wachtel primed for competitive summer at Saratoga

Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. saddled his second stakes winner of the meet when Spirit Wind sprinted wire-to-wire under Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith to capture Wednesday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap, at Saratoga Race Course.

Joseph, Jr., who has 27 stalls on the Spa backstretch, boasts a 5-2-0-1 record at the meet that includes a 44-1 upset score in the Listed Schuylerville with The Queens M G on July 11.

“It's been a good start. The Queens M G was a shocker to win, but that gave the whole barn momentum,” Joseph, Jr. said. “Spirit Wind came and gave us another stakes - so we have two stakes wins in a short period of time to give everybody confidence and confidence is the key to success.”

Joseph, Jr. said having a significant presence at Saratoga is important for his business.

"Saratoga is the place to be. There's no better summer racing - the atmosphere, the vibe, if you want to get people into racing you bring them to Saratoga,” Joseph, Jr. said. “There's nothing like it for families and kids, and obviously winning makes it a lot more fun."

Spirit Wind joined the Joseph, Jr. barn for her 5-year-old campaign and captured the Memorial Day Sprint on May 27 at Lone Star Park with Smith aboard for the first time, stalking three wide and drawing clear to a 3 1/2-length score.

In the Honorable Miss, Spirit Wind bobbled forward at the break from post 4 and was quickly in command through splits of 22.22 seconds, 45.33 and 57.59 over the fast main track with Munnys Gold tracking from second position along with Clearly Unhinged. Spirit Wind held a 1 1/2-length lead at the stretch call and stayed on gamely to best the late-running Accede by three-quarter lengths in a final time of 1:10.36. The winning effort garnered a 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

“There was a lot of speed on paper, but she was able to establish an uncontested lead and she had enough to hold on in the end,” Joseph, Jr. said.

Joseph, Jr. said it was key to retain the veteran hands of Smith, who piloted Spirit Wind at Lone Star as part of a weekend venture that saw the Hall of Famer win the Texas Derby with E J Won the Cup.

“We talked it over with the owner and he was fine with bringing him in and Mike was willing to come,” Joseph, Jr. said. “It was great to keep him on and winning a race at Saratoga is very special - how many big races has Mike won here through the years? To have him win one for us was a great moment - not only for me, but for the fans.”

Spirit Wind, a Florida-bred Bahamian Squall dark bay, has posted six of her seven career wins traveling six furlongs to go along with a five-length romp in the 6 1/2-furlong state-bred 2022 Musical Romance at Gulfstream Park. She made the grade in December with a frontrunning score in Gulfstream’s Grade 3 Sugar Swirl while in the care of trainer Carlos David.

Following the race, Joseph, Jr. said he would consider pointing Spirit Wind to the seven-furlong $500,000 Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon going two turns on August 23 at Charles Town.

However, after further review, he was not yet willing to rule out a potential start in the seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina on August 24 here, offering a "Win and You're In" berth to the seven-furlong Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Del Mar.

“You don't get six furlongs a lot for the top fillies - seven-eighths stretches her a bit,” Joseph, Jr. said. “The Charles Town race is a different configuration - it's two turns - and it suits speed and is more kind for her to get the distance.

“We'll think it over a bit,” continued Joseph, Jr. “I watched the replay when I got home last night and I was quite pleased with how she went out after the wire - they got close to her at the wire, but then she went out quite good. We don't have to decide yet. Now that she's proved that she likes this track, even a Grade 1-placing would help her huge. We're always willing to call an audible.”

Should Spirit Wind continue to move forward towards the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Joseph, Jr. did indicate a willingness to try her against the boys in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint contested at a more palatable six furlongs.

Spirit Wind, bred by Jacks or Better Farm Inc., has banked $555,090 through a 12-7-2-1 record.

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English Conqueror looks to make the grade in G2 Bowling Green

Veteran Woodbine Racetrack-based trainer Darwin Banach will try and saddle his first winner at Saratoga Race Course when he sends out William A. Sorokolit, Jr.’s multiple graded stakes-placed English Conqueror in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green, an 11-furlong inner turf test for older horses.

Banach has trained multiple generations of English Conqueror’s family, including his multiple stakes-winning dam Regal Conqueror and his multiple graded stakes-winning second dam Classic Stamp.

“That must mean I’m getting old,” said Banach, with a laugh.

English Conqueror, a 7-year-old veteran in his own right, has banked $411,706 through a 29-4-4-8 record. He became Banach’s first Spa starter last summer with a close second in a 1 3/16-mile optional-claimer over good footing.

The English Channel chestnut has hit the board in a pair of graded events at Woodbine, finishing second over turf in the 2021 Grade 3 Singspiel and third in the 2022 Grade 3 Valedictory on Tapeta. Last year, he shipped to Churchill Downs and was a prominent third in the Grade 3 Louisville over 12 furlongs of good turf.

English Conqueror made a memorable seasonal debut in an optional-claimer in June at Belmont at the Big A, exiting post 4 in the 1 3/16-mile outer turf test under returning rider Jose Lezcano and saving ground in third position.

