September, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘I Think He’s Improving At The Right Time’: Bright Future To Train Up To Breeders’ Cup Classic

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's newly minted Grade 1 winner Bright Future garnered a lifetime-high 103 Beyer Speed Figure for his gutsy nose victory over the late-running Proxy in Saturday's Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga Race Course.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said he was pleased with the effort from the 4-year-old son of Curlin and that he emerged from the race in good order.

“He looks excellent and came out of the race well,” said Pletcher. “Happy guy.”

Bright Future placed his name in the conversation of top older horses with a prominent score in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, guided by Javier Castellano from one length off the pace set by Warrior Johny to claim the lead at the one-mile call before facing a strong challenge from post-time favorite Proxy in midstretch. Bright Future dug in gamely to the inside of Proxy and fended off his foe by a nose in a final time of 2:03.

“He got the trip we were hoping to get in a good stalking position and a good rhythm,” said Pletcher, who won his second Jockey Club Gold Cup after taking the 2020 edition with Happy Saver. “He had to fight to the wire – I was happy [he got] his nose down just in time.”

Pletcher added he was not surprised to see such determination from Bright Future, who entered from a strong 4 3/4-length score in a nine-furlong optional claimer on July 21 at the Spa after a distant off-the-board effort in the 12-furlong Brooklyn (G2) in June.

“He's always been competitive and he's essentially run well in all of his races except the Brooklyn,” said Pletcher. “That [the Brooklyn] was kind of a trip that he was always kind of bottled up and never really able to get into a comfortable rhythm, which seems to be a key component to having any success in those type of races. Aside from that, he's always been very competitive.

“[His last race] was a rebound from the Brooklyn and showed that he liked the track and handled the mile and an eighth well,” Pletcher continued. “He galloped out well, too, and kind of gave us the encouragement that he could handle the mile and a quarter. It was something where usually you don't go immediately from an allowance race thinking you're going to go into a Grade 1, but in that case we did because we thought it was a good enough performance and the timing of the Jockey Club seemed to fit.”

For his victory Bright Future secured a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park, where he will likely face his champion stablemate Forte. Pletcher said Bright Future will train up to the Classic and that he believes the charismatic colt belongs in the mix of top older horses.

“I haven't discussed it all with the team, but that [training up] would be my first reaction,” said Pletcher. “It appears to be a wide-open division at the moment, so I think he's improving at the right time.”

Bright Future capped a memorable day at the races for his owners and trainer, who also sent out impressive second-out maiden winner Agate Road to capture Saturday's sixth race, a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden special weight for juveniles.

The son of Quality Road, out of Grade 1 winner Yellow Agate, went wide throughout from post 10 under Irad Ortiz Jr., but was aided by the trip in the stretch when several foes bumped and lost position well to his inside. Agate Road swept past his troubled rivals to land the neck score in a final time of 1:46.79.

“It was a wild race and we were wide throughout, but that probably benefitted us in the end because that horse came out and then shied away, and it left him clear of all the traffic,” said Pletcher of green moves from Walley World and Vin Santo. “He had a pretty good head of steam built up by that point, and it was an impressive finish.”

Pletcher said Agate Road will now target the$200,000 Pilgrim (G2) on October 1 at Belmont at the Big A, a “Win and You're In” for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1).

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The Week In Review: The Year In Which Saratoga Lost Its Mojo

At the conclusion of racing on Monday, Saratoga will have handled about $800 million for the meet, the third highest handle figure ever for the track. On-track attendance was at 1,055,543 after Saturday's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Day card, setting an all-time record with two racing days to go.

Yet, by just about any measure, it was not a good meet. Saratoga came into 2023 with the wind at its back. Every year the racing seemed to get bigger, the handle would grow and more and more fans would pile into the historic racecourse. Taking out the covid year, handle had risen at Saratoga for five straight years.

Would Saratoga ever lose its momentum or would it keep growing exponentially?

It turned this year. The 12 fatalities, including two particularly gruesome ones that occurred in full view of packed grandstand and before a national TV audience, were as bad as it gets. How many racing fans were turned into ex-racing fans on those days? NYRA has always taken the safety of the horses and jockeys very seriously and will no doubt continue to put in place measures to keep both safe.

