Saturday, July 21, 2012
Contact: NYRA Press Office
518-584-6200 x4235
- Belmont Stakes and Champagne winner Union Rags retired; Teeth of the Dog works for G2 Jim Dandy
- Tapitsfly breezes at Spa for G1 Diana; Shackleford, aiming for G1 Forego, works at Churchill
- Alpha set for G2 Jim Dandy following steady four-furlong breeze
- Pacific Ocean, So Many Ways emerge from opening day stakes victories in good order; Grace Hall to resume training for G1
- Jackson Bend to attempt Forego repeat following fourth-place James Marvin finish
- Fields coming together for next weekend’s 3-year-old stakes
Bred and owned by Phyllis Wyeth, the Dixie Union colt first gained attention last year at
As a 3-year-old, Union Rags, trained by Michael Matz, won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at
Rather than go on to the Preakness Stakes, Matz opted to await the 1 ½-mile “Test of the Champion.” His decision paid off as the colt, under rider John Velazquez, wore down leader Paynter with a long stretch drive to take the third leg of racing’s Triple Crown.
“I think that he’s a pretty attractive stallion prospect – Champagne winner as a 2-year-old,
While the decision of where Union Rags will stand as a stallion hasn’t been made, Jones said Wyeth prefers the horse remain in the country.
“She really doesn’t want him to go overseas,” Jones said. “We’ve taken a number of potential buyers out of play. It will be restricted to the domestic market. It’s a love affair she had with this horse, and she doesn’t want him to go somewhere where she can’t find him.”
While Matz lost his prime 3-year-old, he retains Teeth of the Dog, winner of the Easy Goer Stakes on June 9 at
Teeth of the Dog, a son of Bluegrass Cat, is on course for a start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy, a 1 1/8-mile dirt race on July 28 at the Spa. The race is a key prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Travers on August 25.
“He’ll go in the Jim Dandy or Haskell,” Matz said. “He’ll do one of those two and it’s probably the Jim Dandy. He worked five furlongs in 1:02 this morning and did it very nicely, and he’ll probably ship in this week.”
* * *
Grade 1 Longines Just a Game winner Tapitsfly turned in the second-quickest of 22 breezes at five furlongs over the
“She looked good doing it,” said trainer Dale Romans said of the Frank L. Jones, Jr. homebred. “It made me think about running her back on the dirt, but we’ll wait.”
The front-running 5-year-old mare found herself on the lead in the Longines Just a Game through six furlongs in 1:09.48. She then rebuffed a late challenge from Winter Memories to prevail by 2 ¼ lengths and win the one-mile turf event in 1:32.34.
“I hope that she’ll relax as well as she did in the Just a Game,” said Romans. “Our plan for her this year was to get her to really relax and come from a little off the pace, and then we got to the Just a Game, a Grade 1, and there was no speed, so we threw that out the window. And I doubt there will be enough speed to run with her here, so she’ll probably do the same thing.”
Romans said Tapitsfly will have a new jockey in the Diana as Ramon Dominguez, who rode the mare in the Longines Just a Game, has made another commitment. The trainer added that Joel Rosario could end up with the mount.
On the worktab at Churchill Downs for Romans was Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap winner Shackleford, who will bypass the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on August 4 to run in the seven-furlong, Grade 1 Forego on September 1. Shackleford went five furlongs in 1:01.40, breezing.
“[Kentucky-based assistant Baldemar Bahena] said Shackleford started off slow but finished up fast,” reported Romans.
In the Met Mile, Shackleford set the pace and held off Caleb’s Posse to win by a nose, with Romans revealing that Shackleford needed extra time to recuperate after the effort.
“He came out the Met Mile a little bit tired,” said Romans. “It took him a little longer to get back on his feet, and we were going to have to rush him to make the Whitney. This will work out well. We know his career is winding down. He’ll probably have three more starts, and we’re going to try to make them all count.”
