On an absolutely glorious Jim Dandy Day, the much anticipated dual between Kentucky Derby champ Always Dreaming, and Preakness champ Cloud Computing, in the $600K Grade 2 Travers prep, fizzled in the sunshine, as Birthday Boy Bill Mott’s Good Samaritan rained on their parade! Running for the very first time on dirt (upon the suggestion made by WinStar Farms Elliott Walden all year, based on the pedigree of the 3-year-old son of Harlan’s Hoiday!), Good Sam exposed the apparent mediocrity of this year’s Triple Crown race winners!
Coming off the pedestrian pace set early by Always Dreaming, Good Sam took advantage of the unfolding battle between the Derby and Preakness winners, by saving ground early, and then sweeping wide on the turn, to go from last to first, leaving the field in his dust! Although it appeared that Always Dreaming had the perfect set up on the favoring inside rail, as it turned out, it was the perfect storm for Good Sam, as Cali-shipper Pavel’s predicted early speed never materialized into a pace-favoring scenario for the favorites. The table was set for Good Sam to pick up the pieces off the pace, for a 4-3/4 lengths victory and a 100 Beyer, under a hand ride by Joel Rosario. His victory further complicated an already topsy-turvy 3-year-old division, once again solidifying Saratoga’s reputation as the Graveyard of Champions, taking 2 more victims!
Earlier on the card, an impressive performance was delivered by Coal Front for Todd Pletcher and Johnny Velazquez in the 6-1/2 furlong Grade 2 Amsterdam for 3-year olds. The undefeated son of Stay Thirsty, who completed a rare Jim Dandy/Travers double back in 2011, certainly made his Papa proud, battling back from injury as a promising 2-year-old, to record a 105 Beyer in his stakes debut!
The Amsterdam in the 5th was the 3rd straight, and 4th win of the day for Johnny, while it was Todd’s 4th win out of the first 5 races! This dominant string started right off in the 1st Race for 2-year-old maidens at 6 furlongs. Zayat Stables’ Mojovation, a first-time starter and son of Quality Road, broke very well, and won easily by 2 lengths, and is another in a long line of good looking babies in the Pletcher barn!
Following the late scratch of last year’s winner, A. P. Indian (who they later announced on Tuesday would be retired!), the 33rd running of the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt, turned into a real coming out party for El Deal! He proved to be the real deal, recording a 112 Beyer in his 3rd straight win for Jorge Navarro and owners Albert & Michelle Crawford (better known in the standardbred world!). El Deal was initially trained in his first 2 campaigns by paralyzed former Jockey, Andrew Lakeman, who wistfully spoke to me about him with tremendous pride after the PDJF fundraiser Monday evening. As you can imagine, it was very emotional for me to listen to him speak about his sadness upon losing El Deal.
Popular Trainer Jimmy Toner and French Jockey Florent Geroux finally got off the duck together in the 59th running of the 1-3/8, Grade 2 Bowling Green on the inner turf course. After patiently bringing up the rear on the 16-1 long shot, Hunter O’Riley, Geroux guided the 4-year-old ridgling through a wide last move that forced a 3-way race for the finish, where he narrowly beat Grade 1 United Nations Winner Big Picture by a neck, for his first stakes win. Sadler’s Joy was a neck back at the wire for 3rd, while Grade 1 Manhattan winner and favorite, Graham Motion’s Ascend, settled for 4th. I hope to see them all return to battle in the Sword Dancer on the Travers card, but we may have an Arlington defector or two.
Sunday’s running of the $1 Million Haskell did little to clarify the muddled picture in the 3-year-old division, as 9-1 shot Girvin nosed out 7-1 shot McCraken, in a thrilling 3-way photo, leaving the division in chaos! Chad Brown’s Practical Joke was 3rd at the wire. In spite of my happiness for Trainer Joe Sharp and wife Rosie Napravnik Sharp’s first Grade 1 victory with Girvin, I must also confess that I was very disappointed on multiple counts with the outcome. First and foremost is the connection so many of us felt with Isabelle de Tomaso, upon hearing the story of this incredible 86-year-old owner of Irish War Cry, the Haskell morning line favorite. Isabelle is the daughter of Monmouth founder, Amory Haskell, and back in the 50’s, she was a daring young race car driver, a profession that needless to say, did not thrill her father! She competed in the 24 Hours of Sebring with her late husband Alejandro, an Argentinian-born, Italian race car driver and businessman/car maker. Naturally, it would’ve been a perfect fairy tale ending if Isabelle’s once in a lifetime, Triple Crown-calibre horse, IWC, the NJ-bred son of the star mare at her NJ farm, Irish Sovereign, had crossed the finish line a winner, in NJ’s signature race! I was also very disappointed for the wonderfully gracious Trainer, Graham Motion, and for the gregarious comeback kid, Jockey Rajiv Maragh, who so deserved this big victory! As Graham so eloquently stated, following a very tough weekend, where he saw 3 of his fine multiple graded stakes winners lose (Ascend in the Bowling Green, Miss Temple City in the Matchmaker at Monmouth, & IWC in the Haskell), “Racing is all about challenges. It is not supposed to be easy!”
