Things are hotting up at the Spa, with last year’s champion juvenile Fierceness back in dominant form and star filly Thorpedo Anna committed to the Travers Stakes
The problem with horse racing is that just when you think you have the answer to one question, another question crops up in an ongoing, never-ending quest for the frequently elusive truth.
On the upside, Fierceness returned to something like his best in Saturday’s Jim Dandy, last year’s champion juvenile colt banishing the memory of his Kentucky Derby blowout with a determined length defeat of Derby runner-up Sierra Leone.
Fierceness is like the little girl with the curl – either very, very good or horrid – but on his good days he can beat them all and is right up there with Dornoch and the easy-to-forget Muth in the race for divisional honours. The only concern is that he has never had two good days in a row.
"Super pleased. He kind of got the trip we were hoping for,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, winning an eighth Jim Dandy. “He had to break, get to the first turn in a good position and get in a good rhythm, and that is what he was able to do.
“I think he’s been a little harshly criticized at times when not running his very best, but if you look at some of the excuses he’s had, they’re legitimate. There, he showed he can run with the best of them and has the fight in him.”
The Jim Dandy provided other answers too. Sierra Leone is always going to struggle to get his nose in front given the apparent necessity for such exaggerated waiting tactics, show horse Batten Down (beaten 6¾ lengths) has potential but is not yet one of the big hitters, fourth-placed Seize The Grey may have peaked with his Preakness.
And, of course, more questions. The summer tilts inexorably towards the Travers, four weeks away, and that timeframe may prevent Fierceness from underlining his brilliance in the season-defining contest or, depending on your viewpoint, continuing his on-off sequence with an off-day.
“Twenty-eight days [rest] is not ideal for him,” Pletcher told the Daily Racing Form, while also failing to commit barnmate Mindframe, runner-up to Dornoch in the Belmont and the Haskell, to the Travers.
It is distinctly possible, then, that the Travers will not be in any way conclusive as regards the identity of the top three-year-old colt. But it could yet show us the Horse of the Year, because the answer we all wanted to hear on Saturday came from trainer Kenny McPeek. It came in the affirmative, as he confirmed superstar three-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna will head for the Travers.
“I’m a big believer that the sport needs stars,” he said. “It needs to be promoted. It needs to be lifted. She can do that.
“Racing’s about challenges and it hasn’t been done in a long time [a filly winning the Travers] and I think she’s the horse to do it.”
Thorpedo Anna, the top US-trained three-year-old on the TRC Global Rankings, has won G1s on her last three starts, is a lock to be champion sophomore filly, and would be the standout candidate for Horse of the Year if she beats colts in the Travers.
There hasn’t been a female Horse of the Year since Havre De Grace got the vote in 2011 and, in a year when the older-horse division lacks an ace, a queen could win the biggest pot of all again.
As usual in racing, one answer leads to another question. Can she do it?
Good karma: Mike Smith
There’s always big money floating around at Saratoga, but last Wednesday there was a rare sight of its human manifestation when ‘Big Money Mike’ Smith jetted in to win the G2 Honorable Miss aboard Spirit Wind for trainer Saffie Joseph.
It was the first time the great Hall of Fame jockey had been seen at the Spa for three years, and it was his first victory here since riding Midnight Bisou to win the Personal Ensign in August 2019. Only a flying visit, though; the following day he took two mounts at Del Mar.
“Any time Saffie calls, you don’t ask why, you just get on the plane,” he said, after taking the mare gate-to-wire. There was more big money for bettors who took the hint, Spirit Wind paying off at 5-1.
Bad karma: Soldier Rising
Not so much a soldier, really, more of a conscientious objector to the concept of victory. The six-year-old gelding was runner-up to Silver Knott in the G2 Bowling Green on Sunday, hitting the place for the fourth time in a row, the sixth time in seven, and the 11th time in his 22-race career.
