No matter how hard Ma Nature has tried to ruin great days of racing at Saratoga’s signature meet this year, she was no match for the talent on display this past weekend.
From the record-breaking performance by Imperial Hint in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt, to the smashing dominance of Shancelot in the Amsterdam on Sunday, and from the huge win for trainer Danny Gargan with Tax in the Jim Dandy, to the hard fought victory of Channel Cat for Todd Pletcher in the Bowling Green, fans were treated to a smorgasbord of delights.
Imperial Hint, the little horse with the BIG heart, returned to a standing ovation at the Spa, as the savvy fans greeted Luis Carvajal, Jr.’s repeat winner of the Grade 1, Alfred G. Vanderbilt with thunderous cheers on his way to the Winner’s Circle. They knew they had witnessed not only a superb, encore performance by the speedy 6-year-old son of Imperialism, but also a track record being broken.
In his first victory in almost 10 months, after going winless in two dull starts in 2019, it seemed almost impossible that Imperial Hint could again dominate his competition, and particularly Steve Asmussen’s extremely talented 1-2 favorite Mitole, who was on a 7-race win streak after capturing the Grade 1 Met Mile June 8.
But dominate he did! Not only did the Florida-bred win by 4 lengths under a hand ride by Hall of Famer Javi Castellano, who sat motionless atop, he broke the 15-year-old 6 furlong track record set by Speightstown in the 2004 Vandy of 1:08.04, by blazing across the wire in 1:07.92.
Imperial Hint swung out four wide at the top of the stretch, and quickly made mincemeat out of Mitole, Strike Power and Diamond Oops, as he left them in his wake, recording a 114 Beyer for his efforts.
After a strenuous trip to Dubai, and a third place finish behind winner XY Jet in the Grade 1 Golden Shaheen, Luis suggested to owner Ray Mamone that his little rocket ship needed a temporary grounding, and Ray agreed. Luis sent Imperial Hint to the Fair Hill Equine Therapy Center, and he credits his freshening at this highly regarded facility for once again putting the wind beneath Imperial Hint’s wings.
The 47-year-old native of Santiago, Chile will most likely look to the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont to see if his Jersey-based star can be a repeat winner there, too, and will use it as his prep for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita. Hopefully he’ll be able to avenge his 2nd and 3rd place finishes behind Roy H in the past two editions with a victory this year.
Bowling Green Park in lower Manhattan is the oldest public park in New York City, having been designated as a park in 1733. It also served as council ground for Native American tribes, and was the site of the legendary sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit in 1626.
Although the Grade 2, Bowling Green Stakes at the Spa, for which it was named after, is only in its 61st year, it is nonetheless rich in tradition, and serves as the major local prep for the $850K Grade 1 Sword Dancer on the Travers Day card.
For this reason alone, Todd Pletcher had to be very pleased to capture the mile and 3 furlongs race on the inner turf. But when you consider that his victorious Channel Cat, Calumet Farm’s homebred, is the son of English Channel, a champion horse he trained, it had to be that much sweeter.
English Channel won 13 races and six Grade 1s for Todd, amassing $5,319,028 in earnings. His final win was perhaps his most memorable, as he raced to a sloppy, seven length victory in the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Turf, setting a race record on his way to the Eclipse Award for Turf Male.
In a stellar field of 12 that included Bill Mott’s Channel Maker, another son of English Channel, Brad Cox’s Arklow, Tom Albertrani’s Sadler’s Joy, Michael Maker’s Zulu Alpha, and three Chad Brown entries, most notably Focus Group, it was nice to see someone other than Chad win a big turf stakes.
Channel Cat’s gutsy victory and career-best 102 Beyer for Todd was a much needed breath of fresh air for many who are suffocated by Chad’s inordinate dominance.
The 56th running of the $600K Grade 2 Jim Dandy was a continuation of the feel good storyline in Saturday’s graded stakes. Trainer Danny Gargan’s $50K former claimer, Tax, fulfilled not only his dreams, but his prognostications from the entire week leading up to the big race.
The Saturday before the Jim Dandy, Tax posted a bullet half-mile breeze in :47, the best of 71 at that distance. He was switched to glue-on shoes following some hoof issues when he ran 4th in the Belmont, and it was game on from there.
Although he was understandably nervous leading up to the race, Danny was extremely confident about his 3-year-old Arch gelding’s chances of being victorious in the Jim Dandy for his loyal owners.
When Danny initially asked Randy Hill about dropping a claim slip on Tax, who was running for a $50K tag in a maiden race at Keeneland last October, Randy declined. He had just spent a wad on a share of Channel Maker, the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic winner, so he wasn’t primed for another investment
Danny turned to his old friend Hugh Lynch who obliged, so they dropped a slip and won a 7-way shake to acquire the Adele Dilschneider/ Claiborne Farm’s gelding. A month later, Lucas Stritsman of Troy, New York wisely bought a share in Tax.
Five weeks later they entered the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct, and after a respectable third place finish in the prestigious stakes for 2-year-olds going a mile and an eighth, Randy Hill and partner Dean Reeves’ interest was piqued when Danny reached out again.
They jumped on board with a 50% share at a cost of about $175K with incentives that included making Randy the managing partner. Lynch retained an interest along with partner Stritsman and his Corms Racing Stable.
Danny has had a close relationship with the 43-year-old Stritsman since meeting him at Gulfstream in 2013. Lucas and his brother Evan own Fire Hearth and Patio in Colonie, the company their Dad started in his garage 4 decades ago.