In last Wednesday’s 7th Race, Trainer Linda Rice pulled off an old school move by bringing back Voodoo Song, her 3-year-old son of English Channel, previously trained by the beloved and recently retired Mike Hushion, on 4 days’ rest, and it proved to be a wise decision, as he was a repeat winner! It was also nice to see Paulassilverlining take the Grade 2 Honorable Miss on the same card, as she continues to deliver. In the 4th Race on Wednesday, Fayeq, the lightly raced, 3-year-old, 1/2 brother to the great Rachel Alexandra, was very impressive in the 1-1/8-mile Allowance for Kiaran McLaughlin, who is now considering entering Fayeq in the Travers. Another Travers possibility is Al Stall’s Tom’s d’Etat, who dominated his competition in another 1-1/8-mile Allowance on Thursday, winning by 7 lengths.
In Thursday’s feature, The John Morrissey, a 6-1/2-furlong sprint for NY-breds, Celtic Chaos appropriately won, in a race named after the Irish-American, bare-knuckle Boxer, who later became a State Senator, US Congressman, and the brainchild of the Saratoga Race Course. I loved seeing the adorable young Eric Cancel pick up the stakes win on Celtic Chaos for the ever-zealous connections of Zilla Racing.
In Sunday’s opener, the $200K, Grade 3 Shuvee, Paid Up Subscriber won in a virtual walkover by 32 lengths, for Chad Brown & Johnny V, sadly, with just 2 contenders, precipitating win only betting. It’s hard to imagine why none of the other 7 horses nominated were entered! One final observation for the week was the sensational performance in Sunday’s 5th Race by the 2-year-old maiden daughter of Candy Ride, Separationofpowers, who won handily for Jose Ortiz and Chad Brown, and appears to be a star in the making!
After a wildly successful Dunking Booth to benefit the PDJF on Saturday, that saw Jockeys and disgruntled fans alike delight in dumping NYRA Handicapper, Andy Serling, at $10 a throw, the PDJF closed out the week with their biggest fundraiser of the year, Riders Up/Jockey Karaoke, an annual event that is a fan favorite at Vapor, and is always tremendously entertaining, and a rousing success! After graciously sitting in the Dunking Booth at the end of Saturday’s event, Ramon Dominquez, the universally beloved Hall of Famer, and PDJF recipient, opened Monday’s affair with his heartfelt words that not only brought tears, but also opened wallets for the animated live auction, where generous contributors donated thousands of dollars per item! Emcee Tom Durkin fired up the crowd and the other participating Jockeys with his funky throw down with health & fitness guru/tv personality, Marcie Fraser, showing the crowd that he can really shake it up with the best of them! Johnny & Leona Velazquez (dressed as a man!) were once again crowd favorites, and the always engaging Rajiv Maragh and Julien Leparoux lit up the stage with their hilarious rendition of “I’m Sexy and I Know It”, highlighted by their rip-away t-shirts, exposing “SEXY” in red lipstick across their ripped stomachs! Perhaps the most entertaining performance was turned in by the gregarious Kendrick Carmouche, who brought his fellow Jocks to their feet, along with being a Peoples Choice award winner, with his right on and show stopping “Big Baller” impersonation! Another notable performance was that of the “Love Man”, the smooth operator and super-Agent, Ronnie Ebanks, and a big round of applause was made for every brave Jock who faced the wrath of Judges Anthony Bonomo & Vinny Viola, and Todd Pletcher & Graham Motion.
This Saturday’s Whitney will pit leading contender Gun Runner, who has been a handful in the mornings, but is obviously ready to go, against Keen Ice, the 2015 Travers/American Pharoah-killer, in what should be an exciting edition to report on next week! ‘til then, may the horse be with you!
