Aspen Grove winning the Belmont Oaks Invitational. (Joe Labozzetta)
Saratoga Race Course Notes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Aspen Grove will take on the boys in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational at Saratoga Race Course and does so on the heels of a rousing performance to win last month’s Grade 1 Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational, closing from well back to inhale her rivals in the final strides.
Owned by Glen Hill Farm of Florida and Mrs. John Magnier of Ireland’s Coolmore, the filly has been a transatlantic success story that connections hope keeps on giving.
Trained in Ireland by Fozzy Stack, Aspen Grove is a daughter of American Triple Crown winner Justify, who stands at the U.S. branch of Coolmore’s powerhouse global operation. She was bred in Ireland and is out of American mare Data Dependent, who is a half-sister to Irish Group 1 winner Skitter Scatter. As an operation, breeder Glen Hill Farm and principal Craig Bernick have increased their European footprint in recent years from a racing and breeding standpoint, while maintaining a top-class stateside operation.
“We seem to have a lot of turf horses and I find that, at auction, horses with turf form don’t get the credit they deserve, so I think it’s great when they start their careers over there in Europe and can hopefully get some blacktype, because it really legitimizes them,” Bernick said. “Some horses wind up being ordinary in Europe and become great here.
“She’s doing very well, and I think she’ll keep adapting well to American racing—it’s in her pedigree,” Bernick continued. “She will likely stay in America, but we will make plans after she runs. She’s a Grade 1 winner and her half-brother (Edwardian) just won really well in Ireland for Coolmore—so that’s two good horses from the first two foals.”
Stack arrived at Saratoga late Wednesday evening from Ireland to oversee final preparations.
“She looks well and seemed really good there this morning when I arrived,” he said. “She’s always been a good filly. We had Papilio last year and there wasn’t a lot between them. [Papilio] was also third or fourth favorite in the Belmont Oaks, so it was worth a whirl.”
Papilio won two races from five starts in Ireland for Stack, while also finishing second in the Listed Churchill and sixth-of-11 behind champion Tahiyra and Breeders’ Cup winner Meditate in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud. Now trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, she has won Keeneland’s Grade 2 Appalachian and was third behind Aspen Grove in the Belmont Oaks.
“She’s a stronger filly than she was as a 2-year-old and has come along well,” Stack said regarding Aspen Grove. “Hopefully she’ll keep improving, because she’ll need to on Saturday. She’s won a Group 1, won a Group 3 and been placed in a Group 3 and the breeders own her, so hopefully we can do well. Saratoga is a beautiful place, so it would definitely be one of the better places to win one.”
Stack had the option of sending Aspen Grove west for the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks but opted to stay in New York where she will exit post 3 in rein to Hall of Famer John Velazquez after winning the Belmont Oaks under Oisin Murphy, who will ride rival Lion of War.
“We thought about it, but she had done enough travelling and going from here to California is almost the same as going from Europe to here – she would have to settle into a different set of circumstances – so we decided to stay and focus on the races here,” he explained. “She ran very well here. She travelled well in the race and Oisin gave her a great ride on the day. Hopefully she gets another great ride. She accelerates well – we saw that in the last race and last year when she won the Group 3 [Newtownanner Stud], when she came from last in the final furlong.”
Stack did not come empty-handed on the flight back, bringing along 5-year-old gelding Chazzesmee for the restricted $135,000 Fasig-Tipton Lure over a turf mile. Murphy will get the ride on the patiently campaigned son of triple Group 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Mile fourth Excelebration.
Owned by the Stack family, the dual winner from nine starts exits his three best career efforts – a five-length win in a minor handicap over Dundalk’s tight-bended, left-handed all-weather; a 1 3/4-length tally in the King of Change Handicap at Naas; and a strong effort to be second-of-18 on July 2 in the Festival Handicap on Irish Derby Day.
“He’s been improving all year, so hopefully he keeps improving,” Stack said. “I don’t know how to work out the form of the American horses. He got here well, so we’ll see what happens. He’s won at Dundalk, which rides fast, and he’s won on soft ground at Naas and then it was very hard on Irish Derby day when he was a very unlucky second in a big field.”
