NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Richard Dunn, Ten Strike Racing, Gary Barber, Jeremy Sussman and Todd Monken’s She’s Lookin Lucky is possible to make her Saratoga debut on July 22 in the Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks, a nine-furlong test for sophomore fillies.
“We haven’t decided 100 percent just yet. We’ll breeze her tomorrow and see how she goes. As long as she breezes good then we may enter,” said trainer Matt Shirer.
The Lookin At Lucky chestnut graduated at third asking in a one-mile and 70 yard off-the-turf event in February at Fair Grounds when owned outright by her breeder, Richard Dunn.
She finished second next out to highly-regarded Punchbowl for her current connections in a 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming route in March at Oaklawn, but faltered to last-of-10 in her stakes debut after exiting the inside post in the Grade 3 Fantasy in April over the same course.
“We had the one-hole and she really didn’t break that sharp that day,” said Shirer regarding the Fantasy. “She got bounced around a little bit and it was just a little bit of a dull effort.”
She’s Lookin Lucky was freshened and returned to action in June at Churchill Downs, setting the tempo in a one-mile optional-claimer before fading to fourth in a race won in dominant fashion by Scylla. Last out, she returned to winning form with a seven-length romp traveling nine furlongs over a sloppy and sealed main track on June 29 at Ellis Park.
Out of the Wildcat Heir mare Worldly Heiress, She’s Lookin Lucky’s second dam is Changing World – a graded-stakes winning turf router.
Given her current form, Shirer said he’s unlikely to try She’s Lookin Lucky on turf in the near future.
“When I entered her on the turf that day, I really hadn’t had her for that long,” said Shirer, who took over training duties from Al Stall, Jr. “I thought she had a little turf pedigree to her and I talked to Richard [Dunn] and thought we’d try her on the grass. It was an experiment but then she ran so good on the dirt that I don’t see any need to run grass any time soon. We’ll see what happens down the road.”
Shirer will send out Jeremy Sussman, Ten Strike Racing and Cory Moelis Racing’s Pledgeofallegiance in Race 7 on Sunday here, a 1 3/16-mile main track allowance.
The 6-year-old Constitution gelding was haltered for $50,000 out of a winning effort in June at Churchill Downs and paid immediate dividends by posting a one-length score in a one-mile allowance event on June 18 at Ellis Park to pick up the $48,000 winner’s share of the $82,800 purse.
The bay gelding featured in a number of allowance sprints last year at Churchill and Oaklawn, but Shirer felt he might thrive with added ground.
“He’s a nice, hard-knocking horse and I thought his two-turn races and one-turn mile races were impressive,” Shirer said. “He had pretty good numbers in those and we thought we’d take a shot and claim him to see if we could stretch him out even more.
“Luckily, the day we claimed him that was a mile and a sixteenth and didn’t have to experiment that much with the two turns because he ran so good that day,” added Shirer. “We figured out he could handle the two turns no problem, so now we’ll stretch him out a little bit more for this race and see if he handles the mile and three-sixteenths. He’s doing very well.”
Ricardo Santana, Jr. has the call from the outermost post 7.
Sussman, Ten Strike Racing and Cory Moelis Racing’s graded-stakes placed Kneedeepinsnow made a pair of starts here last summer, finishing second to Jackie’s Warrior in the six-furlong Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and elevated to sixth in the seven-furlong Grade 1 Forego.
The 7-year-old Flat Out gelding was last seen finishing third in the Ed Skinner in June at Prairie Meadows and breezed back this morning at Churchill Downs, covering a half-mile in 47.20.
“He’s a tough horse and a barn favorite,” Shirer said. “He breezed this morning at Churchill and almost had the bullet work. He’s doing really well. He just ran third in a stake at Prairie Meadows, but I haven’t decided on the next race just yet. I’d like to find an allowance race and try and get him a win and some confidence.”