They have some control over horse safety, but none over the weather, which was a huge problem at the meet. During the 2022 meet, only 15 races came off the grass. Through Sunday of the 2023 meet, 65 races had come off the grass. There had been 189 grass races run in 2022 versus 129 this year. That always leads to the same problems. When races come off the turf there are always a number of scratches, typically creating off-the-turf races with four or five-horse fields. On Aug. 10, an off-the-turf race actually turned into a match race. This is stuff no one wants to bet on.

NYRA is ready to do what it can to address that problem. NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke has said that there is serious interest in installing a synthetic track at Saratoga by the 2025 meet. It wouldn't replace either the dirt main track or the two turf courses but would give NYRA a third option when it comes to racing surfaces and the synthetic track would largely be put to use when the rains washed races off of the turf.

The weather has been a problem, but if you dig a bit further you can find some signs that Saratoga handle was affected by more than the rain. On GI Travers Day 2023, when two races came off the turf, the handle was $50,183,71. In 2022, the handle was $55,559,315 when one race came off the grass. This past Saturday, on GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Day, they bet $27,400,509 on a day not impacted by weather. The year before the handle was $32,505,600.

“I think what happened is with all the earlier rain we lost some momentum and when that happened it's hard to get it back,” O'Rourke said.

Field size fell by 2.5 percent, from 7.75 to 7.56. A more telling number was the average handle per betting interest. It was $255,773 this year and $272,599 last year, for a drop of 6.2%.

What's done is done and there's nothing to do now but turn the page and hope Saratoga 2024 is one of the safest meets in history and the weather is gorgeous from opening day to closing day. The place is still magical and popular, but everything peaks at some point. Maybe that's happened to Saratoga.

European Dominance On The Turf

This is getting a bit ridiculous. U.S. racing is used to second-flight European horses coming over and winning some of our biggest grass race, but the year European shippers are having this year shows that our grass horses are vastly inferior. Take Saturday's GIII $2 million Mint Millions at Kentucky Downs. There was only one European shipper in the field, Ancient Rome (War Front), who is trained by Charlie Hills and was ridden by Jamie Spencer. Facing the likes of GI winner Annapolis (War Front), he came into it off a win in a handicap race. Before that you had to go all the way back to 2021 for his last graded win, a victory in the GIII Prix des Chenes in France. He won that by a half-length. He won the Mint Millions by a half-length.

A week earlier, it was Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). He came into the GI Sword Dancer after losing by 21 1/2 lengths in the GI King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I Stakes, where he went off at 125-1. Yet, that was good enough to win the Sword Dancer by 4 1/2 lengths. The win broke a nine-race losing streak, going back to the 2021 GI Belmont Derby where he also took advantage of a weak group of U.S. turf horses.

Then there's Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify). She was sent off at 50-1 in the GI Irish 1,000 Guineas and finished last beaten 14 1/2 lengths. But that was good enough for her to take home first prize of $500,000 in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational in her next outing.

Good luck to our horses in the Breeders' Cup turf races.

Surprise, Surprise, Still No News Out Of Saudi Arabia

Back in 2020, Maximum Security (New Year's Day) crossed the line in front in the 2020 $20 million Saudi Cup. Just a few days later, his trainer, Jason Servis, was arrested and charged with using performance-enhancing drugs on most of the horses in his barn. When that news broke, the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia said it was withholding the purses until it could investigate the situation

It's been 29 months since Servis was indicted, he has pled guilty and in November will begin a four-year prison sentence. The case is over, but the Saudis still haven't paid out the purse. Presumably, the winner's share of $10 million will eventually go to Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute). But no one has been paid as the Saudis, who should have all the evidence they'll ever need, do nothing and don't seem to be in any hurry to write a check. We tried to get an update on the situation this week, but the answer we got didn't really answer anything.

“Due to the extended nature of the judicial process in the USA, the JCSA has been unable to fully conduct its own investigation into the awarding of the winner's prize for The Saudi Cup 2020,” wrote the JCSA's Sarah Tregoning in response to an email sent by the TDN. “Now that the legal process in the USA has finished, the JCSA expects to swiftly conclude its own investigation and make an announcement in the coming weeks.”

I wouldn't hold your breath.

