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Pick Pony | Aug. 29, 2024, 1:58 p.m.
The Grade 3, $200,000 Prioress, a six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, will feature the return of the talented Brightwork, trained by John Ortiz and owned by WSS Racing. Brightwork, the daughter of Outwork and the Malibu Moon mare Clarendon Fancy, was supposed to compete in the Grade 1 Test presented by Ticketmaster on August 3, but she was withdrawn at the last minute after flipping in the paddock.
“Off that mishap in the paddock, she had a little road rash, so the veterinarians scratched her which is in the best interest of the horse and the game. It was a very disappointing day because I thought she was going to be more than ready to run,” Ortiz said.
The horse Brightwork, ridden by Luis Saez and carrying 124 pounds, had a successful start as a young racehorse, winning 4 out of 6 races, including the Grade 3 Adirondack and Grade 1 Spinaway. However, when the jockey, Ortiz, tried to race her over longer distances in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park, she did not perform well and finished off the board on both occasions. Now, Brightwork is returning to sprinting as she starts her new racing season.
“We were able to take care of her and just continue going forward. She’s been schooling quite regularly,” Ortiz said. “She’s very simple to train. She’s a very good girl. She knows what her job is in the morning. She doesn’t really overtrain herself, but she really applies herself to every work without doing too much.”
Ortiz said Brightwork has trained well in company with recent Spa allowance winner Boss Lady Bailey.
“I put a horse in front of her to give her a target, and she absolutely loved that,” Ortiz added. “She worked with Boss Lady Bailey and they finished at the wire together. I’m very happy with that, I wanted to put more intensity into her morning workouts - just to remind her that she can have fun in the morning as well.”
The South Florida horse Miuccia, ridden by jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. carrying 120 pounds, will be aiming to achieve success for owners JR Ranch under the training of Gustavo Delgado. Miuccia, sired by Mitole and out of the Speightstown mare Bay Harbor, secured her first victory in a six-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream Park on March 17. She then won the six-furlong Game Face at Gulfstream on June 1 with a 3 3/4-length victory, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 90. In her subsequent race, she finished second in the seven-furlong Azalea at Gulfstream on July 13, trailing 9 1/2-lengths behind Haulin Ice. Gustavo Delgado, Jr., the assistant and son of trainer Gustavo Delgado, has been supervising her preparations at Saratoga, including a strong half-mile workout in 47.85 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.
“Ever since she has gotten here to Saratoga it seems like she has really liked the weather and the surroundings here at the barn. She is giving us the feeling that she is in better form,” Delgado, Jr. said. “The last two races it looks like she has really woken up. I really like the way she is coming into this one.
“She has been working very well here. She has always looked very athletic,” Delgado, Jr. added.
Rigney Racing’s impressive maiden winner, Two Sharp (post 7, Junior Alvarado, 118 pounds), will be making her stakes debut. The daughter of Twirling Candy last won by 11 1/4-lengths on August 2 in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden sprint, earning a 98 Beyer in the process by leading at every point of call.
New York-bred Jeremiah Englehart trainee, Tricky Temper (post 3, Dylan Davis, 120 pounds), will be making her fourth start of the meet in search of her third straight win. She comes from a three-length victory in the August 16 Union Avenue Handicap, a six-furlong sprint for state-bred fillies and mares. She earned a career-best 91 Beyer following a prominent state-bred optional-claiming score two weeks earlier. Tricky Temper, the daughter of Into Mischief, was bred in the Empire State by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Lakland Farm and was bought at the OBS April Sale for $230,000 by her current owner, Mark H. Stanley.
Cash is King and LC Racing’s multiple stakes-winning Pennsylvania-bred, Carmelina (post 5, Jose Lezcano, 120 pounds), boasts a record of 12-5-2-0 for trainer Butch Reid, Jr. The daughter of Maximus Mischief, out of the stakes-winning St Averil mare Complete St., comes from state-bred stakes wins in the Keswick and Shamrock Rose last year, and closed her juvenile campaign with a victory in the open-company Gin Talking sprinting seven furlongs in December at Laurel Park. She came from a frontrunning neck score against open-company in the seven-furlong Penny Chenery on August 11 at Colonial Downs, which earned her a career-best 81 Beyer.
