Fully Subscribed, who dead-heated for second with Bless the Broken in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps, headlines their rematch in Friday’s Grade 2 Shuvee at Saratoga for trainer Chad Brown. (NYRA Photo)
Mary Eddy
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Multiple Grade 1-placed contenders Fully Subscribed and Bless the Broken shared second in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps presented by Ford in a dead heat on June 6, and will square off again in Friday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Shuvee, a nine-furlong route for older fillies and mares, at Saratoga Race Course.
Klaravich Stables’ Fully Subscribed [post 3, Flavien Prat] has hit the board in each of her seven outings, including a pair of Grade 1 seconds in the Ogden Phipps and the La Troienne on May 1 at Churchill Downs where she returned from a nearly five-month layoff and was favored but defeated one length by Shred the Gnar.
The 4-year-old Tiz the Law filly was third through the early stages of the Ogden Phipps, and gave chase behind the runaway winner Nitrogen, digging in inside the final sixteenth as Bless the Broken gained on her outside. Nitrogen, who is aiming for a start against males in the Grade 1 Whitney on August 8 here, cantered home an easy 12 3/4-length winner while Fully Subscribed and Bless the Broken slugged it out behind her, hitting the wire together to share the minor awards 3 1/4 lengths ahead of Regaled.
“She just got drowned there,” Brown said of the effort. “I really liked my horse going into that race, which goes to show you how good Nitrogen ran. I was pretty confident going in that my filly would run a big one and she was no match. With Nitrogen out of this race, we get some relief there, so let’s see how she does.”
The talented chestnut has worked back five times at Saratoga since the Phipps, most recently covering a half-mile in 48.75 seconds over the Oklahoma dirt training track on July 17.
“She’s coming into the race good. I’ve been really pleased every week with the way she’s been working,” Brown said. “She is very consistent.”
Fully Subscribed won a pair of nine-furlong graded tilts last year at Aqueduct Racetrack, taking the Grade 2 Mother Goose by 4 1/2 lengths in November and the Grade 3 Comely by four lengths in December. The $300,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training has banked $626,300 through her 7-3-3-1 record.
Brown has also entered Gainesway Stable’s Kentucky homebred Aeolian [post 2, Dylan Davis], who was elevated to victory last out in a one-turn mile optional claiming event on June 27 at Belmont at the Big A. The 4-year-old Tapit gray graduated by six lengths two starts back in a November maiden at Churchill Downs, and makes her stakes debut in her fifth outing.
Out of the Grade 3-placed Dunkirk mare Danzatrice, Aeolian is a full-sister to multiple stakes-winner and young Gainesway stallion Tapit Trice.
Qatar Racing, Mountmellick Farm and Fergus Galvin’s Bless the Broken [post 5, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] was third behind Fully Subscribed in the La Troienne, and enters from three consecutive starts in Grade 1 company for dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox.
“Chad’s filly got the best of us at Churchill, and they dead heated here with us last time – they seem like even fillies,” said Blake Cox, son of and assistant to Brad. “Whoever gets the better trip beats the other, so hopefully we get the better trip and beat her this time. We’ll see.”
The 4-year-old Laoban dark bay was previously conditioned by Will Walden and won the Listed Bourbonette Oaks on synthetic last March at Turfway Park ahead of a deep-closing third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and a fourth in the Grade 1 Acorn last June here.
She was away from the races until resurfacing in the Cox barn in January after selling to Galvin for $950,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale in November. She made a successful barn debut with a two-length score in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer at Fair Grounds Race Course ahead of a second to Splendora in the Beholder Mile to begin her streak of Grade 1 attempts.
Bless the Broken turned in her final breeze in prep for the Shuvee on July 18, covering five furlongs in 1:02.23 over the main track.
“She breezed this morning and went good, we really liked the work,” Cox said. “We’re excited.”
Dual Grade 1-winner Scottish Lassie [post 4, Jose Ortiz] looms large off an impressive 8 1/2-length romp in a seven-furlong optional claiming event on June 7 here for trainer Jorge Abreu.
“She had a really good breeze with Jose [Ortiz] this morning,” Abreu said of a half-mile work in 47.80 seconds on July 18 over the Spa main track. “She came out of it in good shape. That allowance race was a good starting point. You can see that she’s back and she came out of that race really well.”
Last out, Scottish Lassie set a pressured pace early under Flavien Prat, but shook clear at the half-mile call and never looked back, drawing off to the emphatic score in a final time of 1:23.18 and earning a 94 Beyer.
Campaigned by Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish, Corms Racing Stable and Abreu, the 4-year-old McKinzie dark bay owns two Grade 1 wins, taking the one-turn mile Frizette as a juvenile at Belmont at the Big A and dominating the Coaching Club American Oaks last July here by 15 1/2 lengths, earning a career and field-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure. She followed that victory with a fourth in the Grade 1 Cotillion in September at Parx Racing and shipped to Del Mar to run in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, but scratched and was given the winter off.
“To me, she looks stronger than she was as a 3-year-old, and that’s what you want to see,” Abreu said. “She’s always been a very laid-back horse and very mature, and I like the way she looks. She’s doing everything right and she loves Saratoga. I don’t know what it is; she trains good anywhere you take her, but here she just thrives.”
Completing the field are dual graded stakes-placed Eunomia [post 6, John Velazquez] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.; the Danny Gargan-trained Snowyte [post 1, Luis Saez], who was runner-up to Scottish Lassie in the 2024 Frizette; and New York-bred stakes-winner Valtellina [post 7, Tyler Gaffalione] for trainer Ray Handal.
The Shuvee is slated as Race 8 on Friday’s 10-race program, which includes the state-bred Rick Violette in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
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