Jen Pottheiser Photo

Talk Veuve to Me breezes ahead of 1 ¼-mile test in G1 Alabama

by NYRA Press Office

• Alabama heavyweight Midnight Bisou turns in ‘easy half’
• Jockeys Saez, Santana enjoying solid start to Spa meet
• Hofburg and Elate on track for respective Grade 1 races on Travers Day
• Andina Del Sur looks to turn it around in G2 Lake Placid
• Young turf fillies square off in Wednesday’s Bolton Landing

Grade 3 Indiana Oaks winner Talk Veuve to Me put in her last work before Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama at 1 ¼-miles, breezing four furlongs on the Oklahoma training track Monday morning.

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset said her work, clocked in 47.95 seconds that was the second-fastest of 54, was impressive. Talk Veuve to Me has breezed three times since arriving at Saratoga from Keeneland in July, including a five-furlong breeze on the main track August 6.

“She got a good half-a-mile and we’re happy with the move. It looked like she cooled out good and hopefully she’ll look good tomorrow,” Brisset said. “It seems like she has a mind about the track. She’s an easy horse to be around and she’s acclimated very, very good.”

Talk Veuve to Me has only raced five times but has finished first or second in all three of her stakes appearances since breaking her maiden at second asking on March 25 at Fair Grounds. Since then, the Kentucky bred ran second by three-quarters of a length to Mia Mischief in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Eight Belles on May 4 at Churchill.

Stretching out to a mile, Talk Veuve to Me ran second to leading 3-year-old filly division contender Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Acorn on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9. Anxious to stretch her out to two turns, Brisset entered her in the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Oaks on July 14 at Indiana Grand Race Course, and she responded with a 4 ¾-length win for her first stakes victory.

“We can’t be overconfident, [but] you look at the numbers, the replays and the PPs, and we’re right there,” Brisset said. “She deserves a shot in that race. We’ll see what happens with it being a mile and a quarter.

“Last time was very impressive going for the first time around two turns, so if she can replicate that race and do it going a mile and a quarter, it could be an interesting race. Luckily for me, I’ve been able to ride her for the last six months; I breeze her all the time and I know the filly pretty well. She could actually be a better filly going around two turns. She’s won on the lead, she’s won while rating. She has some tactical [speed] and shouldn’t be too far from the front. Maybe she’ll be on the lead, we’ll see how the draw goes.”

Also expected to enter the Alabama are Midnight Bisou and She’s a Julie, both for trainer Steve Asmussen; Coach Rocks, winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Pak Oaks in March; lightly raced Auspicious Babe in her stakes debut; Indiana Oaks runner-up Figarella’s Queen; and Eskimo Kisses, fourth in both the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks and Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

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Alabama heavyweight Midnight Bisou turns in ‘easy half’

Multiple graded stakes winner Midnight Bisou put in the final touches Monday morning as the prospective favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama, breezing four furlongs in 51.62 seconds for a final blowout in preparation for the race.

“She breezed an easy half-mile for the Alabama and the filly has consistently done extremely well and we’re obviously very excited about her chances,” said Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

Midnight Bisou, owned by Bloom Racing Stable, Madaket Stables and Allen Racing, is exiting a runner-up finish to Monomoy Girl in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 22. It was the second meeting of the fillies, following the Kentucky Oaks, won by Monomoy Girl. Wonder Gadot, currently pointing to the Grade 1 Travers, was a half-length back, while Midnight Bisou was third, beaten 4 ¼ lengths.

Following the Kentucky Oaks, the Midnight Lute filly was transferred to Asmussen for an East Coast campaign. She returned to action in impressive fashion with a six-length win in the Grade 2 Mother Goose on June 30 at Belmont.

Also expected to enter for Asmussen in the Alabama is Whispering Oaks Farm’s She’s a Julie. She breezed four furlongs in 49.67 Sunday morning on the Oklahoma training track.

Following a seventh-place finish last year in the Debutante to end her juvenile campaign, the Elusive Quality filly made her 2018 debut at Fair Grounds, where she ran sixth in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and fifth in the Fair Grounds Oaks. Finishing second in her first start at Churchill Downs in an allowance optional claiming race in May, she won an allowance optional claiming race on June 3 at Churchill before impressively winning the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks last out on July 4 by 5 ½ lengths.

“She’s coming off a huge win and she’s trained really well up here,” said Asmussen. “Obviously, it’s a big step up for her and caliber of competition, but she’s done all the work.”

Asmussen also reported Tight Ten, who ran second in Sunday’s Grade 2 Saratoga Special, was in good order following the race, but most likely will not target a start in the Grade 1, $350,000 Hopeful on September 3.

“He ran a nice race against a good horse and came out second best. The Hopeful would be very doubtful for him. I don’t think I’ll run him back in three weeks.”

