Saratoga Saturday
OWNER Mike Repole has had good success in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes with Stay Thirsty, Forte and Fierceness, but for much of last week’s race, it looked like his Renegade was on the back foot.
Wathnan Racing’s Commandment had finished four lengths ahead of Renegade in the Belmont Stakes and went off favourite.
Chip Honcho and Silent Tactic made the pace with Commandment close in third and racing over 10 lengths ahead of Renegade. But Irad Ortiz on the Repole horse knew what he was doing and his colt’s ability. As Commandment made his move for the lead, Renegade kicked into top gear in the early straight. Commandment tried to fend him off, but had to settle for second by a half length.
Pletcher said the off the pace tactics was part of the strategy. “It was let him be him. Don’t overthink the pace scenario. Let him do his thing. Hats off to Irad to have that much confidence in a horse to allow him to get that far back and ride him patiently.”
Joint owner
“It’s a relief,” Repole, joint owner with Robert Low and Lawana Low, said afterwards. “No one is going to feel sorry for Mike Repole. Losing the Derby the way he did. The Belmont was a disappointment. This is a big win. I felt joy for the first 10 or 15 minutes after the race, but now that it’s sunk in, it’s a relief. The last 20 seconds of this race were special.”
The win gave Todd Pletcher five wins on the Saratoga Saturday.
The win sets up a highly anticipated rematch in the August 29th Travers Stakes of Renegade and dual classic winner Golden Tempo.
Burnham Square the turf king
Colonial Downs
Arlington Million (Grade 1)
THE most valuable race of the US weekend was the 10-furlong Grade 1 Arlington Million, though fallen in stature since it moved to Colonial Downs.
It was a US-only contest and the short-priced favourite Burnham Square did as expected, getting up late to win by a half length from Gran Oriente and secure his first Grade 1 on turf to add to a Grade 1 on dirt in last season’s Blue Grass Stakes in Keeneland.
The win made it four in a row on turf this season.
Burnham Square began his bid on the second turn and, though the early leaders initially stayed on, he asserted his superiority close to the line.
Trainer Ian Wilkes said of the Whitham Thoroughbreds colt:
“He’s made a great transition to turf, he’s bred for turf, so that’s the biggest asset.
“And he’s got a great turn of foot. I knew this race would probably be my hardest to win of the other three (so far this year), because the mile and a half is more his forte.”
Targets for the son of Liam’s Map, include the $2 million Kentucky Turf Cup Invitational Stakes in September and the Breeders’ Cup Turf in October at Keeneland.
South African
The Grade 2 Beverly D. Stakes brought another win for the South African mare, Gimme A Nother, her third graded win in a row. The Graham Motion-trained six-year-old won by a neck from the Justify filly Achieve under John Velazquez.
The Group 2 Secretariat Stakes over a mile and half a furlong brought another win for the Cheri DeVaux barn with the Constitution colt Supercharger who beat Infiltrate by half a length.
The Grade 3 Lake George Stakes for three-year-old fillies produced another Irish-bred winner in the mile and half a furlong contest when the Night Of Thunder filly Amberglen, bred by Sunderland Holdings, was successful for Stonestreet Stables, Brad Cox and Irad Ortiz.
Saratoga Sunday
There was British success on Sunday at Saratoga, when George Boughey completed a great week with a Grade 2 win in the mile and a half Glens Falls Stakes. The Irish-bred mare Survie, in the Tabor colours, came with a late run under Flavien Prat to win by a length and three-quarters from another Irish-bred, Storm Miami, who had made the slow early pace.
“I had a great trip,” jockey Flavien Prat said. “The pace was slow, but at that point there’s nothing I can do about it. You turn for home and you know everybody is going to sprint home and she outsprinted them.”
Boughey is pondering running Survie against males in the August 15th Grade 1 Christophe Clement Turf Stakes also at Saratoga.