Lezcano shifted the gelding to the two-path into the stretch run and he made a sustained run to best the pacesetting Beuys by a nose in course record time of 1:53.96.

Banach said he was expecting a good effort from the hard-knocking horse, who shipped up from Woodbine to score at odds of 11-1.

"We've had him since he was 2 and he's 7 now, so we have a lot of communication, him and I, and we know where he's at,” Banach said. “We thought he'd run a good race. We obviously shipped all the way up there for it, so we knew we had him pretty close to being right on.

"Jose rode him perfectly for never having seen him or sitting on him,” Banach added. “He is an uncomplicated horse, but if you don't get him covered up then he can get into trouble.”

English Conqueror will exit post 4 with a morning-line assessment of 20-1 on Sunday and there does appear to be speed signed on in the stretch-out Strong Quality and oft-prominent Sugoi.

"We can be slotted anywhere in the race - he's pretty easy that way,” Banach said. “The only thing we've found in the past with him is he doesn't like to be on the lead because he won't drop the bit and gallop along - he wants to take a hold of the rider and doesn't relax enough. So, if we can get somebody in front of him and get covered up, it doesn't matter where we are.”

Banach said he is hopeful for another strong performance from English Conqueror, who posted a bullet five-eighths breeze in 1:00.60 July 21 over the Woodbine Tapeta.

“He’s doing well,” Banach said. "He seemed to like the course last time and he liked the little trip up there. We're excited to be there. It came up a little tougher than we'd like, but we're in good order, so we're going to take a shot.”

Banach will hope to make it a continental stakes double Sunday with Double R Racing’s Reload’s Rascal in the $100,000 Pink Lloyd, a six-furlong Tapeta sprint for older Ontario-sired horses at Woodbine.

The 5-year-old Reload gelding has won three of his last four starts and will look to improve upon a fourth-place finish in last year’s Pink Lloyd, which is named for Canada’s 2017 Horse of the Year.

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Cagliostro to target G1 Forego

Wathnan Racing’s multiple graded stakes-placed Cagliostro was nominated to the nine-furlong Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on August 3 but will skip the race to target the seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 Forego on August 24, at Saratoga Race Course, per trainer Cherie DeVaux.

The Upstart bay caught eyes when beating Grade 1-placed Dreamlike to start his 4-year-old campaign in a 1 1/16-mile allowance on April 19 at Keeneland, earning a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure in victory. He exited to post two strong efforts at Churchill Downs, including a close second in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Blame and a victory in the one-mile Listed Hanshin last-out on June 30.

DeVaux said Cagliostro, who has been working weekly at Keeneland, will not come to the Spa for the Whitney, but rather to shorten up in the Forego.

“Not [coming] until the Forego,” said DeVaux. “I think his best race was the one-turn mile. The one-turn for the Forego, cutting him back in distance might be a little tough, but I think it’s more ideal than the Whitney.”

Last year, Cagliostro placed in a pair of Grade 3 events going 1 1/16 miles, including the Smarty Jones at Parx Racing and the Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis. DeVaux said increased maturity plus the addition of blinkers has allowed the colt to take a step forward.

“Maturity. The blinkers. He’s always been a pretty good workhorse, but he has obviously woken up this year,” DeVaux said.

Out of the Hard Spun mare A Rosefor Isabelle, Cagliostro was a $385,000 purchase at the 2022 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, with DeVaux as the purchasing agent. His second dam, Uzume, produced Grade 1-placed Water White.

DeVaux said that sophomore turf router Zverev is probable for the one-mile Grade 2, $500,000 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame on August 2 here. The Oscar Performance bay added blinkers for his sophomore season, most recently capturing a 1 1/16-mile allowance on June 20 at Churchill and earning a career-best 87 Beyer.

Zverev worked a bullet half-mile in 48.22 seconds Sunday over the Oklahoma, fastest-of-27 workers at the distance. He will now turn his attention to a graded stakes debut for owners Belladonna Racing, Peachtree Stable, Twin Brook Stables and West Point Thoroughbreds.

“That’s our plan right now,” DeVaux said. “He did that well within himself. He’s always been a good training horse, so he’s in pretty good form right now.”

Zverev, a $330,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training is out of the multiple Grade 1-winning Thunder Gulch mare Balance. His second dam, Vertigineux, produced Hall of Famer Zenyatta.

***

Wachtel primed for competitive summer at Saratoga

Adam Wachtel of Wachtel Thoroughbreds co-owns a strong quartet of turf specialists trained by Hall of Famers Mark Casse and Bill Mott that raced on the June 8 Belmont Stakes Day card at Saratoga Race Course, with some of those horses primed to return to the Spa this summer.

Leading the charge for the Casse trainees are the Brazilian-bred pair of Ice Chocolat and Filo Di Arianna, who both annexed graded events last out in June. The former was last seen taking the Grade 3 Poker over the Spa turf on the Belmont Stakes undercard, while the latter was a sharp winner of the Grade 2 Highlander on June 29 at Woodbine.

