With 11 races taken off the turf, Tropical Storm Debby played havoc with last weekend’s Saratoga schedule – but they got the biggies away on the lawn on Sunday, as Steve Dennis reports in his latest update
‘If at first you don’t succeed’ is advice so familiar, so time-tested, that it’s barely necessary to complete the sentence. Something about trying, apparently.
That was the attitude Chad Brown took towards the Fourstardave, the G1 highlight of the week at Saratoga, persevering in the face of seemingly endless frustration but always coming back for more.
Before Carl Spackler went to the gate for Sunday’s twice-postponed edition of the mile contest Brown’s record in the race was speckled with five second-places, and no wins. At the wire, the long wait was over.
“It feels good,” said Brown, widely regarded as the premier turf trainer in the US. “It’s a perfect time for it, my family and my parents are here; they brought me to the track growing up and we used to bet on Fourstardave himself.”
Given that the horse became known as the ‘Sultan of Saratoga’ for winning at least one race at the track eight years in a row from 1987-94, it is fair to say the Brown clan probably collected on a few occasions.
As such, this was a race Brown was especially keen to claim, as he suggested, saying: “I haven’t won it before because it is a hard race to win, so that makes it even more special. It is a very challenging race to win.”
Brown was tidying up a loose end as now only the Belmont Derby is missing from his honor roll of G1 wins on turf in New York, and he will no doubt be keen to complete the full set.
In contrast, Carl Spackler was making his breakthrough at the top level, although his graduation has always seemed just a matter of time, especially at the Spa, where he now has a four-for-five record.
“He looked like a horse who was sitting on a big number,” added Brown. “He was capable of it. He had flirted with running a monster number before. I really felt today would be his day and it was.”
It was also a big day for jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who is a son-in-law of owner Bob Edwards and was crowning a fantastic week that brought him ten winners in the four days of racetrack action (Friday being a washout).
“To cap it all off with a win like this and celebrate with the family is amazing,” he said. “This is why we do this, this is the place we want to be, and to accomplish these things is truly amazing.”
Carl Spackler has always had an aura around him because of his name, which he shares with the character played by Bill Murray in the riotously funny golf movie Caddyshack, a cult classic and limitless source of quotable lines for its devotees.
The other Carl Spackler is a shambolic individual, a greenskeeper whose one aim in life is to rid his golf course of gophers, and while engaged in that pursuit daydreams about being a professional golfer and winning the US Masters, which he describes lovingly to himself as ‘a real Cinderella story’.
This was eagerly picked up on by Edwards, who had no doubt been waiting impatiently for the perfect time to quote the quote. “He’s no longer a Cinderella story,” he said. “He got that gopher.”
He certainly did. The main target for Carl Spackler is now the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar in November. Brown has already won that race (Uni, 2019) and Edwards has three Breeders’ Cup wins, including two with the brilliant Rushing Fall.
They have succeeded many times with many horses, but that doesn’t mean they won’t try again.
Good karma (1): Carson’s Run
Saratoga Derby winner Carson’s Run has become a fan favorite. According to the NYRA media team, the Christophe Clement-trained colt was named in honor of Carson Jost, who was born with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.
Carson is the son of Wade Jost, a former classmate of West Point Thoroughbreds’ founder Terry Finley at the United States Military Academy.
“When things work out like this, there’s a sweetness to this business that you can’t match in anything else in life,” said an emotional Finley after Carson’s Run had nailed even-money favorite Legend Of Time to claim the $600,000 event, postponed 24 hours until Sunday’s card owing to the storm.
To add to the undoubted feelgood factor, this was also a first US G1 success for jockey Dylan Davis. “It meant a lot,” said the rider. “First Grade 1 in New York, in the States, and hometown at Saratoga. It’s incredible.”
Good karma (2): Wayne Potts
He has only won one Graded stakes in 18 years with a licence, but at least now he’s won it twice. Wayne Potts’s affinity with the G2 Troy (automatically downgraded to G3 after coming off the turf) continued with the victory of Surveillance, who coasted to an easy success in Saturday’s contest.
Potts also won the Troy in 2020 with American Sailor, but that breakthrough was bittersweet as the horse died in a barn fire at Belmont Park the following year.
