by Phil Janack
Macho Again had a much less-eventful but plenty useful morning Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
The classic-placed Grade 2 winner turned in his final workout in preparation for the $1-million Travers Stakes Presented by Shadwell Farm (G1) on August 23. Macho Again breezed four furlongs in :50.15 on the Oklahoma training track.
The winner of Saratoga's local Travers prep, the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) on July 27, Macho Again galloped out six furlongs in 1:24, according to trainer Dallas Stewart.
"He worked great," Stewart said. "He's on schedule. He's good."
Stewart planned to work Macho Again Friday morning, but he decided to wait after the Macho Uno colt displayed signs of gas. Macho Again galloped on the training track but got loose after returning to the barn and suffered a superficial scrape above his right eye.
"They all get loose from time to time, that's the scary thing," Stewart said. "We got lucky he didn't get really hurt. I thought about it last night. I want to keep him on schedule. I came by to check on him and he ate well last night, he slept well, his energy was good this morning, and the weather was good.”
Nibbling on his hay rack Saturday, Macho Again showed no signs that anything went awry the day before.
"I thought I might have to gallop him up to the race, but we were able to breeze him and keep him on schedule," Stewart said. "We did have one stroke of luck that it didn't rain yesterday and we were able to train and keep him on track. The work was to keep him focused, too, after all that went on yesterday. I don't want him to lose his focus."
Macho Again is expected to be one of the top contenders in the Travers, which could draw up to 11 contenders, including graded stakes winners Cool Coal Man, Da' Tara, Pyro, Colonel John, Tres Borrachos, and Tale of Ekati.
"It'll be a good race. There's a lot of good horses in there," Stewart said. "We just need to lead the same horse over there that we did the other day [in the Jim Dandy].”
Phil Janack is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent