** For video of First Dude galloping Thursday morning at
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Contact: NYRA Press Office
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- First Dude gets blinkers for Travers
- Afleet Again looks for breakthrough in Travers
- Tony Dutrow hoping for big day on Saturday
- "Todd Squad" could be tough this weekend
- Friend Or Foe completing pre-Travers checklist
- Jerkens looks for continued improvement from Afleet Express
- Trappe Shot schools at the gate for Travers
- Rachel Alexandra has the genes for success at Saratoga
- Classofsixtythree steps up again in Personal Ensign
"I'm afraid to put him in a non-winners-of-two allowance and he loses at 1-9," Romans joked at his barn Thursday morning as First Dude was led out for a walk. "As long as he's competitive, I'm going to keep him in these races. We're waiting for him to break through and win one of these babies."
Romans has decided to outfit First Dude with blinkers for the Travers. The colt is already plenty fast – he made the pace in the Preakness, Belmont Stakes and Haskell Invitational – and blinkers often sharpen speed, but that is not the goal this time.
"We're not putting a big cup on; it's a half-cup," Romans said of the blinkers. "Ramon [Dominguez, jockey] says it helps him focus on accelerating when he calls on him.
"It's frustrating. We're trying to think of things different. The blinkers took a lot of consideration before doing it."
First Dude has breezed twice wearing his new equipment, but Romans pointed out "you can't simulate racing conditions with these horses."
Asked if he had any other experiences with a horse like First Dude, Romans recalled his 3-year-old Nolan's Cat, who finished third in the Belmont Stakes despite being winless in five starts.
* * *
Around trainer Robert Reid's barn, Travers hopeful Afleet Again used to have the reputation as a bit of a goofball. Since shocking the field at odds of 24-1 in the Grade 3 Withers in April, however, he has climbed into competition against the top 3-year-olds in the country and is looking for a breakthrough Saturday.
"He was a real slow learner, but he's really leaped forward," Reid said of the gray or roan son of Afleet Alex, who galloped a mile and a quarter on the
In that one-mile race, Afleet Again defeated top sprinter D' Funnybone and Wednesday's Albany runner-up Ibboyee in a wild race. He raced between horses on a fast early pace, dropped back, drifted out wide in the stretch and then mowed down the field to win by 1 ½ lengths.
Exercise rider Mary Brennan and Reid discovered Afleet Again doesn't like feeling the whip from the left side and told jockeys to stop doing it.
Recently, Reid outfitted Afleet Again with a prong bit, "which gives the rider better control of him," he said. "He's a heavy-headed horse. When he goes his own way, there's not a lot a rider can do about it."
Cornelio Velasquez will ride Afleet Again for the first time in the Travers, and Reid said the last thing he will tell him is to keep the stick in his right hand.
The trainer hopes Afleet Again can drop back off a contested pace and then make one strong run – and not act nutty.
"In the morning, he's a pretty serious horse," Reid said. "He's laid back. You could light a firecracker near him, and he wouldn't move. It's a quirk he developed during races. He's too smart for his own good. He's in control, and it doesn't matter what that 110-pound guy on his back is going to do."
* * *
Tony Dutrow has been among the leading trainers in the country for many years, but it has only been recently that he's had horses competing on a bigger stage.
Dutrow, who saddled his first two New York Grade 1 winners last year with Seattle Smooth in the Ogden Phipps and Cat Moves in the Prioress, could be sitting on a very big day Saturday when he sends out Grade 2 Jim Dandy winner A Little Warm as the mild favorite in the Travers and Grade 3 Bed o' Roses winner Rightly So against filly sprint champion Informed Decision in the Ballerina.
It's an opportunity that he is cherishing to the fullest.
"We gathered up our whole crew and talked about these opportunities that were facing us this summer and we all made the commitment to each other and to the horses, that this could possibly be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that we were all going to focus and try our very, very best to accomplish such a goal," said Dutrow, 52, the son of the late trainer Richard Dutrow, Sr. and the older brother of trainers Rick and Chip Dutrow. "We still have a lot of work to do, but we're very proud and we're really, really enjoying this."
So far this meet Dutrow, who counts among his bigger successes Havre de Grace's second-place finish to Blind Luck in the Grade 1 Alabama, has sent out three winners, three second-place finishers and four third-place finishers from 19 starters heading into Thursday's card.
"Out stable is successful; is it as successful as some others? No, it's not," said Dutrow, who sent out 85 winners in 2009 who earned more than $3.9 million. "But we're trying."
* * *
Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, who was among dozens of horses schooling in the
The last three
Pletcher sends out a handful of top stakes horses this weekend, including Discreetly Mine in the Grade 1 King's Bishop, Katy Now in the Grade 3 Victory Ride, and Super Saver on Saturday as well as Life At Ten, winner of six straight, against Rachel Alexandra in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Sunday.
"Some are on a win streak, and others are trying to get back on course, like Super Saver," said Pletcher of his brigade. "It looks like they're all coming into it well and trained well coming into it."
