NEWS
Stars breeze in preparation for Travers
Posted: Saturday, August 14, 2010 1:40 PM
SUPER SAVER
Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography
by Phil Janack
The sun was out on a beautiful and cool Saturday morning at Saratoga Race Course, and so were the stars.
Four horses being pointed to the $1-million Shadwell Travers Stakes (G1) on August 28 were on the track for their first workout since their previous races, led by Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Super Saver.
Owned by WinStar Farm, Super Saver breezed five furlongs on the main track in 1:02.56, which ranked 18th of 27 timed workouts at the distance. Racing for the first time since finishing sixth in the Preakness Stakes (G1), Super Saver finished a tiring fourth in the $1-million IZOD Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park on August 1.
“I thought he went well,” Pletcher said of Saturday's workout. “He went off against the bridle, and he kind of finished on his own. Ideally, I’d have like to see him finish just a touch quicker, but next time we’ll put him in company. He’s doing really well. I decided to go five-eighths today instead of a [half-mile] because he was carrying his weight really well after the race. Overall, I was very pleased.”
Pletcher also moved Super Saver’s workout up one day to mirror his preparation heading into the Derby, which is his only victory in five starts this year.
“Originally, we were going to go on a Sunday schedule, but I decided to push it up mainly because his breeze before the Derby was seven days out, so I wanted to get back on that schedule,” Pletcher said. “He’s come back in good order and bounced out of the Haskell really well. His energy level and weight and all that, I’m very pleased with.”
A Little Warm, winner of Saratoga’s traditional Travers prep, the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) on July 31, breezed an easy five furlongs in 1:03.06 under exercise rider Tessa Bisha. The workout ranked 21st of 27 timed moves at the distance
“We continue to be very happy with A Little Warm. He’s doing all the things that we want to see,” trainer Tony Dutrow said. “We felt that his last couple races have set him up very well for the Travers, as long as he stays in great shape. So far, he has.
“We don’t feel like he needs much. It was important that he didn’t do more than he needed to do, so we gave him a very in-the-middle workout today, and we’ll give him another one like this next weekend. We feel that will have him prepared for the Travers.”
Haskell runner-up Trappe Shot, was clocked in :48.97 for a half-mile under jockey Alan Garcia and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.27. He worked in company with Grade 3 winner Taqarub, who was credited with an identical time for four furlongs.
“It was a nice team effort,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “He worked great. He was always going very well, and galloped out real strong and kept going. It was a great work; just what we were looking for. Everything is going very well.”
McLaughlin remains committed to running Trappe Shot at Saratoga on August 28, either in the Travers or the $250,000 King’s Bishop Stakes (G1) at seven furlongs.
“He felt good,” Garcia said. “He gives me the same feeling I always feel with this horse, easy and happy. He’s doing much better.”
On the training track, Afleet Express rolled through a five-furlong breeze in 1:01 handily for trainer Jimmy Jerkens, the second-fastest of 18 workouts at the distance. Winner of the Pegasus Stakes (G3), Afleet Express finished third in the Jim Dandy.
“He was good. He did what we wanted,” Jerkens said. “He hasn’t done anything to turn us away [from the Travers]. I think his last race was good, even though he fell out of it early. I thought making the forward motion at the end was a good sign.”
Despite the expected absence of Preakness and Haskell winner Lookin At Lucky, the Travers is shaping up to be competitive group, including Super Saver, A Little Warm, Trappe Shot, Afleet Express, First Dude, Friend or Foe, Trickmeister, Admiral Alex, as well as one or more members of the Nick Zito-trained trio of Ice Box, Fly Down and Miner’s Reserve.
“The field is getting bigger and bigger,” Jerkens said. “Everyone’s taking a shot with [Lookin At Lucky] out, I guess. A mile and a quarter, they don’t run that distance much anymore. It’s always a question mark.”
Phil Janack is a Saratoga-based correspondent for Thoroughbred Times