* * *
Alpha, who has been targeting the July 28 Grade 2 Jim Dandy since a fever forced him to miss the Belmont Stakes, breezed four furlongs in 49.58 seconds on the Saratoga main track on Saturday with exercise rider Robert Massey aboard.
“He worked fast last week [five furlongs in a bullet 58.88 on July 14], so we were looking for him to go an easy 49 today,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. “His ears were pricked and he was happy, so we’re happy. He’s doing very well.”
Owned by Godolphin Racing, Alpha won the Grade 3 Withers and was second by a neck in the Grade 1 Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack before going on to finish 12th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. He has been training at
* * *
Chip Dutrow, assistant to
Rick’s brother Tony, who trains So Many Ways for Maggi Moss, said the 2-year-old filly looked “phenomenal” and added that he hoped her victory could be the start of something special.
“She ate every little grain in her tub,” said the trainer. “I was real excited about the Schuylerville – why wouldn’t I be? – but I really hoped that this is a filly that can do a lot better than the Schuylerville. In her first start, she was clearly superior to her competition. The preparation that went into that race was very, very little. When she came out of that race and trained for the Schuylerville, she moved forward by leaps and bounds, and I knew I had something way better than average on my hands.”
So Many Ways will be pointed toward the Grade 1 Spinaway on September 2, he said.
In the interim, Dutrow’s next major objective is preparing Grace Hall for the Grade 1 Alabama on August 18.
“We’re excited about Grace Hall coming in for the
* * *
Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito reported Saturday morning that Jackson Bend returned from his fourth-place finish in Friday’s Grade 3 James Marvin in good order. The 5-year-old son of Hear No Evil was attempting to repeat in the opening-day feature at Saratoga Race Course, which he captured in 2011 en route to a victory in the Grade 1 Forego.
“He’s great this morning, but he was mad yesterday,” Zito said of Jackson Bend, favored yesterday at 4-5. “He just doesn’t want to run outside. He loves to run on the fence, he loves to split horses, but that’s the way it went. We’ll try to regroup and hopefully come back in the Forego.”
Winner of the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack this spring, Jackson Bend is campaigned by Robert LaPenta and Fred Brei.
On Friday morning, Zito sent out Richard C. Pell’s promising sophomore Fast Falcon for a half-mile breeze in 49.35. The chestnut son of Awesome Again is targeting a start in next Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy, the local prep for the Grade 1 Travers.
“He came back good,” Zito said. “Everything’s great.”
* * *
Sophomores take center stage next weekend at the Spa, with the $100,000 Curlin on Friday, the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy sharing Saturday’s card with the Grade 1 Diana for turf fillies and mares, and the Grade 2, $200,000
Likely for the 1 1/8-mile Curlin are Ever So Lucky, recent allowance winner at Delaware Park for Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard; Street Life and Five Sixteen, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Belmont Stakes; Love to Run, winner of an allowance at Belmont last time out, and the Shug McGaughey-trained Reload, who missed by a neck after being checked at the start on June 16 at Belmont. Also probable are Csaba and Dynamical, according to NYRA stakes coordinator
In addition to Teeth of the Dog, the 1 1/8-mile Jim Dandy is expected to attract Grade 1 Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial winner Gemologist, Grade 3 Withers winner Alpha, Belmont Stakes third-place finisher Atigun, Dwyer runner-up Fast Falcon, Grade 3 Matt Winn victor Neck ’n Neck, and Grade 3 Ohio Derby winner Prospective. Love to Run and My Adonis are questionable.
The 6 ½-furlong Amsterdam likely will feature last year’s Three Chimneys Hopeful winner Currency Swap, most recently second to Trinniberg in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens presented by VisitNassauCounty.com; Doctor Chit, winner of the Western Larla overnight stakes last time out; Laurie’s Rocket, ninth in the Woody Stephens, and Unbridled’s Note, winner of an optional claimer at Churchill Downs on June 17. Drago’s Best,
-30-