Rounding out the field is stakes-winner Belle’s Blue Bell (post 4, Ricardo Santana, Jr., 120 pounds) for trainer Carlos David; and two-time winners Lady Moscato (post 8, Manny Franco, 118 pounds) for Hall of Fame conditioner D. Wayne Lukas, Autumn Evening (post 2, Kendrick Carmouche, 118 pounds) for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, and Pacific Rose (post 6, Javier Castellano, 118 pounds) for trainer Jorge Delgado.
The Grade 3 Prioress is slated as Race 10 on Saturday’s 13-race card which also features the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway in Race 11 and the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl in race 12. First post is 12:05 p.m.
Tricky Temper has the second-highest speed at this distance, the third-highest average speed, the highest average speed over her last three races, the second-highest speed in her last race, and the fourth-highest career speed. She has the highest speed on turf which won’t help much here except it hints at superior performance on softer surfaces - like wet dirt (remember, there’s a high probability of rain at race time). She has a single run on muddy conditions and did quite well.
Her speed is trending up nicely, and she’s improving his performance with each race. Her early FPS calculation is trending down slightly, but both mid and late feet-per-second numbers are on the rise. She’s one of the few horses in this race to see improving early, mid, and late pace figures.
The overlay does not look good for her but if the track is wet, Tricky Temper will take the win. Otherwise… She still will take home the gold.
Miuccia’s speed is trending higher and scheduled for a bounce up in this race. All of her feet-per-second calculations show improvement too as do her early, mid, and late pace rankings. Her average speed is among the highest in the group, only bested by Two Sharp, Brightwork, and Tricky Temper. She has the highest speed at this distance and the third highest on a fast track.
The legend Irad Ortiz is tucked into the irons and should fit well with this presser, who had an unusually strong last works. Miuccia’s trainer, Gustavo Delgado, has an in-the-money percentage that is third, only behind Two Sharp and Brightwork.
She has yet to compete in an event of this caliber, but given what we’ve seen of her in her first five races, this filly should do just fine. In fact, we think she’ll make the board, likely in the Place position, which should make an overlay bet worthwhile.
Philip Bauer’s Two Sharp enters the race as the favorite with 7:5 odds, mostly due to her speed. Two Sharp and Brightwork have the highest average speed in this group. She has the second-highest average speed over the last three races, the highest speed in his last race, and the second-highest career speed behind Brightwork. All of her pace numbers, early, mid, and late, are improving.
However, this will only be Two Sharp’s third race after breaking her maiden in her last outing on this track. There’s just not as much data to go on as with the other entrants. Our guess is that a wet surface won’t impact her performance much. The question is, will her speed improve again in this race? We think it will - enough to earn a spot on the tote board.
Brightwork’s average speed ranks the highest (tied with Two Sharp). She has the third-highest average speed over the last three races, the third-highest speed in her last race, and the highest best career speed. She leads the pack on fast tracks, too. However, there’s a high chance of rain, which could greatly impact this race’s outcome.
Her last works were light, not out of the ordinary for Brighwork and John Alexander Ortiz albeit a bit unorthodox overall. She’s dropping from longer route distances to 6 furlongs, so conditioning is likely not a problem. More alarming is her nearly one-year layoff. Prior to the layoff, her speed looked exceptional, then she began tailing off before taking her extended vacation. We see a similar pattern in her pace with E1 and E2 pace rising but LP pace declining rapidly.
Brightwork’s move from sprint to route and back does not account for her erratic performance. She seems to fare better when a jockey with strong hands rides atop. Luis Saez does not fit that mold. She lacks discipline and won’t get it in this race. Thus, we disagree with her 9:2 morning odds and believe there is a good chance she won’t even make the tote board.
Carmelina’s speed trend is erratic, barely trending up, but trending up sharply over the past few races, as are all of her FPS numbers (early, mid, and late). This translates into improving pace rankings, too, with E1 and LP showing slight improvement and E2 pace rocketing upward.
