Kodiac Wintergreen mows them down to break her maiden at second asking (NYRA/Coglianese)
For the Week of: 07/17/2023 through 07/23/2023
By 2YO EdgeMan
SAR6:0720323 – When she was almost five lengths behind at the head of the stretch with four horses to catch, I said ‘no way’. But, Jose roused our Pick – #3 Kodiac Wintergreen – to somehow mow them all down and capture this one by ¾ of a length on the wire. After languishing way off the quick fractions of 22.02, 45.33, and 57.26, this filly by Kodiac, put up a final time of 1:03.40 for the 5 ½ grassy furlongs in her second career attempt. Rusty Arnold had to be thrilled with her victory and E-Speed Fig of 85, although she did get bet heavily – after starting at M/L odds of 3/1, she drifted down to go off at even money and pay $4.30 for her $2W backers.
Learnings – the trip notes that we provided in our ‘Picks, Plays and Pontification’ piece shared some solid insight showing the talent of this gal. Also, it’s always a positive sign when a top jockey returns for a juvenile’s second performance.
SAR1:072123 – This one was shaping up to the be race of the year as four horses were noses apart with only a few feet before the horrendous site of one of #7 Same Old Fears – falling to the ground. Honestly, I could not watch the replay and could only bring myself to look at the results (the good news is that horse and rider – Jose Ortiz – are both fine). The official winner was #1 Billy the Greek and Luis Saez who paid a handsome $27.80 after posting a final time of 1:05.35 over the five-and-a-half dirt furlongs (EBSF = 81). Saffie Joseph, Jr was the winning conditioner. Our pick – #4 Every Four Years – broke poorly, tried to get back into the race, and then threw in the towel down the lane. Your winner is owned by jeffsp1965 stables in the Game of Silks.
Learnings – Even tho Saffie has had a very rough year and is 0 for 6 with the 2YO MSWs at Saratoga over the previous five years (2018 thru 2022), he still has some quality stock and can train. He had some decent works down at Gulfstream Park, but none that made me see this effort on the horizon. This is a Ramsey homebred from one of their Kitten’s Joy’s mares that never scored on the turf. Hard to see this one coming.
SAR1:072223 – It took everything that this dude had in the tank, but our Pick – #7 Noted – got up in the furlong to put his nose on the wire ½ length in front of closing #2 Spirit Prince. #3 Fortunate Seller led all the way around in slow fractions of 25.13, 50.92, and 1:16.15 and our winner was pinned to him, never behind by more than a length. Irad was patient and hung a final time of 1:46.57 for the 1 1/16th mile on the lawn which calculated to a modest E-Speed Fig of 72. Bet down from M/L odds of 2/1, this guy paid a stingy $3.50 at the windows. Congrats to Whirlaway Farms, this fella’s owner in the Game of Silks.
Learnings – Noted looks like the best horse on paper, especially after #8 Dornoch was scratched, so even if the odds are short, you have to play the horse most likely to win.
SAR7:072223 – Ricardo Santana, Jr got #5 Valentine Candy to break out of the gate like a rocket and built an immediate two to three-length lead and this Justify colt then led every step of the way to score by ¾ of length in the end. He put up quick fractions of 22.10, 45.94, and 58.55 before stopping the final timer at 1:11.74 (EBSF = 79) for the six panels on the dirt. The $2W mutual was reasonable – $7.70. We tried for a price with our pick – #1 Daily Grind – but he nicked the side of the starting gate which put him at the rear of the pack at the beginning and never really did any running at all.
Learnings – The Heiligbrodt’s have some nice stock and are 28 of 97 (28.9%) in 2YO MSW races over the previous five years (2018 thru 2022) and this guy was coming off a nice work at SAR.
SAR1:072323 – Gosh, with 20 yards to travel, I thought for sure that we had picked another winner with #7 Appellate (at odds of nearly 6/1). However, the victor – #2 Hard to Justify – just caught us at the wire to score by a head. Flavien Prat was very patient on the winner, laying about five or six lengths of the leader – and fractions of 24.22, 49.73, 1:14.73, and 1:39.09 – throughout, before making a big run between horses leaving the turn and down the far outside in the lane, earning a final time of 1:45.17 for the 1 1/16th mile on the lawn and ESBF of 76. She paid $8.00 to win and is owned by ryanblaisesmith stables in the Game of Silks.
Learnings – Chad Brown on the grass? Say no more. Plus, she had shown some talent on the grass and Flavien Prat should also never be ignored.
SAR6:072323 – #9 Sam’s Treasure was a very impressive winner in this one and put up a huge E-Speed Fig of 93 and final time of 1:11.22 and scored by an easy 5 ¾ lengths. She broke alertly and Johnny V. let her stalk the leader (fractions of 22.13, 45.31, and 57.95) down the backstretch before making her move and taking her lead about halfway around the turn in this six-furlong affair over the dirt. From there, the result was never in doubt. Our pick – #7 Alpine Princess (off at juicy odds of 13/1) ran a very nice race, steadily closing from way back, and ultimately finished third. She’ll probably relish two turns down the road.
Learnings – Wesley Ward moved this filly over to the dirt after making her debut on the grass where she was successful only losing to an excellent runner – Cynane. Cox / Geroux is a formidable combo and obviously were by far the best today.
As a reminder, I’ll be on the ground at Saratoga later this week and will be staying throughout the weekend. Hence, I’ll be offline as far as my ‘Picks, Plays & Pontification’ until next week. However, please stay up to date on all the great information that Jon and his team report on this great website – www.PastTheWire.com I will of course be a sponge for everything that I can learn about our wonderful babies while I’m up at the Spa and certainly look forward to sharing everything with you. Take care, be safe and we appreciate you all, very much.
