Steve Dennis is back on the Saratoga beat with his regular weekly update from the Spa, where a champion filly showed proper mettle after a significant layoff
There is always something compelling about a match race, with its faculty to cut through all the white noise and focus intently on the fundamental concept of racing – this horse or that one? Yours or mine. Who d’ya like?
Some of us are too young to remember Voltigeur taking on The Flying Dutchman at York in 1851, or the Seabiscuit-War Admiral epic in 1938, but even though there were four horses in the G2 Shuvee at Saratoga on Sunday, that frisson of blue-corner-red-corner, heads/tails, them/us still electrified the Spa with an almost tangible crackle because there were – with due deference to the spear-carrying Skratch Kat and Pistol Liz Ablazen – only two that counted.
To all intents, it was a match between two distaffers with seven G1 wins between them, the 2022 champion three-year-old filly Nest and the bang-in-form Clairiere. With the tote board showing 3-5 and 4-5 the pair there was little opportunity for major financial gain but huge potential for an enriching experience.
And it may not have been the type of knock-down, drag-out fight we hoped for, but Nest – twice a G1 winner at Saratoga last year in the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama – was mightily impressive when easing to victory by 2¼ lengths over her rival, promising plenty for the rest of the campaign.
“That was more than worth the wait,” said co-owner Mike Repole, who had to wait a bit longer than planned for Nest’s return after she missed last month’s Ogden Phipps. “That was really impressive. You want a horse like this at her best for the last four races of the year, not the first four.”
Nest went up against the boys in last year’s Belmont Stakes and beat them all bar one, and Repole has a similar adventure on his mind this time around, wondering about the Jockey Club Gold Cup on the Spa’s closing weekend [Sep 2].
However, trainer Todd Pletcher has drawn up a more conventional blueprint to take his superfilly back to the Breeders’ Cup. “We’d like to run back in the Personal Ensign [Saratoga, Aug 26] if we think that’s enough time,” he said.
“The ultimate decision will be what we do for a prep for the Breeders’ Cup. Do we go back to New York like we did last year [G2 Beldame] or possibly the Spinster at Keeneland [Oct 8]?”
With a performance like that off an eight-month layoff, Nest has the racing world at her feet. She’ll likely always have more on her plate than she did on Sunday, but however many runners go to the gate against her there will still be the same crackle of excitement, the same intense expectation. Will Nest ever meet her match?
Good karma: Linda Rice
Linda Rice has lit up Saratoga before, notably with the sizzling two-year-old colt City Zip, who landed the juvenile triple – Sanford, Saratoga Special, Hopeful – in 2000, and when becoming the first woman to win the trainers’ title here in 2009. Now she’s doing it again.
Rice leads the rankings with ten winners, having posted five on opening weekend and five more this weekend, including victory with Paddington, who is on the up-and-up after slaying the field by 8½ lengths in a starter allowance on Saturday.
Paddington is only the second-best three-year-old of that name out there, with his European counterpart just a little way ahead after three G1 wins, but Linda Rice is the best Linda Rice there is.
Bad karma: Tom Amoss
Sometimes it’s insult, sometimes it’s injury, sometimes it’s both. Amoss had reignited the vital spark in Hoosier Philly, unbeaten in three as a two-year-old, beaten in three as a three-year-old, and had a legitimate shot at G1 glory in the Coaching Club American Oaks, his stable star the second-favourite on the morning line.
But a minor foot injury ruled her out of the big race, and Amoss could have been forgiven for using a few four-letter words when the CCA Oaks was won by Wet Paint – who Hoosier Philly had beaten by 3½ lengths on her previous start.
“It’s one step at a time right now,” he told reporters. “There are no future plans.” That sounds unduly dystopian; Amoss and Hoosier Philly, they’ll be back.
One to watch: Protective
He had very little idea of what he was supposed to be doing until it was too late, but this Todd Pletcher debutant finished off strongly over six furlongs and was bringing back the highly regarded Valentine Candy all the way to the wire. This son of Medaglia D’Oro out of Kentucky Oaks third Grace Hall looks a surefire winner next time, probably stretching out.
Quotes of the week
“You always have to be optimistic. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be getting up at 4am seven days a week.”
Linda Rice, the current meet-leading trainer, on her rise-and-shine philosophy
“It’s nice when you’re aggressive and it works out.”
Christophe Clement gets punchy after sending out Roses For Debra to win the G3 Caress
“I’m a fan of Saratoga today. I love going to different places and running. I never thought I’d run at places like Saratoga, Belmont, Keeneland and Churchill Downs. Even the Turfways and every point in between.”
Billy Morey, owner-trainer of stakes-winning filly Orange Freeze, loves the day job
The numbers game
He missed out on the ‘Good Karma’ award, possibly because he’s operating at a level beyond karma itself, but that’s about the only thing Irad ‘Hot Hands’ Ortiz missed out on at Saratoga this week. Ortiz rode 14 winners – two on Wednesday, one on Thursday, four on Friday, five on Saturday, two on Sunday – and is a long way clear at the top of the jockeys’ rankings, leading Luis Saez 21-9.
It’s never over until it’s over – ask his little brother Jose, who had to sit out a chunk of the weekend with bruised ribs – but Ortiz is well on the way to retaining his riders’ title.
Working hard
There was a new look for Belmont runner-up Forte when he breezed a half-mile in 50s flat on Saturday – in blinkers. Todd Pletcher wants the colt to be more focused, and reported: “He didn’t seem to care what his workmate was doing as much.”
Forte, who is on target for Saturday’s G2 Jim Dandy, worked with Emmanuel, who is heading for the G1 Fourstardave [Aug 12], while Pletcher also sent out Julia Shining, who could make the G1 Alabama [Aug 19].
Bill Mott unleashed Breeders’ Cup winners Cody’s Wish and Elite Power on Sunday, with Cody’s Wish homing in on the Whitney [Aug 5] and Elite Power setting himself up for Saturday’s G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt.
Forthcoming attractions
Ryvit will bid to extend his winning streak to six in the G2 Amsterdam on Friday, and 2022 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Rebel’s Romance has shipped in from Britain for Sunday’s G2 Bowling Green.
In between, Saturday features the latest shake-up for the three-year-old colt division when Forte, Disarm, Angel Of Empire and Hit Show line up for the $500,000 Jim Dandy. A strong Saratoga Saturday offering also showcases champion sprinter Elite Power as he takes on Gunite in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt.
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