Carmelina doesn’t seem particularly efficient on wet dirt, which, given the high probability of rain at race time, makes her an unattractive bet in that situation. On a dry surface, she has as good a shot as Brightwork of placing in the money.
Autumn Evening’s speed is tracking a slow downward slope partly due to a flat late feet-per-second and a declining early FPS. However, her pace is improving across the board. She runs well at Aquaduct but poorly everywhere else. Maybe Todd Pletcher is still trying to figure this filly out. Regardless, we can’t see a situation where she’ll finish in the money.
Belle’s Blue Bell’s speed is trending nearly flat, which is a bit alarming considering her poor performance in her last race. Her early and mid-FPS were declining rapidly before the disaster. Her early, mid, and late-pace rankings are flat, too.
Belle’s Blue Bell has had a handful of runs in the mud and did not fare well. Consider, though, that in two of those outings, she took pretty hard bumps at the start. Still, her poor performance on wet dirt falls right in line with her pedigree. If it’s muddy, toss.
The Queens M G has already won two local stakes and is aiming for a third win in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway. This is a seven-furlong test for juvenile fillies at Saratoga Race Course. A field of 11 has entered the event, which is part of the “Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen” Bonus Series for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr., the Thousand Words dark bay surprised everyone with a 44-1 win in the six-furlong Listed Schuylerville on July 11. She followed this up with a nine-length victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Adirondack on August 4 here, showing that her previous win was no fluke.
“She’s doing well. She came out of her last race well. She seems in good order,” said Joseph, Jr. “I’m excited to get her back here. The Schuylerville, we were trying to see where we were at, and we got a very pleasing result.”
Joseph, Jr. mentioned that someone will need to surpass his successful filly. Her only defeat in four starts was as the favorite in the 5 1/2-furlong Astoria on June 6 here.
“She is 3-for-4, just one blemish in her career. She regrouped and got it done, with last time being the most impressive win so far,” said Joseph, Jr. “She seems like she keeps getting better and hopefully they don’t catch up to her yet.”
The Queens M G, out of the Grindstone mare Show Queen, was originally purchased for $3,500 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. After a successful debut at 45-1 odds in April at Keeneland, the horse was bought privately. Trainer Israel Acevedo will be guiding the horse from post 8, and all previous efforts of The Queens M G have come from the outside post.
Quietside, a Kentucky homebred owned by Shortleaf Stable, will be entering from post 11 with jockey Luis Saez. Under the training of John Ortiz, Quietside had a remarkable debut, winning by 6 1/4 lengths and recorded a six-furlong final time of 1:11.03, which resulted in a field-best 80 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I think she’ll eventually want to go two turns, but right now we’re stretching out from six [furlongs] to seven. Luis said he didn’t even have to ask her,” said Ortiz. “He just showed her the stick and she took off. I think there’s plenty more in the tank.”
Ortiz is no stranger to Spinaway success, capturing last year’s edition with Brightwork, who headlines the Grade 3 Prioress [Race 10]. He said that Quietside looks advanced at this stage and is ready to defend the barn’s title in the event.
“The number she got was pretty impressive, indeed, but not surprising. She’s got plenty of early speed and she is also very rateable,” Ortiz said. “It’d be nice to get back-to-back Spinaways, that’s obviously the goal right now.”
Quietside is out of the Grade 1-placed Speightstown mare Benner Island, who won the 2017 Grade 2 Eight Belles going the Spinaway distance at Churchill Downs.
Tiz Purple, trained by Jorge Delgado, is a promising horse from a speed figure perspective. In her most recent race, she won by 1 1/2 lengths, earning a career-best 79 Beyer, after graduating at second asking. This race was a six-furlong sprint that took place on August 7. In her previous start, Tiz Purple finished a close second to the subsequently stakes-placed Me Governor, covering five furlongs on July 4 at Monmouth Park. Tiz Purple is out of the Graydar mare Purple Lights and was purchased for $40,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Her lineage includes Lavender Baby, who produced the graded stakes winner Baby J.
