SARATOGA BARN NOTES: Monday, August 9, 2004
By NYRA Press Office
Purge rebounded off his last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes with a visually impressive victory in yesterday's Grade 2, nine-furlong Jim Dandy and is now bound for the centerpiece of the Saratoga meet, the August 28th Travers. Known as the "The Mid-Summer Derby," the Travers is a Grade 1 carrying a $1 million purse. It is run at a mile and a quarter and is America's oldest stakes for three-year-olds.
Purge rated kindly off the speedy Medallist through the opening stages of the Jim Dandy, took the lead from that tiring rival entering the stretch and drew off to a 41/2-length win under leading jockey John Velazquez. Purge's time for the nine-furlong race was 1:47.56, nearly a full second faster than the winning time of 1:48.54 from the four-year-old Roses in May in Saturday's Grade 1 Whitney Handicap.
"It was one of the rare exceptions when everything set up the way you expected it to," said winning trainer Todd Pletcher, who won his second consecutive Jim Dandy after winning it with Strong Hope in 2003. "We knew Medallist was fast and felt like that was to our advantage that we could have someone to track. The pace was fast and anytime you're rolling along you're going to relax.
"I thought he was pretty special yesterday. That was a dominant performance."
Pletcher said there are few similarities between Strong Hope and Purge. After defeating Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker in the Jim Dandy, Strong Hope finished a distant third in the Travers, the end result of vicious speed duel with Peace Rules. Ten Most Wanted won the race.
"I think we arrived in the Jim Dandy on a somewhat different level" Pletcher said. "Strong Hope went through his conditions very fast and we got to the Travers with a free-running horse that likes to be on the lead. When Peace Rules showed up, I thought it dramatically changed the complexion of the race and affected our chances. Everything came together a little too quick with Strong Hope."
Pletcher added that Pollard's Vision, second in Saturday's West Virginia Derby, would most likely bypass the Travers in favor of the Grade 2, $750,000 Pennsylvania Derby at nine furlongs at Philadelphia Park on September 6th.
LION HEART
Lion Heart returned from his win in yesterday's Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in good shape and was walking the shedrow at his Saratoga barn at 9 o'clock this morning. Trainer Patrick Biancone said the Tale of the Cat colt would make his next start in the Travers.
"I thought he was excellent," Biancone said. "The main difference from the spring is his strength. To run his style, you need to have a lot of strength and he is stronger than he was for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. He has put on 30 pounds of muscle. The second point is we can now manage his speed. It was impossible to do that before."
Lion Heart may have silenced some critics who thought he was "going the other way" after he won his prep for the Haskell, the Long Branch, in a tight photo at odds of 1-5. Now, he is arguably the best three-year-old in training after the retirement of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones.
"The beauty of racing is that everyone can talk," Biancone said. "The same people that said he didn't run big enough in the Long Branch would have also said he was going to bounce if he had run a two on the (Ragozin) Sheets. I'm not really concerned with what people say. We just keep going with the great support of my owners."
Biancone said jockey Joe Bravo, aboard Lion Heart in the Long Branch and Haskell, would retain the mount for the Travers.
"I don't like messing with a winning team," he said.
THE CLIFF'S EDGE
Even though The Cliff's Edge finished second to Purge in the Jim Dandy, trainer Nick Zito was far from discouraged as he is looking forward to run Belmont winner Birdstone and The Cliff's Edge -- and possibly others -- in the Travers.
"Todd [Pletcher] had his horse ready to run for the Jim Dandy and I cannot take anything away from him," Zito said. "The Cliff's Edge is the type of horse that needs a couple of races to develop."
Not only does Zito have a couple of Grade 1 three-year-old winners in the barn (with the Cliff's Edge winning the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes earlier this year), he has Sir Shackleton, who won the West Virginia Derby, as well as Pies Prospect and Royal Assault, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in Sunday's Haskell Invitational. Regardless, Zito is still looking at his top two colts on the bench.
"I have to look at my three-year-olds who have the best credentials," Zito said. "That determines who's going to the Travers. Right now, it's Birdstone and The Cliff's Edge. I really want to win the Travers and I am not saying that out of greed. It would really mean a lot to me, personally, to win the Travers."
EDDINGTON
It wasn't the outcome that trainer Mark Hennig would have liked as his horse, Eddington, finished third in the Jim Dandy, only to be disqualified and placed fourth after the horse bumped into Niigon at the top of the stretch.
"We wish the result could have been better," Hennig said. "Regardless, we were pleased with the way he ran. He was more focused and didn't run spotty like he did in the Belmont. When you look at his race in the Jim Dandy, he ran hard and well for coming off a 60-day layoff."
The question that Hennig is now trying to answer is where will Eddington run next: the Travers or the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby.
"We really need to look at our options over the next couple of days," Hennig said. "He came out of the Jim Dandy in good shape. Now, we need to see how he is going to respond when he goes back into training. Once he's back into training, we'll have a good idea on where he'll go next."
Eddington became a promising three-year-old for Hennig earlier this year with two solid victories in Florida. Even though he has yet to win a stakes races, Eddington has proven he is capable of competing on that level. The son of Unbridled-Fashion Star, by Chief's Crown, was third to the recently-retired Smarty Jones in the Grade 1 Preakness, as well as third in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial and Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct.
MY SNOOKIE'S BOY
Trainer Allen Iwinski is also weighing his options with My Snookie's Boy, who was a game second to Lion Heart for the second time in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Like Hennig, Iwinski is also either the Travers or Pennsylvania Derby as options.
"The owners and I are going to discuss our options this week," said Iwinski, who returned to Saratoga late Sunday night. "He looks good right now. He ate everything in his tub after the race. We really won't get a good idea where he's at until we get him back on the track to walk around and train later this week."
Iwinski helped claim My Snookie's Boy for Preferred Pals Stable for $50,000 earlier this year in Florida. Since the claim, My Snookie's Boy has won two allowance races and was a resilient second to Lion Heart in the Grade 3 Long Branch Breeders' Cup
