Saratoga, Race 2 – Thursday, July 13, 2023
By 2YO EdgeMan
The wait is finally over! Saratoga is here and we absolutely could not be more excited. We’ve got a fantastic race to start off with and so many more good ones to look forward to over the next 40 racing days at The Spa…
SAR2:071323 – 5 1/2 furlongs on the dirt. Nine classy fillies have graced the entry box to do battle for the $136,500 purse ($105,000 for non-New York breds). We’ve got seven firsters going to post and two that have made one appearance in a previous race. The list of top-notch sires is long – Into Mischief (Spendthrift Farm), Classic Empire, Speightstown, Quality Road, Twirling Candy, and Girvin. Add to that, Winstar Farm’s First-Crop Sire – Audible. And, as expected, many of the bigger trainers have put their name in the hat for a shot at this one including two from Pletcher and one apiece from Contessa, Norm Casse, The Coach, Bill Mott, Handal, and Sharp. Let’s get this on by looking at six of these gals…
#1 – Classy Mischief (20/1) – Gary Contessa is the conditioner for this First-Time Starter sired by Into Mischief and she’s a homebred from Lee Pokolik. Her dam was a fine runner having cashed in for $195K at the track with a record of 5 for 22 and a third-place finish at the Grade 1 level (98 EBSF). She also won as a two-year-old, but that was in a Maiden Claiming race in her fifth start. What she did in the breeding shed is probably even more encouraging by producing 1) a colt who won his only race in May of his 2YO campaign at BEL with 90 EBSF, 2) a filly that won at second asking at Saratoga in her 2YO year, however, it was in a MDN Claimer and 3) a guy who banked $284K, going 2 for 7, with one of his wins coming in August at age 2 (second start) earning a 100 EBSF at DMR and his other win was a G3 event. Today’s runner has logged nine workouts, all here at The Spa, including three covering five furlongs, one bullet – on 6/1/23 over the Oklahoma Training Track – going a ½ mile in 49.22 (1/11) and her last was over the SAR main strip breezing 36.04 for 3f (3/19). Javier Castellano will be the man in the saddle.
#2 – Empire Island (5/2) – The morning line favorite is a Classic Empire filly who is out of a winless Giant’s Causeway mare (in seven tries) who’s only thrown one other foal and that 4YO colt has yet to start. Today’s gal will be doing her first racing and is a homebred from Marylou Whitney Stables. Trainer Norm Casse has pumped seven workouts into her – the first two coming at Keeneland and then five more at Churchill, with her most recent being a bullet move of 47.3 seconds for 4f from the gate (1/41). Ricardo Santana, Jr. gets the call to guide her.
#4 – Soca (6/1) – The first of two in the Pletcher contingent comes by way of Speightstown, with Tapit as her broodmare sire. TAP (Todd A. Pletcher) has notched the most two-year-old MSW wins at Saratoga over the past five years – 33. He’s entered 177, so his strike rate is 18.6%. His win rate with 2YO Mdn Special First-Time Starters slips to 16% at SAR over that same time span (21 for 131). $100K was the hammer price for this filly at last year’s Keeneland September Yearling sale (44/54). Mama was a quality race mare earning $195K for her owners, putting up four wins from 19 starts, including a victory in her first race ever at two in November at Del Mar with an 85 EBSF (her highest was an impressive 106). She also produced a gelding by Super Saver that brought home $400K in purse money, was 4 for 14 in total – 3 for 6 in his two-year-old campaign (won at Monmouth at first asking in June) – then won the Bashford Manor Stakes (G3) and also added another stakes score at MTH later in his juvenile year, earning an 89 EBSF. Her only other foal is a 3YO who has already won north of $100K. Soca is a FTS and only has five published works, but they’ve all been over the training oval at Saratoga, none overly fast. Flavien Prat will climb into the saddle.
#5 – Lady Blitz (4/1) – Is the second punch from Pletcher in this one and she’s by the First-Crop Sire from Winstar – Audible. She demanded a handsome amount in last summer’s Fasig-Tipton August Sale in Saratoga as a yearling – $320K (7/123). Her Dixie Union dam was unraced and has thrown three other foals of racing age, two winners, but the highest earner has won only $32,000. Today’s filly has run one time – back in mid-June over at MTH – on that day she didn’t break very well and worked her way up to within 2 ½ lengths at the wire and finished in fifth place. Todd sent her out for one, four furlong morning work on The Spa’s training track since her competition and he turns to Irad Ortiz, Jr. to be her pilot for the first time.
#6 – Lady Moscato (3/1) – BC Stables unveils another high-priced baby – this one cost $800K as a yearling last September at Keeneland (9/45). Quality Road is her dad and, like the runner above, her mom is also by Dixie Union (in fact there are three that claim Dixie Union as their Broodmare Sire in this affair) who only earned $52,000 on the track with two wins from 10 outings. She has produced some dandies – a full sister to today’s filly named ‘Salty’ who won $688K by going 4 for 11, including a G1 victory (106 EBSF) and she sold for $3 million as a broodmare prospect. Mama has also tossed a filly by Into Mischief that won first time out in September of her 2YO year at CD with an 83 EBSF and has earned a total of over $100K with one more win to her credit. Today’s competitor, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, has one race of experience while the favorite at ELP on 6/16/23. On that day, she finished second, beaten by 3 ¾ lengths by the impressive winner – Steaming Now. After that race, The Coach got two ½ mile works into her at CD, her last going 48.2 from the gate (5/39). Luis Saez will again be her rider.
#7 – Sugar Hi (8/1) – Bill Mott won three 2YO MSW races at Saratoga last year, but had 43 starters for a strike rate of 7.0% (two of his three wins came with firsters – from 32 debut runners – 6.3%). He’ll tighten the girth on this FTS today by Twirling Candy whose final bid came at $180K at the KEE Sept Yearling sale (20/82). Her dam, by Medaglia d’Oro, was unraced and she’s produced one winner ($48,000) from two foals that have both started. This filly’s workout tab shows eight morning moves on the Oklahoma Training Track here at Saratoga and the last six have covered four furlongs. She showed nice promise in her last work of 3f back on 5/23/23 when she went in 36.59 seconds which was the fasted move of the day recorded at that distance (1/36). Bill’s man, Junior Alvarado, will manage the reins.
Pick – #1 Classy Mischief – Morning line odds of 20 to 1? What?!? I’m shocked but don’t expect to see anything like that when the gates open. On the other hand, this is a strong group of fillies that she’s up against, but I like this gal. Let’s review… Sire – Into Mischief, what can I say, he more than checks that box. Dam – won nearly $200K, third in a G1, top EBSF of 98, and won as a 2YO, check. Half siblings – three winners at two years old – check, check, check. Workouts – check. Jockey – Derby hero, Javier Castellano – check. I gotta be honest, I’m a bit jealous of FATJR7 stables as they own this filly in the Game of Silks.
On Friday, Saratoga has a 2YO race for NY-bred MSWs, but we’re hopeful that they’ll have a few more unrestricted baby races this weekend. So, buckle up tight, my Saratoga Edgies, it’s gonna be a really fun summer at da Spa.
