Juveniles Impress Early at Del Mar, Saratoga

by Jeremy Plonk

July 30, 2018

I’ve been closely following the 2-year-olds at Saratoga and Del Mar through the first two weeks of each meet and there have been no shortage of impressive performances.  The premier summer tracks have been active with juvenile heats so far with 29 events held.  Let’s take an early gauge on the best we’ve seen so far. 

As it turns out, we’ve had 4 notable efforts surface from the fillies as well as the colts.  The fillies have been more impressive at Del Mar, while the colts have had more depth to display at Saratoga.  We will keep tabs on if that continues throughout the two meets.  But if you’re looking at future bets for the Breeders’ Cup right this moment, think east for the Juvenile and west for the Juvenile Fillies. 

Fillies

Brill: Opening day July 18 Del Mar dirt sprint winner for Jerry Hollendorfer.  The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro was no secret as a $1 million sales buy and 7-10 shot on the tote.  She got a good education after some trouble at the start of the 5-furlong dash, which will help advance her right to the graded stakes ranks. 

Mother Mother: Romping winner at 3-5 odds to wrap opening week at Del Mar on July 22, she scored on the front end in pure Bob Baffert style while debuting over 6 furlongs.  The daughter of Pioneerof The Nile is out of Mother, a mare Baffert also trained, so he’s as familiar with this pedigree as possible.  Mama was a sprinter, so we’ll see how far this $450,000 purchase will go beyond the 7 furlongs of the Del Mar Debutante. 

Chasing Yesterday (pictured): American Pharoah’s half-sister debuted July 28 with a rousing victory at 3-10 odds for Bob Baffert.  She drew away by 4-1/4 lengths as the daughter of Tapit pressed, pounced and did it easily over 5-1/2 furlongs.  The home-bred for Summerwind Equine is making the blue hen mare Littleprincessemma continue to shine.  In addition to the Triple Crown champ, she also produced Del Mar maiden breakers American Cleopatra and St. Patrick’s Day. 

Catherinethegreat: Trainer Mark Casse’s Schuylerville Stakes winner on July 20 at Saratoga set a high bar for this division on the meet’s first day.  She handled a tough rail draw in a big field of 10 and bolstered her stock from Gulfstream Park with a cruising, 4-1/4 length victory.  By Uncaptured, the question will become if she’s a win-early sort, or if she will develop toward the routes to come in the division. 

Colts

Rowayton: The $320,000 son of Into Mischief debuted a sharp winner at Del Mar July 21 when holding at bay promising Jerry Hollendorfer stablemate Dueling.  The 4-5 favorite took heat throughout and proved best over 5 furlongs and would appear a perfect fit for the 7-furlong Del Mar Futurity at season’s end.  Two turns in the fall will be the question. 

Roadster: Bob Baffert’s big colt was no secret before his debut July 29 at Del Mar. And he didn’t disappoint over 6 furlongs, winning by 4-1/4 lengths while totally in hand.  The 4-5 chalk beat a promising cast in a modest 1:11.07 on the clock but over a track not eliciting fast times.  This $525,000 son of Quality Road appears to have a big future. 

Nitrous: Winchell and Stonestreet home-bred flashed brilliance at Churchill, but put it all together in his second start at Saratoga July 21 with a 3-1/4 length score.  He ran 5-1/2 furlongs in 1:03.70 and put himself directly on the graded stakes path next.  Steve Asmussen has a strong crop of 2-year-olds this year and Nitrous appears best of those in the early returns. 

Sombeyay: Todd Pletcher’s Sanford Stakes winner, like Catherinethegreat in the filly ranks, already has 3 starts under his belt.  Will this Into Mischief colt be proven to be a win-early sort or truly a classic type to watch next year?  He beat a diverse cast of regional players in the Sanford in a solid 1:10.35 for 6 furlongs, so we’ll let his performances do the talking for now. 