Bobby Flay, Rocky Top Stable, and James Ventura's stakes-placed Sherbini (post 2, Florent Geroux) is expected to follow behind The Queens M G in the upcoming race. Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Sherbini, a Cairo Prince gray, secured a solid second place after winning by 3 1/2 lengths in her debut race at Churchill Downs. She was a $40,000 purchase at the OBS March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training and is the offspring of the Violence mare Shady Violence. Sherbini's third dam is multiple graded stakes-winner Smokey Glacken, who is a half-sister to 1997 Champion Sprinter Smoke Glacken.
Mark Casse will also be racing maiden Salted (post 6, Javier Castellano), who finished second in her two previous starts. Salted, a Tapit gray, is the offspring of the Grade 1-winning Quality Road mare Salty and is campaigned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Gary Barber, and Bridlewood Farm.
Jeremiah Englehart's Bellacose (post 10, Junior Alvarado) is representing New York-bred horses. The Audible dark bay won impressively on her debut, defeating fellow state-breds by 10 3/4 lengths. She was acquired by Resolute Racing following her outstanding debut. Bellacose is co-owned by Christopher Dunn, Blue Tarp Racing, Chris Mara, Greyhound Stables, Nicholas Sgroi, Arthur Sgroi, Jonathan Sacks, and Corrin Genovese.
Other participants in the race include maiden-winners Immersive (post 1, Manny Franco) trained by Brad Cox, Reliable Source (post 3, Ricardo Santana, Jr.) trained by Steve Asmussen, Slang (post 5, Kendrick Carmouche) trained by Norm Casse, Pondering (post 7, Luan Machado) trained by Brendan Walsh, and Strong State (post 9, Irad Ortiz, Jr.) trained by Al Stall, Jr.
The Spinaway is slated as Race 11 on Saturday’s 13-race program that also features the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl [Race 12], a “Win and You’re In” event to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, and the Grade 3, $200,000 Prioress [Race 10]. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern. Admission gates open at 10:30 a.m.
Klaravich Stables’ multiple graded stakes-winner, McKulick, will be aiming to win her seventh graded stakes race in the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl this Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. The Flower Bowl offers a "Win and You’re In" spot in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in November at Del Mar.
Trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, McKulick seeks to add to her graded wins after a convincing 2 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Glens Falls on August 1, covering 1 1/2 miles at Saratoga. The 5-year-old Frankel mare, ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., made a well-timed move to overtake her rivals and secure the win, earning a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
Brown said McKulick relished the three-turn configuration of the Glens Falls, which she will see again in the Flower Bowl.
“It’s her preferred style of running, we’ve learned,” Brown said. “She’s done pretty well and lost her way with a couple starts, but all-in-all, she seems to be in good form again.”
McKulick won the Glens Falls, which was her first victory since winning the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream Park in March. After that, she didn't perform well at the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay at Belmont, the Grade 1 New York presented by Rivers Casino, and the Big A. However, she bounced back and won the Glens Falls in her first start at the Spa since finishing as a runner-up to Parnac in the same event last year.
McKulick has a consistent record with 18 wins, 7 second-place finishes, 5 third-place finishes, and 2 non-top 3 results. She secured a Grade 1 triumph as a 3-year-old in the Belmont Oaks Invitational and has a record of finishing in the money 5 out of 6 times at Saratoga. She has earned over $1.8 million, well exceeding her purchase price of just over $245,000 from Book 1 of the 2020 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Ortiz, Jr. will continue to ride McKulick from post 7.
On August 23, McKulick worked with Klaravich Stables’ Idea Generation, who is also entered in the Flower Bowl for Brown, and clocked a time of 1:02.65 for five furlongs over Saratoga’s Oklahoma turf training track.
The 4-year-old Dubawi seeks her first victory against winners. She is coming off a fifth-place finish in a local allowance on July 25. She debuted with a second-place finish in a maiden special weight race in July 2022 at the Spa. She then won her third start by 1 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct Racetrack. Since then, she has finished second twice in four outings, including in the Grade 3 Waya behind McKulick in October at the Big A on yielding footing.
