Saratoga Saturday
Belmont Stakes (Grade 1)
OH, we of little faith. When Golden Tempo at 23/1 became the first Kentucky Derby winner trained by a female trainer, coming wide and late in a helter-skelter finish, having been at least 20 lengths off the leaders on the first bend, it was considered to be the mad early gallop had enabled the colt to get on terms and win.
Five weeks later, having missed the Preakness Stakes, Golden Tempo proved himself a quality colt and the best three-year-old currently in the US in winning the $2 million Belmont, the last over 10 furlongs at Saratoga.
The lack of respect for Golden Tempo could also be found on the betting boards, he was the joint 6/1 fourth choice behind the Kentucky second and favourite again, Renegade, Chief Wallabee, fourth at Churchill and Emerging Market, all of whom finished behind him in the Derby. He was joined at 6s by Commandment, who was seventh on the first Saturday in May.
This time it was a modest early pace, Golden Tempo again sat last as Powershift grabbed the lead, battling with Growth Equity through very reasonable fractions of :23.96secs, :48.29secs, and 1.12.38secs for the mile, as Ortiz and Golden Tempo were slow from the gate and broke to the outside from stall nine.
Growth Equity went to the front on the final turn, but he was soon joined by Chief Wallabee, and they turned into the stretch battling for the lead.
Into contention
Jose Ortiz asked Golden Tempo to move much closer on the outside. The son of Curlin quickly moved into contention six wide on the turn, with Commandment also rallying outside of him.
As Chief Wallabee struggled, Golden Tempo and Commandment raced to the front, but in the final furlong, it was the Kentucky Derby winner who edged clear by a length and a quarter and he was finishing strong, crossing the line to become a dual classic winner. Renegade was three and a quarter lengths back in third.
“I was just waiting for the right moment to go all in and, when I asked him, my horse responded,” Ortiz said. “I think this proved a point.”
DeVaux added: “I think there were doubts because Renegade ran so well (in the Derby) and he had trouble. So, there were thoughts that Renegade could have won the race, but they have been put to bed.”
DeVaux said she had no regrets about skipping the middle jewel of the Triple Crown and running in the final one with five weeks’ rest.
First Belmont
For winning owners Phipps Stable and St Elias Stable, it was the first Belmont Stakes win in the colours of part owners, Vinnie and Teresa Viola of St Elias Stable, who won the 2017 Kentucky Derby with Always Dreaming.
Speaking the following day to Blood-Horse, DeVaux said the Travers Stakes will be the next major target for Golden Tempo, though he will prep for the mile and a quarter Mid-Summer Derby in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes, just as Sovereignty did last season.
“He’s definitely a classic distance horse,” DeVaux said.
“It will be interesting when he runs in the Jim Dandy to see how that translates with his maturity and more running experience. Hopefully we can see more versatility.”
A crowd of 46,128 turned out in mostly fine weather though rain began for a brief spell five minutes before post time for the Belmont, leaving the runners covered in dirt at the finish.
Hill ‘N’ Dale Metropolitan
Handicap (Grade 1)
THE $1 million Metropolitan Handicap or ‘Met Mile’ was a good curtain-riser to the Belmont, as it featured two of the best four-year-olds in training.
Bob Baffert’s Nysos had won four stakes’ races on the west coast last season, culminating in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and had gone down by a length over further to Forever Young in the Saudi Cup.
He was sent off favourite to beat the Preakness and Haskell winner Journalism over this shorter distance and the now Baoma Corp, Magnier/Tabor and Smith-owned son of Nyquist completed the mile in a final time of 1m34.85secs, just off the track record, and beating Bill Mott and Godolphin’s Knightsbridge by four lengths, with Journalism over a length back in third.
Canny
It was a canny ride by Flavien Prat, to take the horse off the fast pace. “When he took him back, I just thought, ‘I hope he knows what he’s doing; he’s either riding a really smart race or he’s not running’. Then, when I saw him swing him out, then I thought, ‘They were smoking up there,’” Baffert said afterwards and called Nysos “one of the smartest horses I’ve ever trained.”
The trainer also indicated that he wants to aim for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at a mile and a quarter this season, rather than the shorter Dirt Mile. The Pacific Classic Stakes at Del Mar is the possible race in between.
Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes (Grade 1)
THE turf Grade 1, the $1 million Resorts World Casino Manhattan Stakes had one European runner, but victory went to the five-year-old Deterministic, also part-owned by St Elias Stable, with Ken Langone Et Al.
In a great season for his sire, Liam’s Map, this horse ran the mile, one and a half furlongs on firm turf in a course record. He beat Graham Motion’s Test Score by half a length with the same back to stable companion One Stripe. It was the winner’s fifth consecutive graded stakes win and his second in the race.
Andre Fabre’s Bright Picture was a disappointing favourite in seventh place under Flavien Prat.
Rhetorical was also disappointing, fading from leading the fast pace to finish fourth.
Deterministic was under confident handling by jockey Kendrick Carmouche, as he travelled well down the backstretch. He made his move for the lead on the turn and battled down the straight, wearing down Rhetorical.
“He’s top class,” trainer Miguel Clement said. “I’ve always thought he was the best turf horse in the country. He proved that today. I thought we deserved the Eclipse Award last year, but I’m biased.”
His jockey was also full of praise, Kendrick Carmouche saying: “What a sensational job by Miguel Clement and his team. I’m just so pleased, just so happy. He’s different, I’m telling you.”