Soldier Rising has plenty of talent – he has run second in five G1s – but has won just twice in 18 starts since joining trainer Christophe Clement, and those wins came in allowance company in the summer of 2022. Slow horses are an everyday occurrence but Soldier Rising isn’t slow, just deeply frustrating.
“He’s a nice horse, but we need to get him to the wire first,” said jockey Jose Ortiz. No kidding.
Next stop is the Sword Dancer, in which he was second 12 months ago. Of course he was.
One to watch: Speak Easy
Not quite back from the dead but from a fate possibly worse than death – that was Speak Easy, who coasted home in a six-furlong allowance on Saturday, staying unbeaten on his second start.
The last time we saw the three-year-old colt he was being led away from the gate before the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park in March, after sustaining severe stomach lacerations when jumping the rail. “He almost gelded himself,” said Elliott Walden, CEO of joint-owner and breeder WinStar Farm.
Now he’s looking good again and is ready to move up. “He deserves to run in a big race,” added Walden. That may be the G1 H Allen Jerkens Memorial [Aug 24].
Quotes of the week
“We always thought he was a Grade 1 horse – I wish we had a hundred of him.”
Joint-owner Sheikh Fahad Al-Thani sings the praises of Nakatomi, who finally broke through at the top level on Saturday in the G1 Alfred G Vanderbilt.
“That was an exciting win. It is always fun when a horse makes people excited.”
Trainer Christophe Clement puts his finger on the appeal of racing after Dontlookbackatall came along late to snatch Thursday’s G3 Caress.
“I almost didn’t come because of that.”
The one-hole was a big worry for trainer Rudy Brisset, but he was glad he came after World Record’s all-the-way, 6¼-length score in the G2 Amsterdam on Friday.
“We like this horse a lot – he has a serious turn of foot.”
The evocatively-named Chancer McPatrick is one for the notebook, according to trainer Chad Brown, after his last-to-first strike on debut. The G1 Hopeful [Sep 2] is a target.
The ‘where are they now?’ file
This week it’s easy. They’re all in the Hall of Fame. The class of 2024 will be inducted on Friday morning in Saratoga Springs, nine new names taking their place in racing’s Valhalla.
The horses so honoured are led by 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, backed up by Aristides, winner of the inaugural Kentucky Derby in 1875, and the antebellum ace Lecomte.
This quartet will be accompanied into the pantheon by jockeys Joel Rosario, winner of more than 3,600 races including the 2013 Kentucky Derby, and Abe Hawkins, a former slave who became one of the first great Black riders and partner of Lecomte.
The inductees also include revered racing writer Joe Hirsch and renowned owner-breeders and industry stalwarts Clement L Hirsch (no relation to Joe) and Harry Guggenheim.
Week 3 in numbers
2 arrivals in quarantine from Aidan O’Brien’s yard: Greenfinch (Saratoga Oaks, Fri) and Diego Velazquez (Saratoga Derby, Sat)
2.11.03 was a new track record for Silver Knott in the 1m3f Bowling Green on turf
3 wins for Flavien Prat on Sunday, maintaining his lead in the jockeys’ table
13 winners at the meet keeps Chad Brown on top of the trainers’ standings
103 Beyer speed figure for Fierceness in the Jim Dandy, his third triple-digit score
Coming soon
Three G1s lend a heavyweight aspect to Saturday’s action, with the historic Whitney (War Admiral, Kelso x3, Dr Fager, Alydar, Easy Goer) headlining the afternoon. The big man on campus here is Met Mile winner National Treasure, going hunting for a fourth G1 win against last year’s Travers runner-up Disarm, Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Bright Future and the emerging Arthur’s Ride.
The Test features the return to action of G1 Spinaway winner Brightwork after a nine-month layoff, and the Saratoga Derby is liable to boil down to a face-off between European powerhouses Ballydoyle (Diego Velazquez) and Godolphin (Legend Of Time).
• Visit the NYRA Saratoga website
Week 1: It’s still Chad Brown’s world at Saratoga … we’re just living in it!
What They’re Thinking: Christina Blacker – I wish I could go back and relive Zenyatta again
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