In his weekly round-up, Steve Dennis sees an emotional G1 victory for trainer Jorge Delgado – plus milestone wins for Kathleen O’Connell and George Weaver
The Irish have a phrase for it; they have a phrase for most things. ‘If it’s meant for you, it won’t go by you’. It was meant for Jorge Delgado, and this time it didn’t go by him.
On August 26 last year, Delgado saw his brilliant, unbeaten colt New York Thunder sustain a fatal injury and come down while romping to certain victory in the H Allen Jerkens Memorial. It was a crushing blow for the trainer, the tragic loss of his best horse and the denial of his first G1 success.
Yet the world turns, and 357 days later Delgado was in the winner’s circle after his new best horse Power Squeeze gave him that first G1 score in the Alabama on Saturday. Sweetness deferred is sweetness doubled, but amid the sugar there was the memory of sorrow for the Venezuelan.
“You cannot stop thinking about it when you come here,” Delgado told the Daily Racing Form. “You see the same scenario, big crowd – I dream my whole life before I was a trainer to win a Grade 1 here at Saratoga.
“Last year, what happened was heartbreaking. To come back and win a Grade 1, I have no words. It’s not like I have a hundred horses that can run every week in Grade 1s. You have certain ones that can do it. A year after I was crying, I’m crying again – with joy.”
In the absence of divisional leader Thorpedo Anna the Alabama was up for grabs, anyone’s race. Power Squeeze, ridden by another son of Venezuela in Javier Castellano, took her chance in determined fashion when running down the favoured Candied in deep stretch to get the money by a head.
“An absolutely outstanding ride from Javier. He measured the race perfectly,” said Delgado. “He kept coming and coming and he knows that the filly fights a lot. On the head bob, she knows how to win. She wanted to win. She has so much determination.”
It was Power Squeeze’s sixth win from ten starts, and it would have been eight straight but for defeat in the Kentucky Oaks and the Acorn behind the aforementioned superfilly Thorpedo Anna. Perhaps she’ll get another chance to come at the queen.
“The owner is a man of challenge – I am, too. We like to gamble and sometimes it’s a problem, but we like to gamble,” added Delgado, a nephew of Gustavo Delgado, trainer of 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage.
“You only have this kind of chance so many times in your training career. We faced her twice and we lost twice, but we’re going there [the $1m G1 Cotillion at Parx on September 21] and we might see each other again.”
The formbook says that Thorpedo Anna is the better horse, that Power Squeeze might be third time unlucky if they dance again in the Cotillion, but that isn’t how racing works. New York Thunder was the best horse on the day, but didn’t win. Power Squeeze was the best horse on the day, and did.
A year apart, disaster and triumph. They are both meant for us, and they won’t go by us. Ask Delgado, wreathed in smiles on his day of days, because he knows all about that.
Good karma: Kathleen O’Connell
The victory of Thirty Thou Kelvin at 25-1 in an allowance on Wednesday was unremarkable in the context of the afternoon but momentous in terms of the record books, as trainer Kathleen O’Connell reached the milestone of 2,500 winners in a career that began in 1981.
O’Connell, 72, is America’s leading female trainer by number of wins, and although she is not a regular at Saratoga, being based in Florida and New Jersey – this was her first success at the Spa since 2015 – it was the perfect stage to command the headlines and the credit she is due.
“It’s huge, even I have no comprehension of it,” she told the Daily Racing Form. “I came up from Detroit, I ponied, I galloped – Billy Mott was galloping horses back then in Detroit, that’s how long ago it was.”
O’Connell will soon relinquish her position at the top of the standings to Linda Rice, who is only 12 wins adrift and moving at a faster pace, but her status as one of the sport’s pioneers will endure.
Bad karma: Rich Strike
The game may be up (again) for the shock winner of the 2022 Kentucky Derby, who has already been retired once and unretired once and may now be heading for the stallion barn on a permanent basis.
