National Treasure gallops July 16 at Santa Anita (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said he currently has Grade 1 Preakness-winner National Treasure and recent Los Alamitos Derby-winner Reincarnate under consideration for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on August 26 Saratoga Race Course.
National Treasure, by Quality Road, provided Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez his first Preakness win with a game head score over Blazing Sevens. The $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale purchase was last seen finishing sixth on June 10 in the 12-furlong Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.
“He looks good. The timing is good for him for something like that,” Baffert said. “He ran big in the Preakness and he needs a little more spacing. He’ll like the mile and a quarter.
“Everything is subject to change,” added Baffert. “I go by how the horses are doing, and a lot can change between now and then.”
Reincarnate, by Good Magic, captured the Grade 3 Sham in January at Santa Anita en route to third-place finishes at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 2 Rebel and Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. He finished a distant 13th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs.
The $775,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase returned from a two-month layoff on July 8 to take the nine-furlong Los Alamitos Derby in frontrunning fashion.
“He had lost a lot of weight and had been shipping a lot, but he’s back to his old self and looks great,” Baffert said. “We always thought he was going to be a Belmont-type horse.”
National Treasure and Reincarnate are both owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital and Catherine Donovan.
Baffert, who will send out Arabian Knight in Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park, said Zedan Racing Stables’ Arabian Lion will not visit the Spa for the Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam on July 28 here. However, the last-out winner of the Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun is likely to ship here in company with last-out Grade 3 Dwyer-winner Fort Bragg for the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 26 as part of a stacked Travers Day card.
“I was thinking about it [the Amsterdam], but I’m going to wait for the Allen Jerkens,” Baffert said regarding Arabian Lion. “He’s been doing really well. I almost ran him in the Haskell, but I have Arabian Knight in there for the same owner.”
Baffert said Zedan Racing Stables’ Arabian Knight, the 5-2 morning line favorite for the Haskell, is in good order as he visits his third different track in as many starts.
The Uncle Mo colt, a $2.3 million OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase, won by 7 1/4-lengths on debut in November at Keeneland and followed in January with a 5 1/2-length romp over sloppy and sealed going in the Grade 3 Southwest at Oaklawn Park.
“I think he’d suit any track you put him on. He’s never run at home – all his races have been on the road. He’s never run in California,” Baffert said.
Baffert, who noted he expects to send some 2-year-olds to Saratoga for upcoming stakes races, said Arabian Knight would be unlikely to try for a Haskell-Travers double.
“I doubt it. He’s a horse that I like to space out his races. It’s tough to do the Haskell to Travers,” Baffert said.
Baffert last attempted a Haskell-Travers double with 2015 Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah, who finished a close second to Keen Ice.