Woody Stephens Stakes
Presented By Mohegan Sun (Grade 1)
GOLDEN Tempo wasn’t the only Cherie DeVaux three-year-old to make a big impression on Saturday. Bob Baffert had come with confidence in his unbeaten Crude Velocity in the seven-furlong Woody Stephens.
The Baffert runner had won the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile Stakes at Churchill Downs, with Englishman three and three-quarter lengths back.
But he had no answer to DeVaux’s Englishman over the furlong shorter, as the son of Maxfield equalled the seven-furlong track record of 1m20.40secs, set in 1978 by Darby Creek Road and won the race by five and three-quarter lengths. Crude Velocity only held second by a nose from Obliteration.
Englishman led and raced wide on turn under two out as Crude Velocity, under Florent Geroux, launched his move but Englishman lengthened his advantage with every stride to the line. He got the highest Beyer Speed Figure of the meeting
“Last time, I had the No. 1 hole. Today, with a better position, I was going to run at my pace and, when I asked him to go, he was there for me,” Ortiz was quoted.
Sprint winners
Neither of the two sprints went to the favourites, but while Book’em Danno had plenty of form in the book, it was the Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Bentornato who went off favourite for the six and a half furlong Grade 3 True North Stakes for jockey Paco Lopez and trainer Derek Ryan.
Book’em Danno had also beaten the second in the Eclipse Awards votes last year, when Book’em Danno had three graded stakes victories at Saratoga and he proved too strong here again.
“Maybe we’ll put this to bed now. Tired of hearing about Bentornato,” said Book’em Danno’s trainer Derek Ryan in interviews afterwards.
In the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes on turf over five and a half furlongs, the speedy mare Ag Bullet had to give way to Reef Runner for trainer David Fawkes and Irad Ortiz. Fourth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Reef Runner had a successful journey overseas, as he won the Group 2 Turf Sprint in Saudi Arabia and was a close fourth in the Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan.
Surprise
The graded action began with a bit of a surprise in the mile Grade 1 Just A Game Stakes for fillies and mares on turf, when Juddmonte’s favourite Segesta could only manage third, beaten a length and a quarter, and half a length by Mark Casse-trained Classic Q and Francis Graffard’s Aga Khan Stud’s Mandanaba in second.
The Mark Casse-trained filly broke strongly under jockey John Velazquez and won an early pace battle with the favourite Segesta by the first turn. Classic Q took over and set fractions of :23.62secs, :47.17secs and 1:10.09sec for the mile and fought off runs from Mandanaba and Segesta to get the win. The four-year-old daughter of Classic Empire hit the line a length and a quarter in front to complete a fantastic weekend for Mark Casse who had two more Grade 1 wins on the Friday.
Quoted on Blood-Horse, he said: “Saratoga has been my life since I was a little boy. It’s been my dream, so to be able to accomplish what we’ve done this weekend is quite amazing.”
Saratoga Friday
Ogden Phipps Stakes Presented By Ford (Grade 1)
Draftkings Acorn Stakes
(Grade 1)
THE Saratoga Friday action was headlined by a sparkling performance by Nitrogen in the Ogden Phipps Stakes.
Nitrogen, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, powered to a 12 and three-quarter-length victory under Jose Ortiz for the Mark Casse stable.
She had raced nine times at three for four graded race wins, topped by last year’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga. She had ended her year with a second at the Breeders’ Cup and took the champion three-year-old filly honours
Her final time of 1m46.93secs for the nine-furlong Ogden Phipps was just off the track record set by Lawyer Ron in winning the 2007 Whitney Handicap.
Klaravich Stables’ Fully Subscribed and Bless The Broken dead-heated for second.
Casse reported: “When they said it was one-fifth off the track record, Jose said, ‘I could have broken it’.”
Unchallenged on the front end, Nitrogen got to 1m 10.48secs for a mile, though the winner began drifting out before Ortiz corrected her in the final furlong.
Acorn Stakes
The Kentucky Oaks winner Always A Runner met defeat in the Grade 1 Draftkings Acorn Stakes over nine furlongs.
Victory went again to Mark Casse with Counting Stars, a filly by Honor A. P., for West Point Thoroughbreds, who had finished third in the Kentucky Oaks.
She powered to a three-and-three-quarter-length victory over the 4/5 favourite.
West Point Thoroughbreds’ boss Terry Finley said on Blood-Horse: “I felt such a great confidence from him this week. I saw her train the last few days and I’ve never seen her look better. She’s put on muscle. I thought she’d run well today. But I didn’t think she would do that.”
There was success for a European-bred in the Grade 1 New York Stakes for older fillies on turf over a mile, one and a half furlongs when the British-bred Night Of Thunder filly Portfolio Duration got home by a head for Klaravich Stables, Chad Brown and Flavien Prat. The Aga Khan Stud’s Cankoura was another second-placed finish, by just a nose, on the weekend for Francis Graffard.
Klaravich Stables Ways And Means completed a double on the afternoon for the team, with a win in the Grade 2 Bed O’Roses Stakes over seven furlongs.
More Ado
Another Kentucky Derby disappointment, the favourite Further Ado got back to winning ways on Sunday.
Trainer Brad Cox was pleased with Further Ado’s return to the winner’s circle with a cozy two-length victory in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Prior to his 11th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, he dominated the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, winning by 11 lengths. The son of Gun Runner, sent off as the 3/1 favourite with regular rider Irad Ortiz Jr. back aboard for the mile and half a furlong race, Ortiz had ridden Renegade in the Derby.
“We’ve had this race as a target after the Derby, and he came into it training well,” Brad Cox said. “We felt like this was a good stepping stone to try something like the Haskell at Monmouth.”