Del Mar
Del Mar’s feature, the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes went to the Saffie Joseph-trained Eunomia, a Tiz The Law four-year-old owned by St. Elias Stables LLC and WSS Racing.
After a hot opening half mile in 46.81secs from Simply Joking under pressure from last year’s winner and favourite Seismic Beauty, jockey Micah Husbands on the 12/1 winner then got first run on Om N Joy and went past Simply Joking in the final yards as Bob Baffert’s Seismic Beauty faded.
THE future of the famed US Triple Crown series of races could be in doubt as Churchill Downs Inc. and the New York Racing Association this week outlined a new six-race championship series for three-year-olds that includes the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes, as well as a new championship race for three-year-olds.
The hope is that the new series, built around racing’s high-profile division, will draw more attention to the sport. The new series will offer an added $5 million prize pool for the eight top finishers, but does not include the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes. On Wednesday, the Maryland governor then announced the Preakkness would be moved back a week next year, to leave three weeks between it and the Kentucky Derby.
But would those interested in chasing the bonus be likely run a race outside the series, so the Triple Crown’s traditional second jewel would lose attraction. Neither of the last two Kentucky Derby winners, Sovereignty nor Golden Tempo, ran in the Preakness.
Churchill Downs Inc CEO Bill Carstanjen called the new series “one of the most significant developments in thoroughbred racing in decades” and said it will be packaged to appeal to modern sports fans and will have strong television partners in NBC and FOX Sports.
ONE of the top older horses in the US, the Bob Baffert-trained Nysos, a winner of two Grade 1 races including his recent four-length win in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, has been retired from racing and will stand at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. It’s another quality older horse off the track, as it follows the retirement of Journalism last week.
The decision was made following a routine evaluation scan that revealed imaging changes. Nysos is reported sound, but connections agreed to take a precautionary approach.
Baffert said: “With the minor changes shown on the evaluation, we simply don’t have the time needed to prepare him for the Breeders’ Cup the way we would want to. He has given us everything and retiring him completely sound and at the top of his game.”
JOCKEY Robby Albarado, the regular rider of Horses of the Year Curlin and Mineshaft, died on Tuesday in Saratoga Springs. The 52-year-old had been hospitalised in Saratoga last month to insert a stent to alleviate a blockage near his heart.
Twice a winner of the Preakness Stakes, Albarado retired from racing at the end of 2021. He had been working as an exercise rider in recent years for trainer Ken McPeek, the pair teamed up to win the 2020 Preakness with the filly Swiss Skydiver. His famous mounts included Mineshaft during his 2003 season, in which he won four Grade 1s including the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes.
Then he partnered Curlin to be placed in all three classics in 2007, his third-place Derby finish and Preakness win was followed by a narrow loss to filly Rags To Riches in the Belmont Stakes. He ended the season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to secure champion three-year-old male and Horse of the Year honours.
Curlin and Albarado added international success the following year with a Dubai World Cup victory.
Albarado won 39 North American Grade 1 races during his 32 seasons of racing. Besides his wins aboard Curlin, Albarado won two other Breeders’ Cup races: the 2009 Juvenile Fillies Turf on Tapitsfly and the 2011 Mile on Court Vision in a total of over 5,000 victories.
168th Henkel-Preis der Diana - German Oaks (Group 1)
THE German Oaks in Dusseldorf last Sunday brought a win for the Andreas Wohler-trained Soreanga, who beat the short-priced favourite Lapotheose by three and a half lengths in the mile and three-furlong contest. The winner was coming off a Group 3 win at Hamburg in early July.
In the 15-runner field, the German-bred daughter of Siyouni, owned and bred by Stiftung Gestut Fahrhof, led and ridden over a furlong out, and though hanging left, she went clear in the final 110 yards to win comfortably for jockey Eduardo Pedroza. The French-trained favourite, who had won the Group 2 Coolmore Prix Saint-Alary, made headway over a furlong out, into second place, but had no extra inside the final 110 yards.