Lucas and Danny have enjoyed great success with another claimer, Divine Miss Grey, who they got in a 4-way shake for just $16K in 2017 at Gulfstream. They subsequently brought in partners Hill and Reeves, as the determined filly was on her way to earnings of $613, 200 in 2018.
Stritsman’s good friend Matt Canfield sadly passed away far too soon at just 35 in 2011. Lucas decided to honor his friend by using his nickname “Corms” for the name of his new racing venture, and I imagine that he’s making the original “Corms” very proud today.
Animated Randy Hill, the 72-year-old native of Franklin Lakes, NJ, and a financial services executive, used to go to Monmouth with his Mom as a kid, and always dreamed of winning a race at Saratoga. A successful Wall Street deal in 2000 was the beginning of making his dream come true.
Reeves, a native of Atlanta and a 1973 graduate of Georgia Tech, where he was also a member of the Yellow Jackets Basketball team, became involved in the sport 10 years ago when he and his wife Patti formed Reeves Thoroughbred Racing. Dean is the founder of Gwinnett National Bank and the current Chairman of the Board for Reeves Young Contracting, while Patti owns a media/advertising company.
Dean and Randy Hill met in Saratoga and became fast buddies based on shared life experiences. They have formed quite the bond with Danny Gargan, and the young trainer is certainly blessed to have these guys in his corner.
Danny grew up in Louisville, a stone’s throw from Churchill Downs, where his Dad with the same name was a successful jockey, winning the 1973 Kentucky Oaks. Although big Danny very sadly passed away when the young Danny was only 4-years-old, the horses were already in his blood.
As Danny gravitated toward the backstretch growing up, one of his early mentors was my dear buddy Merrill Scherer, who just turned 80 on July 21. Danny soaked up knowledge from Merrill and Mark Hennig, among others, and at 21-years-old was hired by Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito.
Danny was an assistant to Nick for 6 years, and was with him in 1994 when he won the Kentucky Derby with Go For Gin.
Danny eventually moved on to a new endeavor when he decided to become a jockey agent. He carried the book for Jesus Castanon, Patrick Valenzuela and Brian Hernandez, Jr., before deciding to make another move in 2013.
Upon the urging of P.J. Campo, who at the time was NYRA’s Director of Racing, Danny decided to open his own stable, and a budding career began.
Although it was a shame to see the 8-5 favorite Tacitus stumble so badly out of the gate, it was still wonderful to watch the joy on Danny and his owners’ faces when Tax captured the Jim Dandy.
Under a masterful ride by Irad Ortiz, Jr., a very tenacious Tax held off the late challenge of Irad’s brother Jose aboard Tacitus, who made an amazing recovery from last to finish 2nd by 3/4 of a length. Stanley Hough’s Peter Pan winner Global Campaign held on for 3rd.
Preakness winner War of Will was no factor, as he dragged jockey Tyler Gafflione out too fast, and then tired trying to rally. Trainer Mark Casse offered no excuses, but was somewhat baffled by WOW’s change in behavior.
It will be very interesting to see how the Travers plays out when you add the likes of Jason Servis’ Maximum Security and Bob Baffert’s Game Winner to the mix, both owned by Gary and Mary West.
It also appears that Chad Brown found his Travers horse when Will Farish’s homebred Highest Honors, a grey son of Tapit, won the Curlin last Friday. He beat his previously undefeated stablemate Looking at Bikinis, multiple Grade 1-placed Rowayton, and Todd Pletcher’s classic starter Intrepid Heart.
Kiaran McLaughlin’s Endorsed finished 2nd in the Curlin and could be headed to the Travers, too, along with Brad Cox’s Owendale, the Ohio Derby winner who came in 3rd in the Preakness.
Will Farish, like Gary and Mary West, will likely have two starters in the Travers, with both Highest Honors, and Shug Mcgaughey’s Code of Honor, the winner of the Dwyer.
Although many have questioned the training “tactics” of Jorge Navarro, you can’t deny the speed created in his horses, from Private Zone to Sharp Azteca, and from XY Jet to his latest speedball Shancelot.
Shancelot, the son of Shanghai Bobby, demolished the 11 horse field in Sunday’s Grade 2 6-1/2 furlong Amsterdam, when he blazed to a 12-1/2 length victory.
He set fractions of :21.79 and :43.94, and actually had a 6 furlong split time of 1:07.63 that was faster than Imperial Hint’s record-breaking time set the day before. His tour de force gave him an ungodly 121 Beyer, the highest sprint figure since Midnight Lute’s 124 in the 2007 Forego.
The weekend closed on a high note with the annual PDJF Fundraiser, Riders Up/East Coast. The annual Jockeyoke contest is always a big hit for good reason, and this year was no exception.
Fan favorites Johnny Velazquez and his beautiful wife Leona once again took home the People’s Choice Award. They brought the house down with their hilarious rendition of the iconic Saturday Night Live skit/duet that featured the late Patrick Swayze and the late Chris Farley as dancers in a Chippendales audition.
They sung along to Loverboy’s Working for the Weekend, while Leona, as Chris, stripped down to a Suma wrestler-type bare chested costume, jiggling the “fake fat” to the beat!
Another memorable performance was NYRA handicapper Anthony Stabile as rapper Eminem’s alter-ego Slim Shady, with sidekick Larry Collmus along for the ride. And last but not least were Jose Ortiz and Dylan Davis singing Lil’ Nas X’s viral hit Old Town Road, and thankfully, they have promising day jobs!
Contact Louisa “Weezie” Foye at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