Another ligament injury in the five-year-old’s near-foreleg has halted his workout schedule for new trainer Bill Mott, and with time no longer on his side – he last ran in May 2023 – the 80-1 Derby gatecrasher may have made his last headline, given that the new problem requires a minimum 60-day rest period.
“I’m not going to put him through a year of rehabilitation even though he likes to train, likes to go to the track,” owner Rick Dawson told the Daily Racing Form. “If he can’t make it back, I’ll look to make a stallion deal for him.”
One to watch: Jonathan’s Way
Phil Bauer has trained five winners from just 11 runners at the Spa this summer and has a good prospect in this debutant Vekoma colt, who looped the field on the turn before clearing away to get the job done first time by 4¼ lengths, beating more experienced rivals in a good time for the six furlongs.
“We were expecting he’d run well, but when they run that well, it’s kind of eye-opening,” said Bauer. “It makes you start dreaming immediately.”
Bauer will head back to his base at Churchill Downs when the Spa shutters down next month and those dreams could involve the G1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland on October 5.
Quotes of the Week
“Twenty-something years to get to that 1,000, that’s a lot of early mornings.”
George Weaver does the math after training his 1,000th winner in the US, Saturday’s maiden scorer Beautiful Thief.
“I got beat a dirty nose in the photo. The other horse should have come down. My horse ran the best race.”
Paul McEntee, trainer of Jet Sweep Joe, thought the stewards should have changed the result after Out On Bail prevailed by a head in a rough race for the Skidmore Stakes. They thought otherwise.
“Nothing happened – just two good horses out there battling each other.”
Jose Ortiz, rider of Out On Bail, proving there are two sides to every story.
“This means a lot to us as a family. We’ve been coming here since 1991 and this is the first time my Mom, Dad and I have had the opportunity to take a picture together in the winner’s circle.”
Bank Frenzy gave owner Randy Sarf something for the family album with his decisive victory in the Evan Shipman on Sunday.
Week 6 in numbers
4 of the five entries for the G2 Ballston Spa on Thursday [Aug 22] are trained by Chad Brown
5 winners for Tyler Gaffalione and Flavien Prat as they close in on meet leader Irad Ortiz, who is just five clear on 36 wins
6 wins in theLake Placid for meet-leader Chad Brown (24 wins) with the victory of Grayosh on Saturday
98 Beyer speed figure for unbeaten Nic’s Style, who took her streak to three with a 5¾-length allowance romp on Saturday
1,000 winners in the US for trainer George Weaver
The ‘where are they now?’ file
He certainly wasn’t expected to be where he is now, coming off a fourth-of-four, beaten more than 45 lengths, in an allowance on Thursday [Aug 15].
This time last year Nimitz Class was in the middle of a hot ten-race streak that included five stakes wins and four runs on the board in stakes, a resumé that led to his private purchase by a syndicate headed by Qatar Racing, a change of trainer to George Weaver, and a longshot spot in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.
It was a step too far. Nimitz Class ran eighth in Florida and since then has been a shadow of his former self, finishing off the board in descending grade on three occasions before last week’s nadir. He’s better than that, but can the five-year-old ever regain his mojo?
Coming soon
The focal point of the weekend – and of the entire meet – is the $1.25m Travers, the ‘Midsummer Derby’, an annual target for the best three-year-olds and a major waystation on the winding road to end-of-year honours.
This year’s eight-runner edition is particularly notable for the presence of Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna, who has been thoroughly dominant in the distaff arena and now takes on colts for the first time. Her main rivals are Belmont/Haskell winner Dornoch and Jim Dandy one-two Fierceness and Sierra Leone.
Other G1 highlights across the weekend include Friday’s Personal Ensign, in which champion older mare Idiomatic bids for back-to-back victories; the following day’s Sword Dancer, with the Charlie Appleby-trained duo Measured Time and Silver Knott; and the Jerkens Memorial, a seven-furlong target for one-time Derby contender Timberlake, the fascinating unbeaten Speak Easy and Book’em Danno, never been out of the first two in eight starts.
• 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!
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