Lyrical Lady, who finished a disappointing fifth in the Grade 2 Adirondack, also exited her race in good order as Asmussen would look to evaluate plans for the filly.

“Obviously, it was a disappointing run there,” he said. “I thought the track was extremely deep from the times there were shown Saturday, so we’ll just try to regroup.”

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Jockeys Saez, Santana enjoying solid start to Spa meet

Coming out of the “hump weekend” of the 2018 Saratoga meet, jockey Luis Saez has been making a good impression as the second-leading rider with 23 winners from 134 starters, while Irad Ortiz, Jr. leads the jockey colony with 29 winners from 125 mounts entering Monday’s card.

Through 21 days, this season at the Spa has been the best start for Saez since becoming a full-time rider at Saratoga in 2013. Highlights of the 40-day meet so far include stakes victories aboard Promises Fulfilled in the Grade 2 Amsterdam; Broadway Run in the Coronation Cup; Goodbye Brockley in the NYSS Statue of Liberty; and Weekend Hideaway in the John Morrissey.

“I’ve been working hard every day,” said Saez, who won his first Grade 1 in the 2013 Travers aboard Will Take Charge. “The horses have been running good for me. Every year, I learn something different about Saratoga. I have more experience here and I just keep trying. Hopefully, I can continue to do well.”

Saez’s best overall season at Saratoga came in 2015 with 35 winners from 238 starters, which included winning 16-of-117 races at the halfway point.

Another jockey who has been making a big impression this summer is Ricardo Santana, Jr. Following an 8-for-66 performance through the first 20 days of last season’s meet, Santana Jr. has 13 winners from 93 mounts in that same time frame this season.

Of his 13 winners this meet, four of them were 2-year-old maidens trained by Steve Asmussen and owned or co-owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds. Santana Jr.’s biggest win of the meet so far, however, has come aboard a 3-year-old, Winchell’s Tenfold, who took the Grade 2 Jim Dandy by three-quarters of a length and figures to be a serious contender in the Travers on August 25.

“I am doing pretty good right now,” Santana Jr. said. “With better horses this year, I have gotten more chances and opportunities. The horses have been running well. Steve Asmussen has had young horses ready to run. He has done a good job in schooling them at the gate. They know what to do.”

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Hofburg, Elate on track for respective Grade 1 races on Travers Day

Grade 1 stakes-bound Hofburg and Elate came out of their Sunday breezes in good order, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said from his barn the day after the duo worked five furlongs on the Oklahoma training track.

Hofburg, pointing towards the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on August 25, was credited with the faster workout time of 1:00.54 while Elate, targeting the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign on Travers Day, went 1:00.71. Mott said both will have one final work either Sunday or Monday under their regular exercise riders.

“They both worked good and looked good, everything seems fine today,” Mott said. “They’re both on course for their respective races.”

Hofburg posted a five-length win in the Curlin on July 27 at the Spa. The Tapit colt will be looking for his first graded stakes win after two strong showings, finishing second to Audible in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 31 at Gulfstream Park. After running seventh in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill, the Juddmonte Farm’s homebred rebounded to run third behind Gronkowski and Triple Crown-winning Justify in the Belmont Stakes on June 9.

Elate made her 2018 debut in impressive fashion, coming off an eight-month layoff to win the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap last out on July 14 at Delaware Park. The 4-year-old Medaglia d’Oro filly will now take aim at the Personal Ensign, a 1 1/8-mile race that is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November at Churchill.

Mucho, who broke his maiden at second asking on August 4 at Saratoga, could make his stakes debut on the same track, as Mott said he remains possible for the Grade 1, $350,000 Hopeful for juveniles on Closing Day, September 3. Contested over seven furlongs, the Hopeful would keep the Blame colt at one turn after he won a six-furlong sprint earlier this month.

Mott said Yoshida came out of the Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave in relatively good order, though the conditions of the inner turf course that took heavy rain throughout the week led to the Japanese-bred being hit with a divot as he ran fifth of six.

“He looks fine now, he had taken a pretty good blast to the eye with one of those big clogs, and he had an eye closed up the next day,” Mott said. “I guess that can probably ring their bell a little when they’re running; it’s hard to know how much it affected him in the race.

“Looking at the number of turf races that have been off; someone said to me, ‘When it starts to rain early, it rains the whole meet.’ I’ve taken notice to that.”

Commend continues to train at Saratoga, even as the weather conditions might preclude him for racing in the summer meet, Mott said. Stationed at Saratoga since June, the 5-year-old son of War Front has not raced since running 11th in the Karl Boyes Memorial on June 18 at Presque Isle Downs.

“He’s good, we just need to find a race for him,” Mott said. “With all the rain, he probably wouldn’t get by with soft ground anyway. I don’t think we’re going to get to anything up here.”

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Andina Del Sur looks to turn it around in G2 Lake Placid

Don Alberto Stable’s Andina Del Sur will look to turn the tables on Grade 3 Lake George winner Daddy Is a Legend as the Tom Albertrani trainee makes her sixth straight graded stakes start in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Lake Placid for 3-year-old fillies.

Andina Del Sur carried a field-high 124 pounds and finished an even fourth behind the George Weaver-trained Daddy Is a Legend, beaten 5 ¼ lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Lake George on July 20. Saturday’s stakes will be her second time at the Lake Placid’s 1 1/8-mile distance, following a close sixth-place finish two starts back in the Grade 3 Wonder Again in June at Belmont Park.

“She always looks like she gallops out well, so I don’t think extra distance hurts her,” said Albertrani. “I think she was subject to a slow pace in her last couple of races. They kind of sprinted away from her and she stayed a little one-paced at the end. So, hopefully, going a little longer, she’ll have a little extra. She ran a good race [in the Lake George] and she carried top weight that day. Hopefully, we’ll get a little break in the weights going into the Lake Placid.”

The chestnut daughter of Giant’s Causeway won her 2-year-old unveiling by two lengths in October and moved into stakes company when she returned in January, finishing third in the Ginger Brew. She was third again in the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant and got her breakthrough win in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks in March at Tampa Bay Downs, where she split horses late to hit the wire a head in front of Goodthingstaketime and Altea.

Jose Ortiz will be aboard Andina Del Sur for the first time in the Lake Placid, which, in addition to Daddy Is a Legend, is also expected to attract last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf heroine Rushing Fall, who suffered her first career defeat last time out in the May 4 Grade 3 Edgewood; Irish-bred Capla Temptress, exiting a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks; and Belmont Oaks runner-up Thewayiam.

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Young turf fillies square off in Wednesday’s Bolton Landing

A group of eight juvenile fillies will line up on Wednesday for the $100,000 Bolton Landing for 2-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs on the Mellon turf course at Saratoga.

Wise Racing's Drynachan will make her second start at the Spa after rallying from a wide trip among nine others to score by two lengths in her debut on July 20. The New York-bred chestnut by City Zip is trained by Chad Brown and is one of three 2-year-olds that have debuted a winner since opening day for the meet's current leading barn.

“She had a nice debut, ran really well," Brown said. "You have to kind of go in a stake at this point. [She's a] nice horse, solid, and it didn't surprise us that she won. She'll have to take a big jump in the stakes though, but it seems that she fits.

“She laid a little closer than i thought she should last race. I was pleasantly surprised she was that forward which worked out.”

Drynachan will break from post 2 and will again be ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

Robert Masiello's Avocado Toast will be the target for Drynachan to catch, as she makes her second start on grass after her front-running maiden breaking score in her debut on July 8 at Monmouth Park. Saratoga will be the fourth racetrack in as many starts for the 2-year-old filly by Big Drama, who displayed a drastic change once she was tried on the turf by trainer Tom Albertrani.

“She made a huge improvement with the change in surface,” he said. “It’s a step up for her off the maiden win but hopefully the rain cooperates, and we’ll have good, firm ground.”

The Florida-bred Avocado Toast finished seventh in her first two starts over the main track this spring before making the switch to grass.

“I think the change in surface gave her a little extra and she was able to get a better hold of the ground,” Albertrani said. “She had really good breezes in Ocala on the Polytrack, so she always showed us that she had good speed. Getting her off the dirt has made all the difference for her.”

Avocado Toast will apply her speed from the rail under jockey Angel Arroyo.

Wesley Ward will bring a strong trio to the fray led by Breeze Easy’s Shang Shang Shang, who returns to the U.S. following her victory by a nose in the Group 2 Norfolk at Royal Ascot. The Shanghai Bobby filly is perfect through two starts after winning her debut by 2 ¼ lengths at Keeneland on April 24.

Hat Creek Racing’s Chelsea Cloisters broke her maiden by eight lengths at Keeneland before shipping to England, where she finished 11th in the Group 2 Queen Mary at Royal Ascot. The filly by First Samurai returned with a runner-up finish at Deauville in France.

Marcus Stable’s Stillwater Cove is another who won at first asking for Ward at Keeneland, and then traveled to England, where she gave way to 13th while making her turf debut at Royal Ascot. Ward will remove the blinkers after the daughter of Quality Road raced with them in both starts.

Shang Shang Shang will look to close from post 3 under Joel Rosario, and Chelsea Cloisters will be outside of her stablemate in post 4 under Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez. Stillwater Cove drew the outside post 8 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.

Others entered in the Bolton Landing are Fightress, a supplemental entrant for trainer Norm Casse; Michael Stidham-trained Elsa; and Questionoftheday from the Michael Trombetta barn.