Tricky Temper impresses on debut Aug. 9 at Saratoga (NYRA/Coglianese)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Trainer Jeremiah Englehart, who enjoyed great success with Maple Leaf Mel in the Seeking the Ante on last year’s New York Showcase Day card, returns again this year with a pair of talented contenders in two separate stakes events on Sunday’s lucrative 11-race program at Saratoga Race Course.
Neal Allread and Dan Langlais’ homebred Leo and Royal is set to take on the featured $250,000 Albany, a nine-furlong test for sophomores, while Tricky Temper looks to provide Englehart with back-to-back wins in the $200,000 Seeking the Ante, a six-furlong sprint for juvenile fillies.
“I think New York-breds have made their case in open company as well, and it’s nice to have that one day during the meet where you get to showcase all the New York-breds,” said Englehart. “It’s a special day. It’s Saratoga and the program is important to the state. It’s nice to see all the familiar faces that come out for the day.”
Leo and Royal, a chestnut son of Alpha, invades from Finger Lakes Racetrack off a runner-up effort in a one-mile and 70-yard allowance on August 1 where he finished 11 lengths back of runaway winner Amedeus Music after lacking room to the inside of rivals in the turn and angling wide to get up just in time for place.
“He got a really tough trip,” said Englehart. “It was a race we wanted to be aggressive with and he got stuck behind a wall of horses. He’s a horse that’s got a lot of ability, but he’s still green and immature on some things. We’re taking a shot in this race, and I think eventually he is going to be a New York-bred stake horse. He trains very nice and like a horse who’s got a lot of potential. He just might need some seasoning.”
Leo and Royal entered his latest effort off a pair of wins at the Farmington oval, including a frontrunning graduation at second asking in May and an off-the-pace triumph against winners on July 10. He is out of the Englehart-trained and Allread-owned Ecton Park mare Clean Jean, who won the 1 1/16-mile Jack Betta Be Rite in 2014 at Finger Lakes.
Tyler Gaffalione will ride from post 1 on Sunday.
Englehart is in search of his fourth victory in the Seeking the Ante after sending out Party Like Grandma [2018], Samborella [2020] and Maple Leaf Mel. The veteran conditioner said this event has become a mainstay in his planning for his juvenile fillies each year, and that to win it again would be special.
“It’s a nice race and you get a couple of these races that you really enjoy,” said Englehart. “When you’ve won a race multiple times, you kind of look forward to it. It’s always a spot we try and circle with our fillies.”
Mark Stanley’s Tricky Temper gives Englehart a strong chance at victory once again as she enters from an eye-catching 4 3/4-length score in an off-the-turf state-bred maiden sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on August 9. The Into Mischief bay was off a step slow and trailed three lengths off the pace at the three-eighths call, but showed a strong turn of foot under Hall of Famer John Velazquez to sweep by her rivals at the top of the stretch and draw clear to complete the course in 1:06.12.
“She’s doing well since she won and is training forwardly,” said Englehart. “I’m not sure if she’s dirt or turf yet, but she’s training very well coming into here. She struggled with getting the starting gate down, but she’s picked it up every time she’s gone out there. She had shown ability and I was not surprised she won first time out.”
Tricky Temper has had one work since her win, covering a half-mile in 49.77 seconds on August 20 over the Oklahoma dirt training track.
“She’s still green and still learning, and the most impressive thing about her first race was how she came out of it,” Englehart said. “She came out of it acting like she knows what she’s doing and like she wants to do more.”
Bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Lakland Farm, Tricky Temper was a $230,000 purchase at the OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training where she breezed an eighth of a mile in 10.1 seconds. She is out of the multiple stakes-winning Any Given Saturday mare Winter Book.
Velazquez retains the mount from post 4.
