‘He ran his rear end off’ – how the Mayor of Saratoga became the Governor in race remembering Sultan of the Spa | Topics: NYRA, Saratoga Stretch, Saratoga, Saratoga Race Course

Steve Dennis salutes Casa Creed, a seven-year-old who took his course record to five wins from eight dating back to a maiden success in 2018 by completing back-to-back victories in the G1 Fourstardave

Saratoga, as would be expected from a racetrack that prizes its historic nature openly and abundantly, is good at commemoration.

There are many high-profile races named after the equine heroes of its past – Personal Ensign, Forego, Sword Dancer, Spinaway, Jim Dandy, Shuvee – and many recalling the people who helped make the place what it is today, such as the Allen Jerkens, the Travers, the Whitney and the Alfred G. Vanderbilt.

It was particularly apt, then, that last Saturday’s G1 Fourstardave – named after the ‘Sultan of Saratoga’, who won at the Spa eight years running (1987-1994) for trainer Leo O’Brien – was won by a horse who has himself built a loyal following at the track.

Casa Creed is not quite a Fourstardave, but he now has back-to-back victories in the race and has won at Saratoga in four of his six campaigns (2018-19, 2022-23).

“You can’t imagine that you’d run in the same Grade 1 race at Saratoga four years in a row, and to win it for the second year in a row made for an amazing day,” said co-owner Lee Einsidler. “As a seven-year-old, there’s the argument to be made that it was the best race of his life.”

Casa Creed is now five-for-eight at Saratoga – a maiden, the G2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame, the G3 Kelso and two Fourstardaves – and has contributed generously to trainer Bill Mott’s high profile at this year’s meet. In return, Mott contributed somewhat gnomically to Casa Creed’s cuttings library.

“He ran his rear end off. He digs in and gives it to you. Not much more to say than that,” said the trainer. It’s the way you tell ’em, Bill.

The Fourstardave is a ‘Win and You’re In’ contest for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita, and that’s where Casa Creed will be headed in November, although his record at the Breeders’ Cup is pretty dismal compared to his resume at the Spa – 12th, eighth and ninth.

Einsidler would no doubt push for Saratoga to host the Breeders’ Cup to give his old warrior more of a chance, but that’s never going to happen, so he’ll settle for the next best thing.

“I’m thinking maybe we’ll bring him back and try again next year,” he said, and if Casa Creed were to win a third Fourstardave there’s every chance the executive would grant him the great honour of having his name attached to a race in permanent recognition. Saratoga is good to its heroes, and Casa Creed is certainly one of those.

Good karma: Luis Saez

It was certainly a week to remember for the Panamanian ace, who won the sole G1 contest on Casa Creed and racked up six more victories including stakes success on LJ’s Emma, putting him in second place for the meet and within hailing distance of leader Irad Ortiz.

Off the track, too, things were rosy. Saez picked up the ride on Kentucky Derby winner Mage in the Travers, the $1.25m meet showpiece on August 26, when the colt’s connections could wait no longer for Javier Castellano to decide between their horse and Belmont winner Arcangelo. Saez rode Mage to be runner-up in the G1 Florida Derby.

Bad karma: Saratoga’s turf schedule

It is a mess. Unseasonal weather has affected the two turf tracks at the Spa, the result being that a substantial number of races have been moved to the main track, leading to multiple scratchings, lack of opportunity for trainers with turf runners and uncompetitive racing for bettors and spectators.

There was no action on the lawn on Wednesday and Thursday and two of the five turf races scheduled for Friday were also shifted to the main track, bringing the number of turf races lost at the meet to 37, already more than twice the number lost all last year.

The situation reached a head on Thursday when only two fillies lined up from an original field of 12 for an allowance optional claimer moved off the turf. The schedules for Saturday and Sunday went ahead as planned, but the next three weeks will continue to be a testing time for the track’s management.

Same again, please

The Saratoga Stretch is a sucker for statistics – we love it that Casa Creed ran 1m 34.20s for both his Fourstardave wins – and the result of the G2 Saratoga Special was especially pleasing in that respect. The upwardly mobile Rhyme Schemes was poetry in motion as he surged to victory by 9½ lengths, a mighty margin of superiority, and exactly the same as he recorded when winning his maiden at Ellis Park in June.

The Norm Casse-trained Ghostzapper colt heads next for the G1 Hopeful [Sep 4], and victory in itself won’t be enough now that he has established this intoxicating statistical trend. Ride him out, Ricardo Santana. Nine and a half is what we need.

Got your number

With three weeks remaining at the Spa, last year’s champions have assumed their usual position at the head of affairs with a little breathing space for comfort.

Chad Brown has moved four clear of Linda Rice (23-19) and this may be the point where his greater depth begins to make the difference. He had five winners last week and Rice just one, and with $3.3m in his back pocket – topped up by stakes wins for Carl Spackler and Dr Ardito – leads the money list by more than a million.

The jockeys are still headed by Irad Ortiz, who broke on top and has improved his position ever since. He has 34 wins, seven clear of the hot-handed Luis Saez (see above), although 43 second-places will grate on the Puerto Rican. Ortiz has banked $4.4m, which may already be enough to top the heap on that particular metric.

Quotes of the week

“They tell me that he’s known as the Mayor of Saratoga, maybe after today he’s the Governor of Saratoga.”
Lee Einsidler, co-owner of Casa Creed, who won at the Spa for the fourth summer when going back-to-back in the G1 Fourstardave, plays politics with his fan favourite.

“I can’t talk and I might be tearing up a little bit. What next for the horse? Man, I’m still trying to get through today.”
The emotion gets to trainer Adam Rice after Closethegame Sugar nailed a narrow stakes success in the Mahony. Rice is a nephew of in-form trainer Linda Rice.

“Spending that kind of money, it’s a lot.”
Big-spending owner Amr Zedan accepts the situation after landing the two top yearlings at Fasig-Tipton’s 102nd Saratoga Sale, laying out $4m on a Curlin colt out of Horse of the Year Beholder and $3.2m for a son of Into Mischief. Both horses will be trained by Bob Baffert.

One to watch: Rocky Sky

Chad Brown has almost a gajillion high-class turf distaffers in his barn so it’s easy to let some slip through the fraying safety net of the memory. No-one should forget about Rocky Sky, though, who was having her first start since November when bidding to go coast-to-coast in a mile-eighth allowance on Friday, just getting caught in the last three jumps.

Last year Rocky Sky won the G3 Waya at Aqueduct, and on this evidence Brown will be planning a lucrative fall campaign for the Rock Of Gibraltar mare.

Forthcoming attractions

With the stakes-heavy Travers weekend on the horizon, this week’s fare is more thin gruel than three-course meal. The stand-out contest is the G1 Alabama for three-year-old fillies, which features the rematch between Wet Paint and Gambling Girl, who ran first and third in the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks here last month. Julia Shining, Malathaat’s little sister, adds a dash of hot sauce to the recipe.