Smokin’ T red-hot in the Appleton March 30 at Gulfstream Park (Juliana Colombo/Past The Wire)
By Nick D’Amore – NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Grade 3 winner Smokin’ T looks to defend his title in Saturday’s Listed $135,000 Fasig-Tipton Lure, a 1 1/16-mile inner turf test for older horses who have not won a graded sweepstakes in 2024, at Saratoga Race Course.
DATTT Stable’s Smokin’ T was last seen finishing fifth to Godolphin’s Ottoman Fleet in the Grade 3 Arlington at Churchill Downs on June 1. Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, the 5-year-old son of War Front and the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap winning Ghostzapper mare Wine Princess came into that effort off two strong Listed stakes races at one-mile, winning the Appleton in March at Gulfstream Park and running third to the talented Carl Spackler in the Opening Verse in May at Churchill Downs.
Smokin’ T has worked consistently over the Fair Hill synthetic, including a bullet half-mile in 48 flat on Saturday.
“He is doing good at Fair Hill. He is a good horse and has shown that,” McGaughey said. “I am not discouraged by his race last time. I think we are in a good spot with him.”
Last year, Smokin’ T prevailed in the Lure by a neck over rivals Dakota Gold and Portfolio Company after making a late bid at the three-sixteenths pole and surging up under Hall of Famer John Velazquez in time to get his head in front at the wire. He added the Grade 3 River City to his ledger in November at Churchill Downs.
Smokin’ T, assigned a co field-high 124 pounds, will exit post 8 in rein to Velaquez.
Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco, and William Branch’s multiple stakes-winning 6-year-old gelding Big Everest [post 5, Joel Rosario, 120 pounds], by The Gurkha, comes into the Lure for trainer Christophe Clement off a frontrunning score on June 23 in an allowance optional claiming race traveling 1 1/16-miles over the Aqueduct Racetrack turf course. There, he defeated next-out winner Major Dude by a neck.
“He has come back in very good shape from his last race,” Clement said, “He beat a nice group of horses last time.”
Big Everest is a four-time stakes winner on turf ranging from distances of one mile to 1 1/16-miles. His best Beyer Speed Figure of 98 comes at the mile distance but the gelding boasts a 96 Beyer in his last two wins going the Lure distance.
“I wish the race was a mile, but he fits this race perfectly and we are very happy with how he is coming into it,” Clement added. “This is the right spot. He is doing everything right and we are looking forward to running.”
Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will send out Peter Brant’s Group 3 winner Kubrick [post 1, Frankie Dettori, 118 pounds]. The Irish-bred son of Dubawi started his career in France highlighted by a win in the Group 3 Prix des Chenes in September 2022 at Longchamp.
Kubrick debuted stateside for his new conditioner at Tampa Bay Downs in March winning a one-mile turf optional claiming race by 3 1/4 lengths. He followed with two off-the-board finishes in Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland on April 12 and the June 8 Grade 3 Poker during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival here.
“His first race in the country was so promising and he hasn’t really found that turn of foot since,” Brown said.
Kubrick will be trying the 1 1/16-mile distance for the first time in his career having never raced further than one-mile. In preparation for the extra distance, Kubrick has put in five works over the Oklahoma turf since his last effort. On Friday, he worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.4 the fastest of eight workers at the distance.
“His last two works, he’s woken up. I have seen a couple of nice works in a row now with this horse,” Brown said. “This could be a nice spot to regroup. I think he’d like to have a little pace up front.”
Kubrick carries a 3-1-0 record in nine starts with earnings of $103,311.
The 4-year-old More Than Looks [post 9, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 124 pounds] returns to the races for the first time since an off the board finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile in November at Santa Anita Park.
The Cherie DeVaux trainee, by More Than Ready, races for Victory Racing Partners and enjoyed a successful sophomore campaign winning the Grade 3 Manila in July at Belmont Park and running third to Carl Spackler in the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in August at Saratoga.
In September, More Than Looks won the Jefferson Cup at Churchill Downs going one-mile on the lawn and earning a field best 101 Beyer.
Trainer Linda Rice will send A. Bianco Holding Limited’s 5-year-old Grade 1-placed American Pharoah gelding Pioneering Spirit [post 7, Jose Ortiz, 120 pounds] postward after an off the board finish in an allowance optional claiming race on July 20 here going 1 1/8-miles on the lawn. Two starts back he attempted the two-mile Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup at Saratoga, finishing off the board beaten 5 1/2 lengths.
Pioneering Spirit was third in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer last summer before winning the listed Barnard Baruch over the same course and distance as the Lure nine days later. He will look to return to the winner’s circle for the first time since that victory.
Rounding out the field are Pocket Aces Racing’s Grade 3-placed Irish Aces [post 4 Tyler Gaffalione, 118 pounds] for conditioner Brendan Walsh; Live Oak Plantation’s last out stakes winner Forever Souper [post 2, Javier Castellano, 122 pounds] for trainer Michael Trombetta; Liberty House Racing, Twenty-Two Stable, Take a Shot Stables, Club Sixty Five Racing, and The Posse Racing Stable’s Swiftsure [post 3, Kendrick Carmouche, 118 pounds] for conditioner Horacio De Paz; and AJ Suited Racing Stable, D C Racing, and Brilliant Racing’s Johny’s Fireball [post 6, Luis Saez, 118 pounds] for trainer Norm Casse. Film Star was entered for the main track-only.
The Fasig-Tipton Lure is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 13-race program which is headlined by the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney for older horses in Race 11. The lucrative card features three additional stakes in the Grade 1, $500,000 Test presented by Ticketmaster in Race 8, the Grade 1, $600,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational in Race 7, and the Grade 2, $300,000 Troy in Race 10. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern with gates opening to the public at 10:30 a.m.
