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Brightwork after her five-length score in the Adirondack (G3) Aug. 6 at Saratoga (Susie Raisher)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Trainer John Ortiz worked Grade 3 Adirondack winner Brightwork over the Saratoga Race Course main track at 6 a.m. Sunday in preparation for the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway on September 3 going seven furlongs at Saratoga Race Course.
The WSS Racing-owned juvenile daughter of Outwork breezed a half-mile in 52.11 seconds under Irad Ortiz, Jr., but her trainer said the gallop out was the most important part of the move.
“We gave her an interval workout in preparation to stretch her out. She worked a half-mile but she galloped out another half mile,” Ortiz explained. “From the pole to the wire, they got her in about 52, but if you clocked from the quarter-pole and just follow her gallop out, she galloped out in 49 flat. So, she basically did two workouts.
“I told Irad I wanted her to go nice and easy, and get her to relax and let her listen to you,” added Ortiz. “When she got to the top of the stretch, I wanted her to stride out. I wanted him to let her gallop out as far as she wants and she took him all the way back to the half-mile pole. We basically went about seven furlongs and she stayed consistent on it.”
Brightwork is undefeated in three starts, which includes a debut win on April 26 going 4 1/2 furlongs at Keeneland as well as the six-furlong Debutante on July 2 at Ellis Park.
Ortiz said the workout gave him even more confidence that his talented filly can stretch out in distance following the 6 1/2-furlong Adirondack.
“We use Equimetre to monitor her heart rate and stride length and I’m very, very in love with the data shown to me this morning. It looks like the further we go, the better with her,” Ortiz said.
Brightwork, a $95,000 weanling purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, is out of the Malibu Moon mare Clarendon Fancy and comes from the same family as two-turn graded stakes winners Girvin and Midnight Bourbon.
