Month: August 2023

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown has entered four of the eight contenders in pursuit of a record-extending fifth win in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid for sophomore fillies travelling 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course.

Headlining the foursome is Klaravich Stables' Surge Capacity [post 7, Joel Rosario], who enters from a graded stakes debut score in the Grade 3 Lake George on July 21 over yielding Saratoga inner turf. The dark bay daughter of Flintshire, and half-sister to graded stakes-winner Highly Motivated, won on debut going the Lake Placid distance on June 10 over firm Monmouth Park footing.

“She's done nothing wrong in her first two starts, she's an exciting horse that's lightly-raced,” Brown said. “I'm hoping to see some more development from her.”

Also representing Klaravich Stables from the Brown stable is Lake George runner-up Tax Implications [post 4, Manny Franco], who has finished second in all three of her prior stakes endeavors. The Mehmas chestnut broke her maiden by an emphatic 6 3/4 lengths in September at Monmouth Park before finishing second beaten one length in the Chelsey Flower on October 28 at Belmont at the Big A. She returned in June to finish second beaten three-quarters of a length behind stablemate Liguria in the Wild Applause before rounding out the exacta by the same margin in the Lake George.

“She has been a bit of a hard-luck horse. She was finishing last out like maybe she can get the 1 1/16-miles, we'll see,” Brown said.

Brown previously teamed up with Klaravich Stables to capture the 2021 Lake Placid with Technical Analysis, who swept that year's Lake George-Lake Placid double en route to a victory in last year's Grade 2 Ballston Spa at Saratoga.

The remaining pair from Brown's tetrad will see a cutback in distance from the Grade 1 Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 8.

First Row Partners and Team Hanley's Prerequisite [post 8, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] entered the 10-furlong Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational, where she finished a pacesetting second, from a win in the Grade 2 Wonder Again on June 11 at Belmont Park. There, she displayed frontrunning tactics for the first time and fended off a late rally from Be Your Best to win by a neck.

The Upstart bay made her career debut when fourth in a key maiden test going one mile over the Gulfstream Park turf, finishing behind next-out winners Spansive and Lake Placid aspirant Gloria's Princess. She graduated at second asking when stretching out to nine furlongs over the Belmont inner turf on May 7.

“She's been very honest and impressive in her development with how far she's come. She seems to come into the race the right way and I don't think the cutback will bother her,” Brown said.

Rounding out Brown's quartet is RanJan Racing's Aspray [post 2, Flavien Prat], who finished an even fourth in the Belmont Oaks as the second choice. The Quality Road bay arrives from an unbeaten record in three starts, including a stakes win in the Hilltop on May 19 at Pimlico Race Course.

“She needs more pace to run at,” Brown commented. “Flavien was very adamant after her last race that we need to cut the horse back, which I agreed with.”

Bred in Kentucky by her owner, Aspray is out of the group stakes winning Galileo mare Up.

Trainer Brad Cox will send out Heavenly Sunday [post 1, Tyler Gaffalione] in pursuit of her second graded stakes conquest for William Harrigan's Miacomet Farm. The dark bay Candy Ride filly boasts field high $473,133 in earnings and a consistent 6-3-1-2 record, which includes a gate-to-wire triumph by three-quarters of a length two starts back in the Grade 2 Edgewood on May 5 at Churchill Downs.

Heavenly Sunday enters the Lake Placid from a half-length defeat in the Tepin on July 1 going one mile at Ellis Park, a race which saw third-place finisher Safeen come back to win the Grade 3 Pucker Up.

“It was good – real good,” Cox said of her most recent effort. “She was second and she had had some time between that. We were using that as a filler for this. This has been our goal since the Edgewood. We'll see how it goes.”

Bred in Kentucky by Randal Family Trust, Heavenly Sunday is out of the stakes-placed Giant's Causeway mare Alien Giant.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle two in pursuit of his first Lake Placid conquest since Wait a While [2006].

