In his second weekly update, Steve Dennis enjoys a Saratoga cakewalk that raised the tantalising prospect of a male-versus-female Travers Stakes showdown
Do you like gravy? Who doesn’t? Kenny McPeek evidently does, and his desire for more of the savoury brown goo could lead to a spectacular summer showdown at Saratoga. So sit down. The feast is on the way. Anyone for gravy?
Horse racing is just about the only sport that normalises direct competition between male and female – jockeys, trainers, horses – and there is always a distinct frisson of anticipation when a high-class filly or mare moves out of the sorority to take on the boys in a feature event.
Genuine Risk, Winning Colors, Goldikova, Zenyatta, Enable to name an easy five; the list is long and glorious and it could be about to get longer, more glorious and potentially more gravy-er following the dominant victory of Thorpedo Anna in the Coaching Club American Oaks on Saturday.
Thorpedo Anna already had the Kentucky Oaks and Acorn Stakes on her record and her acquisition of a third G1 race has likely nailed down divisional honours without needing a discussion.
So now trainer Kenny McPeek is thinking about rolling the dice and pointing his star filly for the Travers, taking on the cream of the sophomore crop in the Saratoga showpiece next month. He’s also been thinking about gravy. A lot.
“We didn’t give a lot for her so everything’s gravy,” said McPeek. “From her two-year-old season, everything’s been gravy. She’s given us a lot of gravy.
“If I run her in the Alabama, as a wagering [prospect] it’s no fun for anybody. Nobody is going to run against her and what would she be? 1-2 or less? I like challenges.
“I’d be sticking my neck out a little bit, but I think the sport could really enjoy seeing a filly take on the colts. It’s a good problem, and a real honor to be around a horse like her.”
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McPeek is correct. Taking the conventional distaff route to the Alabama wouldn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know, and nothing that we wanted to know.
What is more, he has been down this route before with the popular Swiss Skydiver, who won the 2020 Preakness, and given that his Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (it has been a remarkably gravy-rich year for McPeek) has seemingly been roughed off for the season, there is no intramural clash to be avoided.
At present, the colts lack a fearsome champion-elect, although Dornoch is hellish hard to beat and Saturday’s Jim Dandy will clarify the picture further.
Thorpedo Anna is six-for-seven lifetime, two-for-two at Saratoga, thoroughly reliable, and shapes as though stretching out beyond a mile-eighth will be no problem, which she would have to do anyway if the Alabama was her target.
“The upside of the Travers is we’d be running for twice the money and attempting history,” McPeek told the Daily Racing Form. “I think it’d be good for the game, it would be a very interesting race. We’re going to look at the numbers, make sure she’s come out of the race good and contemplate it a bit.”
Defeat in the Travers would not be a calamity, as Thorpedo Anna could regroup for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Success would be a game-changer, a pivot towards Horse of the Year honours, a triumph for bold vision and direct action.
McPeek likes challenges. Here’s a big one. Think of the gravy, Ken.
Good karma: Mark Casse
Saturday was a day to remember for the Hall of Fame trainer, who signed for seven winners including a double at Saratoga headed by Pounce in the G3 Lake George.
Casse also landed an allowance at the Spa with Full Screen – both horses partnered by the hot-ticket Dylan Davis – to add to three wins at Woodbine and one each at Monmouth Park and Gulfstream Park.
“It’s been a good day,” said Casse, making one wonder what a great day would entail. “I have a great crew. We got up to Saratoga a lot earlier this year and I think that might be part of it.”
Bad karma: Shotgun Hottie
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The initial plan for the five-year-old mare was the Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park, but trainer Cherie DeVaux’s plans changed when the top-class Idiomatic was targeted at that race.
No problem. Shotgun Hottie was rerouted to the G2 Shuvee the following day where she was favoured in a field of five, in a good spot. Would the workaround work?
Not this time; she could only hit the place behind Raging Sea. Sometimes, whatever you do, it’s just not your day.
Week 2 in numbers
4 winners for Irad Ortiz on Friday, Dylan Davis on Saturday, Flavien Prat on Sunday. Prat heads the jockeys’ table on 12, one ahead of Ortiz.
7 wins for Chad Brown, who is four clear at the top of the trainers’ standings with ten victories at the meet.
8 races on Wednesday’s card after two races were taken off the turf.
10¾ lengths – winning margin posted by New York-bred Bellacose on her debut.
24 The longest-odds winner of the week was Aunt Yola, breaking her maiden at the fifth attempt.
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First time was the charm for this son of first-crop sire starlet Volatile, and many were impressed by the manner of victory in a six-furlong maiden. He got a dream run up the fence before putting away the opposition in no-sweat style, hand-ridden by Joel Rosario to get home by 2½ lengths.
“He already acts the part of a three-year-old,” said trainer Chad Brown, who is never shy of moving his horses up swiftly. The G1 Hopeful on closing day is the plan.
Quotes of the week
“Chad and I would love to win the Travers, cross that off the bucket list.”
Seth Klarman, owner of the unbeaten Unmatched Wisdom, who put his hand up for consideration in the ‘Midsummer Derby’ with an impressive score in Friday’s black-type Curlin Stakes for trainer Chad Brown.
“The last eighth of a mile, it was just her. She had her ears up, playing around and messing with me.”
CCA Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna had plenty in the locker according to jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., just happy to go along for the ride.
“She’s always knocking on the door in those Grade 1s and there might be one with her name on it.”
Chad Brown has bigger things in mind – possibly the Personal Ensign (Aug 23) – for comfortable Shuvee winner Raging Sea.
“I thought he was just ‘a horse’.”
Trainer Jack Fisher reconsiders his opinion of his, er, horse after Ziggle Pops cruised home in the AP Smethwick Memorial Handicap over hurdles.
The ‘where are they now?’ file
Kentucky Derby winners are impossible to forget but 2022 hero Rich Strike has done a good job of disappearing from the mental radar. Since running off the board at Churchill Downs in May 2023 he has left trainer Eric Reed, been retired, recovered from ligament problems, been unretired, and moved to the care of Bill Mott.
Last week Rich Strike sauntered through three panels in 38s on the Oklahoma training circuit at the Spa, and if he ever makes it back to action will be the first Derby winner to race at five since California Chrome in 2016.
“He went good,” said Mott. “We’re just getting him started again and back to the work tab.” Watch this space.
Coming soon
Dornoch threw down the gauntlet to the three-year-old colts at Monmouth Park and Saturday’s G2 Jim Dandy will shed further light on the division.
The $500,000 mile-eighth contest has drawn some heavy hitters including Kentucky Derby runner-up Sierra Leone, Preakness winner Seize The Grey, last year’s champion juvenile colt Fierceness and rising star Batten Down, winner of the Ohio Derby last time out.
The Jim Dandy looks more of a thriller than the G1 Alfred G Vanderbilt on the same card, a moderate contest for the grade headed by Spa specialist Baby Yoda.
• Visit the NYRA Saratoga website
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