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9.4.2017

Labor Day may mean the close of racing at Saratoga and Del Mar’s summer boutique meetings, but this past week also has been the unofficial kickoff to the 2018 Kentucky Derby season.  A bevy of 2-year-old stakes nationwide overwhelm the calendar while Churchill Downs has just now released its new, revamped list of points-producing races domestically and abroad.  It’s a weird seasonal calendar, not necessarily tied to any structure, but this is how the landscape has evolved.  Today they run the Hopeful at Saratoga and Del Mar Futurity out west, traditional closing-day fares at those venerable racetracks.  Nothing new there, except for the faces that emerge annually to our consciousness.  This is where many first had learned about Affirmed and Afleet Alex, even Silver Charm and American Pharoah.  The Hopeful and Del Mar Futurity don’t always produce headliners, but often are a great place to start looking for the “next…” Today we also get American Quarter Horse Racing’s $3 million juvenile jewel in the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs.  That, too, has been a Labor Day fixture since the black and white television era.  Also this past week we’ve seen the I’m Smokin at Del Mar; the Affirmed and Susan’s Girl at Gulfstream Park; Monmouth’s Sapling and Sorority; the Colin at Woodbine; the Prince and Princess at Evangeline Downs; and the leading freshman fillies in the Spinaway at Saratoga and the Del Mar Debutante.  No doubt the 2-year-olds have taken center stage in a host of racing jurisdictions.  Might the next Kentucky Derby winner already be in our crosshairs?  At this time a year ago, Always Dreaming was 0-2 in the maiden ranks at Belmont and Saratoga.  Prior to that, Nyquist cruised to victory in the Del Mar Futurity this time in 2015, a race won the previous Labor Day by American Pharoah as well.  You may have forgotten California Chrome’s sixth in the Del Mar Futurity the season before that one.  We have to go back to Animal Kingdom in 2011-’12 to find a Derby winner who had not debuted by Labor Day (and he was on the runway 13 days later at Arlington).  In fact, it’s been since Barbaro’s 2005 October debut that an eventual Kentucky Derby winner had not debuted Sept. 18 or earlier.  That said, there’s a very good chance you’ve already seen next year’s Derby winner already race somewhere.  Perhaps it will be today!  That’s always an exciting prospect. 

