Two more maiden special weights for juveniles are scheduled for today at Saratoga. Both are for fillies, and both look like they could contain some future stakes winners. They are the third and sixth races on the card.
Race 3:
Maiden Special Weight
2yo Fillies
$50,000
5 Furlongs
Here are the entries:
Program #/Horse/Morning Line Odds
1 Barbados Beauty 2-1
2 Select Cat 8-5
3 Spring Breeze 8-1
4 Spare Change 5-1
5 Siberian Wildcat 5-1
6 Miss Bikini Bottom 15-1
The slight morning line favorite is Select Cat, a Todd Pletcher-trained daughter of Tale of the Cat. She has never started before, but turned in a :47.55 half-mile work handily from the gate in preperation for this race. John Velazquez has the mount, and one should never count out a horse with connections like Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez
Barbados Beauty is another filly with good connections that seem to indicate she may be something special. She is trained by Steve Asmussen and will be ridden by Ramon Dominguez. Like Select Cat, Barbados Beauty has never raced before, and will have to overcome breaking from the railm but has been training well for this race and should be ready to run.
Spare Change and Siberian Wildcat are the co-third choices at 5-1. Spare Change is an unraced daughter of Bernardini trained by Shug McGaughey. Her workouts have not been anything special -- they could even be considered rather slow -- but Julien Leparoux is in the saddle, and you never know what kind of surprises McGaughey may have up his sleeve. Siberian Wildcat is trained by Gary Contassa and will be ridden by Rajiv Maragh. By Wildcat Heir, Siberian Wildcat turned in a good five furlong breeze for this race and may be ready to win what will be her first start.
Spring Breeze, trained by Carlos Martin, has had an unusual work pattern. After a bunch of three-furlong breezes, he worked five furlongs on July 8th, then three furlongs again on July 14th, and a half-mile on July 21st, just four days ago. Not exactly your usual gradual increase in workout distance! Edgar Prado has the mount on the Congrats filly.
Finally, we come to Miss Bikini Bottom. The only horse in the field with racing experience, the daughter of Saint Anddan finished fourth of five in a five-furlong maiden special weight on June 30th at Belmont Park. She did have some excuses, for she bumped another horse at the start and raced greenly throughout the race, but she is likely going to have to improve considerably to defeat these fillies. Trained by William Lagorio, she has been breezing at Suffolk Downs and will be ridden by Cornelio Velasquez.
My top three selections in this race are:
1 Select Cat
2 Spare Change
3 Barbados Beauty
Race 6:
Maiden Special Weight
2yo Fillies
$50,000
5-1/2 Furlongs (Turf)
Here are the entries:
Program #/Horse/Morning Line Odds
1 Cattaraugus (Scratched)
2 Fly to the Sky 10-1
3 Cat Girl 4-1
4 Sweet Cat 7-2
5 Morning Shine 5-1
6 Volcat 5-1
7 Run a Risk 5-1
8 Delightful Song (Scratched)
9 Dancin N Prancin (Scratched)
Yet another Todd Pletcher-trained/John Velazquez-ridden two-year-old is entered here at Saratoga in the form of Sweet Cat, the morning line favorite. Interestingly, she is also owned by Todd Pletcher. This is likely a learning experience for the filly, who has only four workouts under her belt with none of them on turf. A daughter of Kitten's Joy, it will be interesting to see if she stays on turf or moved to dirt in the future.
The other "cat" in this field is Cat Girl, the second choioce on the morning line. Unlike Sweet Cat, Cat Girl has racing experience. On June 29th, she finished third in a six-furlong turf maiden special weight at Belmont Park. With that start under her belt, the Frank Alexander-trainee should be ready to win this time around. Rajiv Maragh has the mount.
Morning Shine, trained by Steve Asmussen, has never raced before but has been breezing steadily at a variety of tracks. The daughter of Lion Heart will be ridden by Julien Leparoux and looks very promising.
Volcat has raced twice before, finishing fifth in a five-furlong main track maiden special weight and then second in a six furlong event. Trained by Ken McPeek, she seems to be improving and will have Manoel Cruz in the saddle.
This brings us to Run a Risk, an unraced daughter of Distorted Humor. Trained by George Arnold II, she breezed five furlongs in sharp fashion in preparation for this race and will be ridden by Robby Albarado.
Finally, we find Fly to the Sky. An unraced filly that has been training at Calder, the daughter of Lone Star Sky is trained by David Fawkes and has been turning in some decent breezes. Jose Lezcano will have the mount.
My selections for this race are:
1 Cat Girl
2 Morning Shine
3 Sweet Cat
PREVIOUS RESULTS
July 23rd
The second race at Saratoga, a 5-1/2 furlong maiden special weight, went to Laurie's Rocket in impressive fashion. Trained by Dallas Stewart, he sat off of a very quick pace of :21.72 and :44.90 set by Whinston and How Do I Win before blowing past them for a 1 1/4 length victory. Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, the son of Bluegrass Cat stopped the clock in 1:04.74. Whinston ran very well in defeat to finish second, one length clear of odds-on favorite How Do I Win from the Todd Pletcher barn. Covert Ops, Zellers, Mr. Continental, and Harry Consolidator completed the order of finish.
July 24th
The second race on the Sunday card was won impressively by the first-time starter Dehere of the Cat. The race was a 5-1/2 furlong maiden special weight for New York-Bred two-year-olds. A son of Discreet Cat, the bay colt tracked a moderate pace set by Half Lit before wearing the latter down for a one length victory in 1:05.73. Trained by Michael Trombetta, the colt was ridden to victory by Ramon Dominguez. Tug of War finished third, followed by Readthebyline, Cybertron, favored Swag Daddy, and Utopian Dream.
The ninth race of the card was the Sanford Stakes (gr. II). The overwhelming favored at 0.30-1 was Overdriven, a Todd Pletcher-trained/John Velazquez-ridden son of Tale of the Cat owned by Repole Stables. The exact same connections of last year's two-year-old male Eclipse champion Uncle Mo.
Overdriven managed to evoke memories of Uncle Mo with an authoritive four-length triumph in the $150,000 event. After biding his time just off of the pace set by Black Rhino, the colt flashed past the pacesetter and drew away to a decisive victory in a sharp 1:10.60. Power World, runner-up in the Bashford Manor Stakes (gr. III) last month, rallied late for second yet again while proving no threat to the winner. Jacks in the Deck, winner of the Futurity Stakes (gr. II) last month, just managed to overhaul a fading Black Rhino for third. Moonrush and Tarpy's Goal completed the order of finish.
-Keelerman
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