“The first start didn’t go to plan and she didn’t get to the front,” Brown said of the filly’s last out effort. “Hopefully she’ll be more forward in this race.”
Florent Geroux will have the call from post 8.
George Krikorian’s multiple Grade 1-winner War Like Goddess [post 1, Junior Alvarado] contests her third Flower Bowl after a win in 2021 [then a Grade 1] and a runner-up finish in 2022.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 7-year-old English Channel mare was last seen posting a one-length victory in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial on July 7 at Delaware Park, pouncing from four lengths off the pace under returning rider Junior Alvarado to drive past Chop Chop and earn her 10th career graded score.
“Last time, she won very nice there and Bill gave her good time between races. She should be sitting on a good run,” Alvarado said, “I’m looking forward to it. It’s a perfect distance and she seems to be training well.”
Alvarado has been aboard War Like Goddess for her last four outings, including the Robert Dick and a title defense in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in October at Belmont at the Big A where the mare defeated male rivals for the second consecutive year. Jose Lezcano was aboard for her win in 2022.
“It’s got to be her way, or her way,” Alvarado said, with a laugh. “You just have to stay out of her way and don’t try to make her do something you’ll regret. A couple jumps out of there, don’t rush her to try to move on her. That first sixteenth of a mile, she’ll do what she wants to do, and then come back to you and relax. She switches leads at the half-mile pole and knows when it’s time to start picking it up.”
In addition to her three Grade 1 wins, War Like Goddess also finished a narrow third in the 2021 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, and posted the same result in the 2022 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf against males. She finished seventh in the latter event again in November, and was away from the races until a third in the Grade 1 New York in June here.
Conditioner Christophe Clement seeks a repeat win in this event with Parnac [post 3, Dylan Davis], and has a second chance with LSU Stables’ La Mehana [post 2, Luis Saez].
West Point Thoroughbreds and Dream With Me Stable’s Parnac was a last-out second to McKulick in the Glens Falls after stalking the pace and swinging three-wide under returning rider Dylan Davis to come within three-quarter-lengths of the lead at the stretch call, but settled for second as McKulick drew away from the field.
The 5-year-old Zarak mare captured last year’s Flower Bowl in an upset victory over McKulick as the highlight of her five-start campaign, which also included a close third in the Robert Dick won by Sopran Basilea. This year, she has made just two starts, beginning with a fifth in the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay in May at Belmont at the Big A.
La Mehana seeks her first American victory in her fourth attempt after notching three stakes wins in 2022-23 in her native France when in the care of conditioner Jean-Claude Rouget. In her three starts for Clement, she finished a close third to McKulick in the Orchid and was bested by a head in the Sheepshead Bay to finish third in a three-way photo finish ahead of a last-out fifth in the Robert Dick.
LSU Stables and Clement look to keep their momentum rolling after they teamed up to win the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer with Far Bridge on August 24 here.
Godolphin’s Irish homebred Eternal Hope [post 4, Manny Franco] seeks her third stateside graded victory for conditioner Charlie Appleby off a prominent fourth-place finish in the Glens Falls.
The 4-year-old Teofilo chestnut attended the pace set by Royalty Interest in the Glens Falls, but faltered when asked for more in the lane and was defeated 3 3/4 lengths. The effort was her first this year after winning the Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Jockey Club Oaks and Grade 2 Sands Point last fall at Belmont at the Big A, both over returning rival Neecie Marie.
Completing the field are the Grade 1-placed Butch Reid, Jr.-trained Neecie Marie [post 6, Jose Lezcano], dual Grade 3-winner Millie Girl [post 5, Javier Castellano] for trainer Catherine Day Phillips, and the European stakes-winner Verbier [post 9, Edward Greatrex] for trainer Ralph Beckett.
Movie Moxy and Amanda’s Folly have been entered for the main track-only.
The Flower Bowl is slated as Race 12 on Saturday’s 13-race card, which co-features the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway in Race 11 and the Grade 3, $200,000 Prioress in Race 10. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern. Admission gates open at 10:30 a.m.