** For video of Blind Luck schooling in the paddock in advance of Saturday's Grade 1 Betfair TVG Alabama, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsfeLwH1AA0 **
** Please see attached photo of former
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Contact: NYRA Communications
518-584-6200 ext. 4237
- Miner's Reserve and Ice Box to work tomorrow, Fly Down Saturday; Travers remains a possibility for all three
- First Dude to arrive Tuesday for Travers
- Afleet Again coming to Midsummer Derby
- Hollendorfer hails The Chief
- Whitney winner Blame returns to work tab
- Buoniconti visits namesake, Rock Hard Nicky
- Get Stormy working toward Grade 2 Bernard Baruch
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Miner's Reserve and Ice Box, both under consideration for the Grade 1, $1 million Travers on Saturday, August 28, will work out tomorrow at Saratoga Race Course in what would be their final major moves in the lead up to the event.
Having already demonstrated an affinity for the
Ice Box, who hasn't competed at
Fly Down, also possible for the Travers, will work Saturday morning, with the exact time and location to be determined.
"Knock wood, I'm trying to get Fly Down and Ice Box to the race," said Zito. "With Miner's Reserve, let's see who is going in there. We wouldn't have Calvin [Borel] on him because he'll be riding Super Saver. That's a big factor, too. Calvin's had two great races with the horse. That could have something to say about it. I think it might be too much of a stretch if all those horses go in there."
* * *
Preakness runner-up First Dude will arrive at Saratoga Race Course on Tuesday for his Travers engagement.
The 3-year-old son of Stephen Got Even will work five furlongs at Churchill Downs Saturday morning and depart
First Dude, still seeking his first victory since a maiden win at
"He's doing very well," said Romans this morning. "The race looks like a solid group, with no standouts."
* * *
Trainer Robert Reid Jr. will give Grade 3 Withers winner Afleet Again one more workout before running him in next Saturday's Travers.
Reid plans to give Afleet Again, who is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Haskell 18 days ago, a half-mile breeze over the
"We're going to give him a half-mile workout since he doesn't need much right now," Reid said. "He's pretty fit and came out of the Haskell in great shape. Since coming to
* * *
Jerry Hollendorfer and Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens have combined to win over 9,400 races and have captured many of the most prestigious events run throughout the
"I don't remember meeting Allen, but he acted like he had met me before," said Hollendorfer, whose Betfair TVG
Hollendorfer was already acquainted with the Jerkens family, as Allen's grandson, David Jerkens, is the stakes coordinator at Hollendorfer's home track, Golden Gate Fields.
The trainer admitted he will occasionally tease the Hall of Famer's grandson.
"I'll be looking at the race conditions, and I'll see 'non-winners' in such-and-such,' and I'll go to David and say, 'Do you think your grandfather would approve of this?'"
Hollendorfer added that Blind Luck – who has competed at five tracks in four states this year, picking up victories in the Grade 1 Las Virgenes, Grade 2 Fantasy, Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, and Grade 2 Delaware Oaks along the way – has adjusted well to her new settings in
"The availability of races makes your schedule," said Hollendorfer. "In
* * *
Blame, winner of the Grade 1 Whitney on August 7, returned to the work tab for the first time since his upset of
"I was going to work him tomorrow [Friday], but he was showing me that he was ready; he had too much energy," said Al Stall, Jr., who trains Blame for Adele Dilschnider and Claiborne Farm. "He did it perfectly. He went :26 and :24 on his own, which was fine."
The next objective for Blame will be the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at
"He's had three solid races in a row this year," said Stall of Blame, who has won five straight including Whitney and the Grade 1 Stephen Foster. "He seems better now that he was before the Whitney."
* * *
Among those in attendance in Saratoga Race Course's paddock before the second race was former Miami Dolphin linebacker Nick Buoniconti.
The reason for the visit? Buoniconti was there as a guest of My Meadowview Farms' owner Len Riggio, who named his 2-year-old maiden colt, Rock Hard Nicky, after the Hall of Famer, cornerstone of the Dolphins' defense during the 1972 undefeated season.
"I've never had a horse named after me," said Buoniconti, a neighbor of Riggio's in
Rock Hard Nicky, a son of Rock Hard Ten trained by another Hall of Famer, Nick Zito, finished fourth in the 5 ½ furlong race, nosed out for show.
* * *
Sullimar Stable's Get Stormy turned in a five furlong work over the
"He worked great," said trainer Tom Bush. "He's a very special work horse anyway, very willing – he goes slowly and finishes extremely well."
Bush said that Get Stormy would make his next start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Bernard Baruch, scheduled for August 27.
Of the decision to run in the Bernard Baruch, which at 1 1/8th miles is an untested distance for the colt, Bush said he was primarily tempted by the option to stay home and run the horse over a track he loves.
"The distance will be a brand new experience for him, but he's won three times over this course, so we'll give it a try."
-30-