* * *
Travers entrant Friend Or Foe continued his preparations Thursday morning, going for a "two-minute lick" through the stretch during training hours and schooling in the paddock just after 11 a.m.
Sent out at 6 a.m., he took the long way to the main track, walking over to and through the paddock before backing up to the eighth pole, then jogging around to begin his gallop at the seven-eighths pole.
"He two-minute-licked from the three-eighths pole all the way back around to the seven-eighths pole. We just wanted to let him stretch his legs, he was real happy," said trainer John Kimmel. "He stood in the gate yesterday and he was great, paddock schooled today. We've pretty much crossed all the t's and dotted the i's. He'll go out tomorrow for a normal gallop, and he'll jog a mile and a half the morning of the race, and that's about it."
Kimmel trains Friend Or Foe for
"[Winning the Travers] with a New York-bred would be a little bit special, especially since I trained the father," Kimmel said. "I think it shows you that you can raise a good horse in
* * *
Afleet Express fits the profile of a late-developing 3-year-old who wasn't ready for the Triple Crown series, but has emerged as a contender for the Travers.
The turning point came on May 22 when Afleet Express romped in a seven-furlong open allowance race at
"Until he won that race, I really wasn't thinking of anything past that," Jerkens said. "Then I said, 'Well, it looks like he's the real deal, might as well try to get him going around two turns.' We pitched the race in
Afleet Express finished third in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and convinced Jerkens that the Travers was the next logical step. The way Jerkens describes it, he changed his mind on the Travers from no to yes in the final stages of the Jim Dandy.
"I wasn't happy until the last sixteenth of a mile," Jerkens said. "I didn't know what was going on around that turn, but he really spit the bridle out and quit running and dropped back a few spots. To be able to come back on like he did, usually when horses do that they don't get it back together again, but he did.
"I still don't know what to make of it. I don't know why he did it. I think it was just getting hit with so much dirt for so long during the race. It took us forever to get his eyes cleared up. Who knows? He might not have been able to see when he was getting hit with so much dirt. Who wants to run into something they can't see see?"
"I don't know why, but he found a way to get going again in the stretch. That was good to see."
Afleet Express will start from post seven in the Travers and will be ridden by jockey Javier Castellano, who has been aboard for his last three races. Jerkens sent the colt to the gate for some schooling and then out for a gallop Thursday morning.
* * *
Weeks of contemplation are over for the connections of Trappe Shot, who yesterday was entered in this Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes instead of the Grade 1, $250,000 King's Bishop on the Travers undercard.
After Trappe Shot finished second in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and owner Nicolas Brady carefully scrutinized their chances in both races before deciding on entry day to enter the 3-year-old son of Tapit in the 1 ¼-mile Travers instead of the seven-furlong King's Bishop.
"All is well, and it's nice not having to worry about where we are going," said McLaughlin. "At this stage of the game, all you can do is wait and hope for a decent trip. I think it's nice to just be in the race."
Trappe Shot stumbled at the start of the Haskell, and McLaughlin is taking extra steps to make sure the colt gets away cleanly in the Travers.
"We galloped him and stood him at the gate this morning because he had some bad luck at the gate at Monmouth," said McLaughlin. "He was perfect. We'll just gallop him tomorrow."
* * *
Seven months ago, Classofsixtythree was running a well-beaten third in a $32,000 claimer at
With Rachel and the streaking Life At Ten in the lineup, Classofsixtythree won't exactly vie for favoritism, but the 4-year-old daughter of Include has come to life since owner-breeder Lee Pokoik transferred her to the barn of Gary Contessa.
After a third-place finish in an optional-claimer and a win in an allowance at
"She's obviously gotten better," Contessa said. "Last time out was mission accomplished – now she's Grade 1 placed, which increases her value tremendously as a broodmare.
"Now it's a mile and a quarter, and I don't know how this race is going to shape up, but if it sets up for a closer, I know who it is. It's me. [Rachel Alexandra] is a speed horse or on-the-pace type. To the guys thinking they're really going to win the race, they've got to take it to her. Time will tell who closes fastest. If nothing else, we've got a chance to get a piece of this."
* * *
Success at the at Saratoga Race Course is in the blood for Rachel Alexandra, who will on Sunday compete in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign, which will be her first start at the Spa following her victory in last year's Grade 1 Woodward. The 4-year-old filly is by Medaglia d'Oro, who was unbeaten in a trio of starts at Saratoga Race Course, with all three of his victories coming in some of the track's most prestigious races.
Trained by Bobby Frankel for Edmund Gann, Medaglia d'Oro rolled to a 13 ¾-length victory in the Jim Dandy, avenging runner-up efforts in the Wood Memorial and Belmont Stakes in his previous two starts in
A year later Medaglia d'Oro returned to
Should she win Sunday's Personal Ensign, Rachel Alexandra would become the first horse to win that race and the Woodward. No filly or mare has had the opportunity to complete the sweep, however, as no other female has won the Woodward in its 56-year history.
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