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Travers Runner-Up Disarm Sidelined For Rest Of Year

Graded stakes winner and former classic starter Disarm, runner-up in the Travers (G1) Aug. 26 at Saratoga, will not start again this year and has been sent to Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington for evaluation, trainer Steve Asmussen told Daily Racing Form.

Asmussen said the Gun Runner colt, who finished one length behind winner Arcangelo in the Travers, emerged from the race “pretty jammed up.”

Following evaluation, Disarm is to be sent to Winchell's Corinthia Farm in Lexington and the length of his stay would be contingent on Bramlage's recommendations, Asmussen told the Form.

A Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred, Disarm's lone win from seven starts this year came in the Matt Winn (G3) June 11 at the Churchill Downs meet at Ellis Park. After taking an allowance optional claimer Feb. 19 at Oaklawn to start his sophomore campaign, he posted a second in the Louisiana Derby (G2) March 25 at Fair Grounds and a third in the Stonestreet Lexington (G3) at Keeneland before finishing a creditable fourth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) May 6 at Churchill Downs, then rebounding to take the Winn over Verifying. He followed up with a fourth in the Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga in his start prior to the Travers in which he finished one length behind winner Arcangelo.

Overall, Disarm, who was produced by the Tapit mare Easy Tap, has a 2-3-2 record from nine career starts and $1,000,200 in earnings.

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Mendelssohn Filly Graduates at the Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A narrow loser in her debut on Aug. 6, Klaravich Stables's 2-year-old chestnut filly Weigh the Risks (Mendelssohn) showed grit again Sunday to break her maiden in the first race of the afternoon at Saratoga Race Course.

At the end of a nose-to-nose battle through the stretch with Appellate (Constitution), Weigh the Risks reached the wire first with the margin of victory listed as a head. Appellate's Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano claimed foul, alleging interference in the stretch of the 1 1/16 miles turf race, but after a lengthy review the stewards did not change the order of finish. Later Darling (More Than Ready) closed from six lengths back at the top of the stretch to finish third by a neck.

Progeny (Goldencents) and Appellate set the pace with splits of 24.53, 51.14 and 1:16.28. Weigh the Risks was three or four paths off the rail in the backstretch, but had clear running. She went after Appellate in the stretch and they came close to each other three times, which prompted the claim of foul by Castellano.

“She was quite wide in the race off a slow pace,” Brown said. “I'm not saying it was a dream trip, but she didn't have as much trouble.”

Weigh the Risks, the 3-5 favorite, reached the wire in 1:45.49. She paid $3.50 to win. Klaravich purchased Weigh the Risks for $205,000 at Fasig-Tipton October. She was bred by Porta Pai Stables.

“She had a rough trip first time out,” Brown said. “We've always thought a lot of her. An ugly, slow pace today, but she was able to grind it out against another filly who looks like

she's got a bright future. We were just lucky to get our nose down first.”

Weigh the Risks was leading trainer Brown's sixth 2-year-old maiden winner of the Saratoga meet. Five of them have been for Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables.

1st-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 9-3, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.49, fm, head.
WEIGH THE RISKS (f, 2, Mendelssohn–Beautiful Liar, by Candy Ride {Arg}) was favored in her career unveiling over this course and distance Aug. 6, closing from far off the pace to just get pegged a neck by Ozara (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). Sent off the 3-5 choice to get the job done this time, the chestnut settled into a stalking fifth behind the leading pair of Progeny (Goldencents) and Appellate (Constitution) through a sensible opening quarter in :24.53. Biding her time two wide down the backstretch, she took aim at the leaders from the four-path approaching the quarter pole. Straightening for home, Progeny began her retreat, while Appellate hung tough as Weigh the Risks reached even terms midstretch. With the leading pair seemingly alternating on the front end with each stride, it was the Chad Brown trainee that gained the narrow victory over Appellate at the wire. Arguably the best performance, however, was produced by Later Darling (More Than Ready), who closed like a freight train after a problematic run early on to finish third. The winner, a half to Cheapskate Diva (Animal Kingdom), MSW, $188,040, is also half to a yearling filly by Protonico and a 2023 colt by Flameaway. Beautiful Liar, who sold for $23,000 carrying a Goldencents colt at Keeneland November in 2019, was bred back to Hard Spun this season. Sales History: $205,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT. Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0, $78,750.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuelTV.
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Porta Pia Stables, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown.

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