10.8.2018

As we did last week, let’s see what we learned from the second of two Breeders’ Cup prep barrages this past weekend. 
Wanted: Juvenile Closers
After witnessing 70-1 stretch-out sprinter Knicks Go wire Saturday’s G1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, and Complexity romp while leading every step in the same-day G1 Champagne at Belmont, there’s no shortage of speed in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.  Add in west coast speed from Bob Baffert’s Game Winner, the likely solid favorite in the lineup.  I’ll be scouring the BRIS late pace figures to find someone who wants to come knocking late, if not for the win, surely the exacta. 
Brown’s Gals are Green
The unmatched quality of trainer Chad Brown’s shedrow in the Filly & Mare Turf division may be unprecedented in history.  A day after A Raving Beauty scored the G1 First Lady at Keeneland, his brigade ran 1-2 in the G1 Flower Bowl at Belmont with Fourstar Crook and Onthemoonagain.  Consider that Fourstar Crook could very well be 5-for-5 this year if not for 2 runner-ups to Sistercharlie, another Brown stablemate, and perhaps the strongest of his F&M Turf contenders who wasn’t even in action this weekend. 
First State, First Rate? 
They call Delaware the First State, ratifying the constitution before any of the other colonies.  But this summer, Delaware seems to be doing another thing for the first time – dominating the NYRA juvenile ranks.  Sure, we’ve seen an occasional Afleet Alex pop up.  But this is different.  When Call Paul won the G2 Saratoga Special in mid-August, perhaps it was a shooting star from DelPark.  But then Mind Control wrapped the Saratoga meet on Labor Day with a victory in the G1 Hopeful from the same port.  On Sunday, Jaywalk romped wire-to-wire in the G1 Frizette, based at Parx and prepped at Delaware Park.  That’s three major graded stakes from an off-Broadway locale on the NYRA circuit and raises concerns about the quality of what’s in the Big Apple in this 2YO crop. 
Low-Watt Distaff
Sunday’s G1 Spinster adventure for Blue Prize proved two things.  Nacho Correas’ 5-year-old remains in career form with her fourth win in her last 5 starts.  And, there’s simply not a superstar on the division’s horizon.  Sophomores Eskimo Kisses and Talk Veuve to Me failed to step forward whatsoever vs. elders after impressing within their division.  Blue Prize ducked out badly twice in the stretch at Keeneland and simply no one was good enough to take advantage.  Wow Cat won Saturday’s G1 Beldame at Belmont against a field of G3 runners, to be blunt.  With Elate going to the sidelines and Abel Tasman looking rather askew out west, we’re back to separating perhaps Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou again, and neither has tackled older horses.  Not often is the Distaff won by a name that’s kind of common, consider a One Dreamer or Stopchargingmaria or Life Is Sweet.  It could be that kind of year. 
Second-Quarter Signal
When favorite War of Will threw up a second-quarter split of 25.23 in Sunday’s G3 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland, the fate should have been sealed.  He was able to back up the fraction 8-9 lengths slower than the opening quarter and that most often signals a wire job.  That the Todd Pletcher-trained Current was able to rally from 10th of 13 and make up more than 7 lengths is a testament to how strong he was in Lexington.  The horses who finished in the next 5 spots beneath Current all were among the top 6 going down the backstretch, staying on as expected.  This was a big-time effort and Current rates the American with a chance to challenge whatever Aidan O’Brien brings over in a Juvenile Turf division he dominates. 
He Did What? 
Strike Silver closed 11 ¼ lengths in just over a quarter-mile Sunday at Keeneland to win a dazzling debut of the Indian Summer Stakes.  The freshly minted Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint prep featured a wild finish with 5 runners within 2 lengths at the wire, but it was the Mark Casse-trained Strike Silver who left all jaws dropped.  Julien Leparoux timed it perfectly as the son of Violence passed all 11 rivals in about 300 yards.  Who knows what will show up in this division, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more impressive prep.  According to the handicapping database at Keeneland.com that goes back to 2006, the closing margin distance is the second-largest in a local turf sprint and only the second to win from double-digits back after a half-mile. 
Where’s the Beef? 
Del Mar’s Rancho Bernardo featured a field of 4, and Sunday’s L.A. Woman ‘boasted’ just 5 starters.  So pardon a handicapper for not knowing what the west has to offer in the F&M Sprint division.  Add to it that the L.A. Woman completely flipped the result of the Rancho Bernardo.  Skye Diamonds snapped a 6–race losing streak in a spread-eagled field.  Miss Sunset shipped east to Keeneland and ran a stinker in the Thoroughbred Club of America, a race won by Golden Mischief via Prairie Meadows and Mountaineer.  You’d expect the west coast F&M Sprint division to be elite every year given the need for speed in the area and that the distaffers stick around longer than the top colts.  But a year after east coast router Bar of Gold upset this BC division, the west still doesn’t seem to have a deep answer. 
Sprint Tilts West, But For One
Roy H and Distinctive B gave Peter Miller a 1-2 sweep of the G1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Saturday.  The former, defending BC Sprint champion, looks as strong as ever.  After watching Friday’s Phoenix at Keeneland, where 3-year-old Promises Fulfilled got a super-easy trip and barely held off Whitmore and Limousine Liberal, it’s hard to imagine those runners handling western heat and surviving.  In fact, I’d like any of them better in the Dirt Mile than the Sprint.  Imperial Hint is the lone horse outside of California that I’ll be considering for the Sprint, and he’s awfully fast from Parx.