Saturday, July 24, 2010
Contact: NYRA Press Office
(518) 584-6200, ext. 4237
- Le Mi Geaux exits Schuylerville in good order; eyes Spinaway
- Kimmel hoping for another good meet
- Vineyard Haven likely to remain in sprints…for now
- Grand Couturier eyeing another Sword Dancer, Qualia will point for Ballerina
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Le Mi Geaux came out of her surprise Opening Day victory in the Grade 3 Schuylerville in fine form, reported trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., and most likely will make her next start in the Grade 1 Spinaway on September 5.
“I spoke with her owner [Lansdon B. Robbins, III] in
In earning her second victory from three starts – and giving sire First Samurai his first stakes winner – Le Mi Geaux completed the six furlongs in a tepid 1:13.67 over the sloppy track, the slowest at the distance in the stakes’ 92-year history.
“I didn’t even look at the time,” said Dutrow. “We were lucky enough to win the race, so I don’t want to dissect it. We were happy with her first race [a third-place finish at Churchill Downs] and her next two were great.”
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After winning eight races with just 31 starters during the
It was a slow start for Kimmel during
“I am trying to find horses that fit the condition book well,” Kimmel said. “We have some 2-year-olds that should run pretty well. If we could get a couple of those added-money horses to fill those races, we may have a very good meet. I am always a little cautious and I don’t like make any predictions. I do think we have some horses who have been training well. We are hoping everything will work out.”
Two years ago at the Spa, Kimmel had a remarkable stretch by going 7-for-7 at the conclusion of the meet.
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Godolphin Stable won eight races – including four Grade 1 races – from 14 starts during the last year’s Saratoga meeting, and the operation appears to have carried that momentum into the 2010 stand at the Spa after Vineyard Haven won yesterday’s seven-furlong James Marvin Stakes in the slop.
“He came out of it well,” said Rick Mettee, assistant to Godolphin’s trainer Saeed Bin Suroor, of the three-time Grade 1 winner. “[Jockey] Alan [Garcia] went pretty easy on him. He seems to handle every kind of track well as he was third in the [Hill ‘n’ Dale] Cigar Mile on a fast track to Kodiak Kowboy, who was probably the best horse he faced last year.”
Mettee said Vineyard Haven will make his next start at
“His next race will likely be the Forego, but we have thought about stretching him out at some point,” said Mettee, who noted how Vineyard Haven’s sire,
Godolphin’s two other leading sprinters, Gayego and Desert Party, will start in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt at
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Grand Couturier, winner of two consecutive editions of the Grade 1 Sword Dancer in 2007 and 2008, will make another bid for his third victory in the 1 ½-mile turf test on August 14. The 7-year-old son of Grand Lodge finished fifth in the 2009 Sword Dancer and was most recently seventh in the Grade 1 Man o’War at
“He’s doing really well, we just need a little help with pace for him,” said Bobby Ribaudo, who trains the horse for Marc Keller. “We didn’t get that in the Man o’War, so we’re hoping for a big enough field to have a legitimate pace in the Sword Dancer.”
Ribaudo added that he would point talented sprinter filly Qualia for the Grade 1, $250,000 Ballerina on the Travers Day undercard August 28.
Qualia most recently finished a head behind the Tony Dutrow-trained Rightly So in the Grade 3 Bed o’Roses at Belmont on July 5, which is run at the same seven-furlong distance as the Ballerina.
“I think Tony’s filly is going to run back there as well and we want revenge!” Ribaudo joked.
The Ballerina will be Qualia’s first start in Grade 1 company. Unraced at two, she broke her maiden at first asking as a 3-year-old at
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