“Mark has done an amazing job with Ice Chocolat and with Filo,” said Wachtel. “We have a lot to look forward to this summer.”

Ice Chocolat, co-owned by Wachtel with Gary Barber and Peter Deutsch, is a Group 3-winner in his native Brazil and notched his first North American graded score in the Poker with a wire-to-wire trip engineered by Jose Ortiz. The reliable Goldikovic 6-year-old had previously placed in six graded events, including in the local Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap last year, and boasts a 26-7-6-4 record with over $550,000 in earnings.

“That was a great ride and we kind of stole it on the front end,” Wachtel said of the Poker. “He’s very consistent and is one of these horses we got from South America that is just a runner. He tries every time, and we love a horse like that.”

The win was meaningful for Wachtel after he captured the Grade 2 True North presented by F.W. Webb one race earlier with Baby Yoda, who is entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap here.

“They won back-to-back races, so to go to the paddock and to the winner’s circle and do it all again was just beyond description,” said Wachtel. “It’s what you dream about when you own horses.”

Wachtel indicated that Ice Chocolat is now being pointed to the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap on August 10, a “Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile in November at Del Mar.

Multiple graded stakes-winner Lucky Score has struggled in two starts this year and finished a distant seventh in the Poker. His campaign last year included a Grade 2 win and four additional graded placings in Canada ahead of a close seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita Park.

Wachtel said the Lookin At Lucky gelding will resurface sometime in the near future in Canada.

“He’s funny. On his day, he’s brilliant, but his most recent form isn’t like that,” said Wachtel. “We’re freshening him up a little and he’ll probably run at Woodbine to see if we can get him back on track. He’s got a lot of talent, we just need to get it back. He can go anywhere from six furlongs to a mile on synthetic or turf. We had him right last fall, and he didn’t embarrass himself in the Breeders’ Cup.”

Wachtel also ran two horses in the Grade 1 Jaipur presented by Resolute Racing on Belmont Stakes Day as multiple group/graded stakes-winner Filo Di Arianna and stakes-winner Sosua Summer finished a respective seventh and 11th in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint won by Cogburn in a North American-record time of 59.80 seconds.

Filo Di Arianna attempted to pounce from off the hot pace set by Cogburn, but ran evenly when racing five-wide and could not make up significant ground to be defeated 6 3/4 lengths. The consistent son of Drosselmeyer, who made his American debut for current connections in June 2021, rebounded strongly next out to annex the Grade 2 Highlander at Woodbine with a prominent trip under Kazushi Kimura.

The 8-year-old chestnut remains at Woodbine where he holds a 5-for-6 record that includes additional Grade 2 wins in the Connaught Cup and King Edward. Wachtel indicated a title defense in the Grade 2 King Edward on King’s Plate Day August 17 at Woodbine could be in the cards.

“That was a horse when we first bought him, he had an injury off the bat and we didn’t even know if we were going to be able to race him. Mark has done a fantastic job getting him to the races,” said Wachtel. “He put on another great performance in Canada, so we’re looking forward to him coming back. I think he thrives at Woodbine and he’ll probably run on King’s Plate Day there.”

Sosua Summer, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, attempted to press the blistering pace set by Cogburn, but could not outlast his speedy foe and faded to 11th-of-12.

The son of Summer Front typically made most of his runs from off the pace last year, but found success with prominent tactics when winning his first stakes in the Duncan F. Kenner in January at Fair Grounds Race Course.

Wachtel said the Grade 2, $300,000 Troy on August 3 will come under heavy consideration for a potential next start, noting the bay’s previous 3-for-3 record at the Spa before the Jaipur.

“They tried something a little different running on the front end, but with Cogburn there it turned out to not be a great idea,” said Wachtel. “Prior to that, he was undefeated at Saratoga and there’s tracks he loves, and ones he never wants any part of. When he’s got a track he seems to handle, he can be tough. We’ll see how the Troy comes up. Cogburn is the hot horse in the country right now, but we’ll consider it.”

Mott also trains the Wachtel co-owned Bold Journey, who has not raced since finishing off-the-board in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in March at Meydan Racecourse. The New York-bred Hard Spun chestnut had finished a good third in the Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in February in Saudi Arabia, and was training at Saratoga in the weeks leading up to the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, but was given time off instead of pointing to the True North.

“He was the horse we thought we’d win the True North with, but it just wound up that with all the racing he did over the winter and going to Saudi Arabia and Dubai, it all just caught up with him,” Wachtel said. “He wasn’t 110 percent, so he’s getting a break. He’ll probably go back into training in a few weeks. He didn’t have any surgery or anything, he just needed time.”

The talented horse rounded into form over the winter at Aqueduct Racetrack when posting a trio of wins in an optional claimer, the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap and the Listed Gravesend en route to his Middle Eastern endeavors. He is a half-brother to Grade 1-winning New York-bred and popular young New York sire Americanrevolution.

“If we get him started up in a couple weeks, maybe we get him back in October,” said Wachtel. “I think he has the talent to compete against the best of this group, so we’ll see. He’s a good one.”