Grade 1-winner Cy Fair, who skipped Royal Ascot for this spot, is the one to beat in the Grade 3 Coronation Cup for trainer George Weaver and jockey John Velazquez. (NYRA Photo)
Christian Abdo
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Medallion Racing, Swinbank Stables, Joey Platts and Mark Stanton’s Grade 1-winner Cy Fair is the one to beat in Saturday’s Grade 3, $225,000 Coronation Cup, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by George Weaver, the Not This Time bay posted a 3-for-4 juvenile campaign capped by a statement score over males in the five-furlong Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in October at Del Mar. There, Cy Fair traveled close up in fourth position early under Irad Ortiz, Jr., improving to second in the turn before kicking clear to a one-length score over the late-running Brussels in a final time of 56.02 seconds.
Cy Fair returned in the Grade 3 Limestone on April 10 at Keeneland and was a three-quarter-length third behind the victorious Slay the Day and returning rival Sapphire Beach. Cy Fair ran back 20 days later in the Grade 3 Mamzelle at Churchill Downs and defeated Slay the Day by one length. That rival exited to win the Grade 3 Soaring Softly on June 7 here.
Since then, Cy Fair was originally reported to be targeting the Group 1 King Charles III in June at Royal Ascot, but Weaver canceled plans to ship after not liking her training for a few days beforehand, instead rerouting to the Coronation Cup.
“If we’re not happy, we don’t run them,” Weaver said of skipping Ascot. “She’s been doing well. She’s been good, training well. When we’re happy with them, we run them, it can change in the blink of an eye, but she’s been doing good.”
Cy Fair [post 2, John Velazquez] breezed a half-mile in 50.90 seconds on Saturday over the Oklahoma dirt training track in preparation for this event.
“She breezed solo. She always breezes by herself,” said Weaver. “She is a pro. She doesn’t need anybody to hold her hand.”
Cy Fair entered the Breeders’ Cup from a 3 1/4-length score over males in the five-furlong Listed Algonquin at Woodbine Racetrack. She had previously been a neck second to returning rival Snow Face Princess in the Listed Bolton Landing over Saturday’s course and distance in August.
The $185,000 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase is out of the winning Arch mare Remarqued – a half-sister to Crimson Advocate, who won the 2023 Group 2 Queen Mary for Weaver at Royal Ascot.
Three Diamonds Farm’s Irish-bred Sapphire Beach [post 3, Jose Ortiz] exited her aforementioned Limestone second to win a 5 1/2-furlong allowance on May 31 at Churchill Downs. Trained by Rusty Arnold, the No Nay Never bay stalked and pounced to win by two lengths over the Will Walden-trained Beach Heist, who exited to finish second by a head to the Arnold-trained Triskelion in the Pea Patch at Ellis Park.
“George’s filly will be tough, but we’ll see if we can give her a run,” Arnold said. “At Keeneland, we caught George’s filly off the bench, I’m sure that was the time to catch her. She came back and flipped the switch on, while we came back and won a nice allowance race. We beat a pretty good filly of Will Walden’s, and our filly is doing great. I’m excited about running her.”
Sapphire Beach, a $57,000 purchase at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, is a half-sister to dual group-placed Wall of Fire out of the Galileo mare Bright Sapphire. Her second dam is Group 2-winner Jewel in the Sand.
Stonestreet Stables’ Cadenza [post 4, Manny Franco] was a 3 1/4-length third last out in the Soaring Softly. Trained by dual Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox, the Charlatan chestnut hasn’t missed the board in her six starts over turf or synthetic, including a win in the six-furlong Take the A Train over firm green in May at Belmont at the Big A.
Cadenza, a $385,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, was fifth in her debut last August on dirt here, moving to Saturday’s course and distance later that month and winning by three-quarter-lengths, which launched her ongoing streak of placings.
Rounding out the field are last year’s aforementioned Bolton Landing-winner Snow Face Princess [post 6, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen; Grade 2-placed Quiet Street [post 1, Junior Alvarado] for Hall of Famer Bill Mott; and the Mike Trombetta-trained last-out Stormy Blues-victor Hark Theangelssing [post 5, Jaime Rodriguez].
Niche and Hot Currency are entered for the main track-only.
The Coronation Cup is slated as Race 8 on Saturday’s 12-race card, which is headlined by the Grade 1, $500,000 Dunkin’ Diana in Race 5. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.
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