**Please see attached photos of
Sunday, August 1, 2010
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- Quality Road breezes 5f for Whitney
- Blame turns in half-mile work for Whitney
- A Little Warm gets hot at the right time in Jim Dandy
- Proviso exits Diana in good shape
- Kimmel pleased with Friend or Foe following Jim Dandy
- Maiden winner Admiral Alex eyes Travers
- Forever Together in good order after Diana
- Belle of the Hall breezes 5f in lead up to Test
- Badgett happy with 1-2 finish in William B. Fasig
Under exercise rider Patti Barry, the 4-year-old Elusive Quality colt worked alone, covering the distance in 1:00.02, sixth-fastest of 27 at the distance.
"I thought it was another very, very good breeze," said Todd Pletcher, who trains
"His last few works [in company] have been brilliant, and we wanted to go alone and do a little less today," added Pletcher. "I think we have a fit and happy horse, which is the goal."
Quality Road, the nation's top older male in training, is 3-0-0 this year including Grade 1 wins in the Donn Handicap and the Met Mile at
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Blame, winner of the Grade 1 Stephen Foster, also worked Sunday morning for the Whitney, going an easy half-mile under jockey Garrett Gomez. Working in company with an unnamed 2-year-old filly, the Arch colt was timed in 49.02, which ranked 34th of 67 at the distance.
"Our plan in coming up here was to have all his major works completed at Keeneland," said Al Stall, Jr., who trains Blame for Adele Dilschneider. "He worked in company because we wanted him to get a little 'racier.' Our main goal is still November 6 [Breeders' Cup Classic]."
Blame will carry a four-race win streak into the Whitney, which is a "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup Classic. In addition to the Stephen Foster, which was his first Grade 1, Blame also won the Fayette and Clark Handicaps, both Grade 2 events, to close out his 2009 season and opened his 2010 campaign with a win in the Grade 3 William D. Schafer at Pimlico.
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Trainer Tony Dutrow reported Sunday morning that A Little Warm came out of yesterday's Grade 2 Jim Dandy victory in fine fashion and will now be pointed to the 141st running of the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes on Saturday, August 28.
"With the way he ran yesterday, if he would have gotten beat, it's my opinion he would have still proven he deserved a chance at the Travers," said Dutrow. "He didn't have to win to get to the Travers, but he had to run fantastic, which he did. We were not surprised with what we saw."
Owned by Edward P. Evans, A Little Warm earned his first graded stakes win in the 1 1/8th mile Jim Dandy, and is now 3-2-0 from five starts this year. Eight Jim Dandy winners have gone on to win the Travers, most recently Street Sense in 2007.
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Yesterday's Grade 1 Diana winner Proviso exited her narrow victory in good order, trainer Bill Mott reported Sunday morning.
In the Diana, the Juddmonte Farms homebred stalked a modest pace and held off multiple challengers to prevail by a head and earn her third consecutive Grade 1 win, and her Hall of Fame conditioner was quick to praise the 5-year-old mare for her performance.
"It was a good effort," said Mott. "[Her versatility] makes it easier when you enter and the race comes up a particular way. She was a little rank, but not too bad. When they're going that slowly, they're apt to be a little rank."
Mott said he was considering a number of options for Proviso's next start, including the Grade 2 Ballston Spa on Travers Day, Saturday, August 28.
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"He scoped clean, his legs looked good, and for a late race he pretty much ate up everything," said Kimmel. "I was actually fairly impressed with his effort, having asked him to do what he was doing for the first time."
The Jim Dandy was Friend or Foe's first start beyond seven furlongs and in a graded stakes, and Kimmel believes the 3-year-old son of Friends Lake could turn the tables on his Jim Dandy opponents in the Grade 1, $1 million Travers on August 28.
"The Travers is certainly a possibility," said Kimmel. "The jock [Rajiv Maragh] told me after the race that thinks the horse should be able to handle another furlong. I think he could improve enough to make up the distance he got beat yesterday. He does everything so easily in the mornings, and sometimes it takes an effort like that to make them move forward."
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Admiral Alex, trained and owned by Leon Blusiewicz, appears headed to the Grade 1, $1 million Travers for 3-year-olds at 1 ¼ miles on August 28 following his debut win yesterday.
Stalking the pace while racing wide with Kent Desormeaux aboard, Admiral Alex took the lead in the stretch for a one-length victory as he completed the 1 1/8th miles in 1:49.76.
"He's a very, very good horse. The best horse I've ever had," Blusiewicz said. "I am pointing him for the Travers."
Blusiewicz has trained two Travers starters: Lejoli, who was fourth to Runaway Groom in 1982, and Tong Po, who was eased in the 1991 edition won by Corporate Report.
Admiral Alex, a chestnut son of Afleet Alex out of the Kingmambo mare Madam Lagonza, was purchased for $260,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale.
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Forever Together, whose bid for a third consecutive win in the Grade 1 Diana was narrowly thwarted by Proviso and Shared Account on Saturday, was doing well Sunday morning though her connections suspected she was suffering from some wounded pride.
"I didn't come back to the barn right away after the race because I had a runner in at Penn National and wanted to watch the race, but apparently she was very difficult to handle coming back," said her Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard.
Forever Together's most recent win came in the 2009 Diana. In six starts since, she has three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes and has not been beaten more than 1 ½ lengths.
"It's harder, I think [to lose by such narrow margins], because you feel it was so close and within reach," said Sheppard. "When you get beat fair and square, you say you got beat by a better horse, but this way you say well, 'if we'd laid a bit closer,' or 'if we hadn't come out behind those horses at the top of the stretch.'
"She seems about as good as she's always been and I know you can say she hasn't won a race in a year, but she won the Diana last year by a head and she lost by a head this year, so that's not a very big difference."
Sheppard said the ultimate goal for Forever Together would remain the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, and that she would likely make two starts between now and then, though he had not picked out the spots yet.
"We're not complaining as long as she's showing up and running well in tough company," Sheppard added.
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Belle of the Hall turned in her final workout in the lead up to Saturday's Grade 1 Test with a 1:01.04 five-furlong breeze over the main track Sunday morning.
"She went in 1:01, and galloped out in 1:14," said her trainer, Tom Albertrani. "We were looking for something around a 1:01. She came back well, and we're about set for Saturday."
Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Belle of the Hall is unbeaten in three starts and will enter the Test off a three-quarters of a length victory in the Jostle at
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Trainer Bill Badgett took first and second with Exclusive Scheme and Chestoria, respectively, in Saturday's close finish of the William B. Fasig Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares on the turf.
Exclusive Scheme held off a three-horse charge – Chestoria along the inside, You Go West Girl on the outside and My Magic Moment – at the wire for the nose victory.
"She had been training really well since she got up here," said Badgett. "I told the owners we might as well take a shot."
It was the second consecutive victory – and the seventh of 23 starts – for Exclusive Scheme. Badgett has not made any commitment for the 4-year-old filly's next start.
As for Chestoria, who has been no worse than third this year, Badgett believes the inside trip may have compromised the favorite's chances.
"She ran great. She doesn't like to be down on the inside," Badgett said. "With the one post, she kind of got boxed in. She was kicking, but not like she does when she gets that outside trip. I'm never worried about Chestoria because she's consistent. If she comes out of this fine, she'll come back in the Yaddo [a $100,000 race for New York-bred fillies and mares running 1 1/8 miles on the turf at
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