St. Elias Stable's homebred Junipermarshmallow [post 5, Jose Ortiz] is unbeaten in two starts and makes her sophomore debut after a last-out triumph in the 7 1/2-furlong Wait a White in December at Gulfstream Park. The Quality Road dark bay broke her maiden in October going 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland, defeating eventual dual stakes winner Botanical by three-quarters of a length.

Junipermarshmallow is out of the Danehill Dancer Elitiste, who is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Alpha Centurai. Her fourth dam was dual Breeders' Cup Mile winner and Hall of Famer Miesque.

Wertheimer et Frere's Kentucky homebred Soviet Excess [post 6, Dylan Davis] was a two-time winner at Gulfstream Park this spring before shipping to Belmont Park to finish third in the Wild Applause.

Completing the field is Gloria's Princess [post 3, Luis Saez], who makes her stakes debut for trainer Brendan Walsh, who captured this event with Proctor's Ledge in 2017.

Owned by Harvey A. Clarke Racing Stables, the gray daughter of Cairo Prince broke her maiden by 6 1/2 lengths on May 3 going 1 1/16 miles over the Churchill Downs turf before defeating winners last out in a one-mile allowance event on June 25 at Ellis Park.

A Kentucky homebred, Gloria's Princess is out of the Tapit mare Gloria S – a half-sister to 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another – who produced Grade 1-winner Harvey's Lil Goil.

Leave No Trace [post 9, Jose Lezcano] and Undervalued Asset [post 10, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] have been entered for the main track only.

The Lake Placid is slated as Race 7 on Saturday's 11-race program, which also features the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the Saratoga Race Course summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

The post Chad Brown To Saddle Four In Eight-Horse Lake Placid Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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There's no doubt that some class relief has been a contributor to the three-race winning streak that Zozos will carry into Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park, but Blake Cox says there's another key factor to the colt's recent success.

“I think part of the reason for him being in such good form now is we started putting him into the game a little more,” said Cox, an assistant to his father, Brad Cox. “This winter he was dropping out of his races early and we found out that we've got to get him more involved early.

“I think he got some confidence with it and he has been able to roll off three wins in a row because of that.”

Zozos heads a field of six 3-year-olds and up for the 88^th edition of the Iselin Stakes, which will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth on the dirt.

Florent Geroux is listed to ride the Kentucky-bred son of Munnings. Barry and Joni Butzow own and bred Zozos, who is named after a restaurant in St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the couple have a home.

Zozos, a 4-year-old colt, enters Saturday 6-for-9 lifetime, with his only three losses in graded stakes races. He was second to Epicenter in the 2022 Louisiana Derby, then was 10^th in the Kentucky Derby. He started his current campaign with a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes on Jan. 21.

He has yet to win a graded stakes, though he has reeled off two straight stakes victories.

“Talent-wise he has graded stakes ability,” said Cox. “I think he will have a graded stakes next to his name eventually. Hopefully it will be Saturday.”

Zozos showed immediate ability, Cox said, winning at first asking last year after being unraced at 2. He followed his debut win with a 10¼-length romp in a $100,000 optional claimer in his next start at Oaklawn Park.

“He was pretty good from the start,” said Cox. “He came to us in New Orleans as a 2-year-old and he showed some real ability. He worked with (2022 TVG.com Haskell Stakes winner) Cyberknife before he ever ran a race and he was hanging with him in the mornings.

“He has proven to be a very nice horse.”

With his three-race winning streak all occurring in front-running fashion, Cox doesn't expect much to change Saturday.

“We'll see how he breaks and where Florent wants to put him but he should be on or near the lead early,” Cox said.

Though the focus is on the Iselin for now, Cox is looking at the $300,000 Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sept. 30 as the pivotal spot in Zozos' campaign. That race is a “Win and You're In” for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

Zozos has won his last two starts at a mile. He is 2-for-3 at the Iselin distance of a mile and a sixteenth.

The post Cox-Trained Zozos Puts Confidence-Building Three-Race Win Streak On The Line In Iselin appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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