Trainer Danny Gargan is sitting on a big weekend at Belmont with Ice Princess a top contender in Sunday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette for juvenile fillies, along with a pair of talented colts debuting in Saturday’s nightcap.
Ice Princess, a grey daughter of Palace Malice, debuted on September 6 at Belmont splashing home by 12 lengths in an off-the-turf 1 1/16-mile New York-bred maiden event.
“I entered her thinking it would come off the turf,” said Gargan. “I had another filly I was going to run (Astoria Kitten) if it stayed on, and she came back and won last week. I think Ice Princess might be better on the dirt, but she runs on both surfaces and is pretty comparable either way.”
Flying P Stable, R. A. Hill Stable and Corms Racing Stable’s Ice Princess is out of the Awesome Again mare Happy Clapper, who is a full sister to Grade 3-winning long-distance router Ice Festival. Gargan said the sizable Ice Princess will likely flourish at longer distances.
“She’s a two-turn type horse and I need to run her long,” said Gargan. “The only concern I have is the Frizette is a mile and I’d like it a lot better if it was a mile and a sixteenth. The further she goes the better. She’s a really big horse and will be the biggest horse in the paddock on Sunday for sure.”
The 72nd running of the Frizette will offer an all-fees paid berth to the Grade 1, $2 million Breeder’s Cup Juvenile Fillies contested at 1 1/16-miles on November 1 at Santa Anita Park. It also serves as New York’s first prep race in the “Road to the Kentucky Oaks,” offering 10 qualifying points to the winner and 4-2-1 points to the second-through-fourth-place finishers for the 2020 Grade 1 nine-furlong contest on May 1 at Churchill Downs.
“I think when they start going a mile and an eighth to a mile and a quarter, she’s going to relish that. She’ll run all day,” said Gargan. “If she runs 1-2-3 in this race, we’ll consider the Breeders’ Cup; if she wins it’s a no brainer. The Breeders’ Cup is a mile and a sixteenth, going two turns out there. If she runs well here and makes up some ground and is finishing, we can think about going to the next one. It would be fun to get there.”
In Saturday’s 11th race at Belmont, a one-mile turf event for juvenile maidens, Gargan will saddle a pair of first-time starters in West Point Thoroughbreds’ Voodoo Zip and Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Don Juan Kitten.
Voodoo Zip, a City Zip bay, was purchased for $120,000 at the April OBS 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale. His second dam, Rhum, produced Grade 2-winners Central Banker and Gantry.
Don Juan Kitten, a grey son of Kitten’s Joy out of the Not For Love dam Romance Project, was purchased for $77,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
“Both of them will be quality horses,” said Gargan. “We’ve done well with our 2-year-olds this year. It’s exciting. I’m not really a first-time out trainer. I usually get a race under their belt and go from there but I think both are talented”.
“I think Don Juan Kitten will be a good horse down the road. He’s got a little maturing to do,” added Gargan. “Voodoo Zip is a little more mature and a little more focused. He’ll come out running. He will be forwardly placed because he’s pretty quick. I’d just like to get a good, solid race into them so they can move forward next time.”
R. A. Hill Stable, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Hugh Lynch, and Corms Racing Stable’s Tax shipped out of Belmont for last weekend’s Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park but had to scratch after spiking a temperature.
“He spiked a temperature at Remington and we had to bring him home. He’s doing well,” said Gargan. “I trained him today and yesterday and he looks great.”
Gargan said he is considering a few options for the former claimer, who has excelled in graded stakes company in New York winning the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct and Grade 2 Jim Dandy presented by NYRA Bets at Saratoga, while hitting the board in the Grade 2 Remsen and Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by NYRA Bets.
At Santa Anita, both the Grade 1, $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and grassy Grade 2, $200,000 Twilight Derby for sophomores on November 2 are under consideration; with the Grade 3, $200,000 Discovery on November 30 at the Big A as a potential fallback.
“We might train up to the Breeders’ Cup or there’s a straight 3-year-old race in California we could look at,” said Gargan. “We’re just waiting to see which way to go. The Discovery is an option as a last-case scenario.”
From: NYRA Press Release
Photo Courtesy of: NYRA