“I never could enjoy that win because I lost him in the fire, but it popped up in my [phone] memories yesterday,” he said. Potts was getting an immediate return on investment after a shrewd claim of Surveillance for $62,500 on his previous start; the Troy was worth $165,000 to the winner.
We hope the memories are longer, and happier, this time.
Bad karma: Turf racing
It was not a good week on the weeds at Saratoga, with all the scheduled turf races Wednesday through Saturday either moved to the main track or cancelled entirely. Tropical Storm Debby did the damage, drenching the east coast before drifting listlessly away into the north Atlantic to permit Sunday’s G1 turf action to go ahead as scheduled.
It’s nobody’s fault, but moving a race from the turf to dirt wrecks it as a spectacle and as a betting medium. There were eight off-the-turf scratches in the Troy, leaving a field of five, and seven in the Galway, resulting in a four-runner race.
Just an occupational hazard for a racecourse, but it doesn’t advertise the sport in a positive light.
One to watch: Tenacious Leader
Todd Pletcher grabbed the headlines on Saturday with impressive G2 Saratoga Special winner Showcase, but 35 minutes earlier the trainer had taken a mile maiden with a barnmate who should also go into the notebook.
The race had been scheduled for turf, but was moved to the main track and Tenacious Leader pounded his rivals, clearing right away to win by 4¾ lengths. The son of in-vogue sire Not This Time is owned by Spendthrift Farm and Mike Repole and thus has plenty going for him, and is one to keep an eye on in Graded company this fall.
“I thought that was good,” said Pletcher. “We knew he’d appreciate stretching out. It allowed him to get into a good rhythm, he finished up well and we were happy.”
Quotes of the week
“I’ll go anywhere he goes – he’s an incredible horse and I know him very well, and he’s capable of anything.”
Dylan Davis extols the virtues of Carson’s Run after landing his first US G1 win in the Saratoga Derby
“Perfect”
Todd Pletcher liked what he saw when Travers Stakes contender Fierceness worked a half-mile in 49.59s on Thursday morning
“We knew he’d be expensive, but we didn’t think he’d be that expensive”
The $3.4m top lot at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, a son of Not This Time, could be a Kentucky Derby horse for his new trainer Bob Baffert
“The range of emotions from the quarter-pole to the wire was pure depression to pure elation – Irad is a magician”
All the feels for Phil Bauer, trainer of Galway Stakes winner Halina’s Forte, who closed fast under Irad ‘Abracadabra’ Ortiz for a buzzer-beating head success
Week 5 in numbers
1 day cancelled (Friday)
2 wins for Chad Brown in a very quiet week for the champ, leaving him six clear of Mike Maker in the trainers’ table
7 yearlings sold for a seven-figure sum at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale
10 wins for Tyler Gaffalione, although he is still seven behind table-topping rider Irad Ortiz, who has 33 for the meet
11 races taken off the turf
12,500 is all it cost trainer Rudy Rodriguez to claim Printrack at last year’s meet. The gelding, a winner on Saturday, has earned more than $200,000 since.
The ‘where are they now?’ file
Sometimes they come back. Aspen Grove began her career in the US with a champagne moment, winning last year’s G1 Belmont Oaks, but it has been a long time between drinks for the Justify filly, who went zero-for-five since that breakout display.
Thursday’s all-out neck success in an allowance over a mile and three-eighths finally stopped the rot, and trainer Jack Sisterson can now plan her route back to the top level with the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf as a potential target.
Coming soon
The G1 highlight of one of the Spa’s quieter weekends is the $600,000 Alabama, although it resembles Hamlet without the prince, or more pertinently Swan Lake without the prima ballerina.
Divisional leader Thorpedo Anna is set fair to take on colts in the Travers instead, so this is an opportunity for one of her understudies to bask in the spotlight. The field includes Candied and Intricate, second and third behind Thorpedo Anna in the CCA Oaks, and Power Squeeze, third behind (guess who?) Thorpedo Anna in the Acorn.
• Visit the NYRA Saratoga website
Week 4: Saratoga’s Olympian: Next and the loneliness of the long-distance runner
Week 3: No excuse needed as the real Fierceness stands up – plus McPeek takes the plunge
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
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires