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High Oak Towers In Saratoga Special Victory

High Oak put in an impressive performance in his second lifetime start for jockey Junior Alvarado to win the Grade 2 Saratoga Special at The Spa on Aug. 14. The Bill Mott trainee chased a tough early pace, breaking well in a field of ten and settling for fifth, three wide on the backstretch run of the six and a half furlong contest. He passed inside rivals to click into third, behind pacesetters Doctor Jeff and Gunite into the stretch, then swung to the outside, hanging alongside them in the top of the stretch. At the 3/16ths pole, High Oak found another gear and powered away, winning by four and a half lengths.

Gunite hung on for second, with Nakatomi getting up for third. Favored Doctor Jeff, who went off at 8-5, was fifth.

The field set fractions of :21.82, :44.93, and 1:09.81, with a final time of 1:16.53. See the full chart here.

Mott trains High Oak for owners LRE racing and JEH Racing. The Gormley colt came to the Special off a maiden win at Belmont in late June, where he also set off the early pace and closed. High Oak was bred in Kentucky by Catherine Parke and is out of Elusive Quality mare Champagne Sue. He was sold as a weanling at Keeneland November for $37,000, consigned by Valkyre Stud and purchased by Donarra Farm. As a yearling, he brought $70,000 from LRE Racing as a graduate from the Lane's End consignment.

High Oak paid $22.40 from a $2 win bet.

Saratoga Special Quotes

Bill Mott, winning trainer of High Oak (No. 11, $22.40): “We were just off the pace so he was right behind them. He was running plenty fast enough himself. When they hung up those fractions, I thought he'd have to be pretty good to hang in there himself.”

On working in company with older Grade 1-winner Casa Creed: “If they're going to run in these kind of races they better be able to do that. We just gave him some company to go with and thought they looked like a good pair. He was very professional today. We were very pleased. He's been a little tough to handle, but great in the paddock, great on the race track. He did everything right.”

On a potential next start in the G1, $500,000 Champagne on October 2 at Belmont Park: “You certainly would look at him and say that a one-turn mile is going to be okay. I guess you find all those things out as you go along. It's usually guesswork until you do it.

“I'm sure there will be plenty of discussion with [co-owner] Lee [Einseidler]. He's probably not going to want to pass up too many spots, but we'll talk and figure out a game plan.”

Junior Alvarado, winning jockey aboard High Oak (No. 11): “He broke very sharp today. He was a whole different horse today. He was mentally prepared and sharp. To be honest, I was just a passenger today. He put me in the spot that I wanted and he took me all the way around. When I turned for home, I just had to ask him a little bit and he took off.

“He broke great so I wasn't hustling to get there, but I wasn't going to slow him down either. He was going in a good rhythm for my horse. I know they were going fast but my horse was in a nice rhythm and he wasn't going as fast as he can go. He was pretty happy there. He finished up strong and galloped out great.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr., jockey aboard third-place Nakatomi (No. 1): “I had a perfect trip behind the leaders and off the speed. He was right there, close. The winner was much the best. My horse ran a good race. He came running.”

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Gormley’s High Oak Fells Favorites in Special

High Oak was let go at double-digit odds off a narrow victory downstate June 26 that earned just a 57 Beyer Speed Figure, but he took a serious step forward Saturday to become freshman sire Gormley (Malibu Moon)'s first black-type winner.

Having signaled his readiness with a :48.11 bullet breeze last week on the Oklahoma Training Track in company with his older Grade I-winning stablemate Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed), who would finish third in the GI Fourstardave H. one race later, the bay stalked out wide behind splits of :21.82 and :44.93 set by Gunite. He ranged up in the clear to challenge at the top of the lane, wore down the pacesetter past the eighth and poured it on from there to prove clearly best.

“He broke very sharp today,” noted winning rider Junior Alvarado. “He was a whole different horse today. He was mentally prepared and sharp. To be honest, I was just a passenger today. He put me in the spot that I wanted and he took me all the way around. When I turned for home, I just had to ask him a little bit and he took off.”

Hall of Famer Bill Mott was winning his first Saratoga Special.

“We were just off the pace so he was right behind them,” Mott said. “He was running plenty fast enough himself. When they hung up those fractions, I thought he'd have to be pretty good to hang in there himself.”

As for working the youngster with 5-year-old Casa Creed, who is also owned by Lee Einsidler's LRE Racing and Mike Francesa's JEH Racing: “If they're going to run in these kind of races they better be able to do that. We just gave him some company to go with and thought they looked like a good pair. He was very professional today. We were very pleased. He's been a little tough to handle, but great in the paddock, great on the race track. He did everything right.”

The GI Champagne S. Oct. 2 appears a logical next step.

“You certainly would look at him and say that a one-turn mile is going to be okay,” Mott said. “I guess you find all those things out as you go along. It's usually guesswork until you do it… I'm sure there will be plenty of discussion with Lee. He's probably not going to want to pass up too many spots, but we'll talk and figure out a game plan.”

Saturday, Saratoga
SARATOGA SPECIAL S. PRESENTED BY MILLER LITE-GII, $200,000, Saratoga, 8-14, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:16.53, ft.
1–HIGH OAK, 120, c, 2, by Gormley
                1st Dam: Champagne Sue, by Elusive Quality
                2nd Dam: Golden Tiy, by Dixieland Band
                3rd Dam: Tiy, by Nalees Man
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($37,000
Wlg '19 KEENOV; $70,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-LRE Racing LLC &
JEH Racing Stable LLC; B-Catherine Parke (KY); T-William I.
Mott; J-Junior Alvarado. $110,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0,
$159,500. *1st black-type winner for freshman sire (by Malibu
Moon). Werk Nick Rating: B+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Gunite, 120, c, 2, Gun Runner–Simple Surprise, by Cowboy
Cal. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen. $40,000.
3–Nakatomi, 120, g, 2, Firing Line–Applelicious, by Flatter.
($18,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $25,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT). O-Marc
Detampel, Qatar Racing & Tim O. Banker; B-Arnold Zetcher LLC
& Crestwood Farm (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward. $24,000.
Margins: 4 1/4, 3 1/4, 3. Odds: 10.20, 4.70, 5.90.
Also Ran: Double Thunder, Doctor Jeff, Stolen Base, Ottoman Empire, Glacial, Dance Code, Red Run. Scratched: Kitodan, Midnight Worker. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

High Oak is one of six winners for Spendthrift freshman Gormley, a debut winner late in the Del Mar meet as a juvenile who stretched out to take the GI FrontRunner S. in 2016 and added the GI Santa Anita Derby the following year. Gormley was also represented last month by GIII Sanford S. runner-up Headline Report.

Fellow Mott trainee Elusive Quality has been represented by the dams of 61 graded winners, including last year's champion juvenile and leading sophomore Essential Quality (Tapit).

Dam Champagne Sue was an $80,000 KEENOV '10 purchase by Catherine Parke while in foal to Seeking the Dia. The Oaklawn maiden special weight and Fair Grounds allowance winner is a half to GSWs Golden Itiz (Tiznow) and Sapphire n' Silk (Pleasant Tap)–also a graded stakes-winning produer–as well as the dam of GI Breeders' Cup F/M Turf heroine Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect). Champagne Sue produced a Super Saver filly in 2020. She was barren to West Coast the following season, and was bred to Instagrand for 2022.

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Trainers React to Navarro Guilty Plea

On Wednesday, disgraced trainer Jorge Navarro pled guilty to one count of distribution of adulterated and misbranded drugs with the intent to defraud and mislead, a major development in the doping scandal that has rocked the sport since indictments were announced in March of 2020. Navarro will likely spend time in prison and has been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,860,514. His career is over and he may be deported to his native Panama. But was this good day or bad day for the sport? And what needs to be done from here to clean up the game? Those were among the questions we posed to some prominent trainers who are known not just for their abilities but for their integrity. Here's what they had to say:

Mark Casse: It's a start and I hope there are others out there who can't sleep at night. I bet that Jason Servis is seeing this and is starting to change some of his ideas so far as how to go forward. Servis has been trying to get the wiretaps thrown out. He's got bigger problems right now than just the wiretaps. Navarro is a very bad guy and he is getting what he deserves. He's a big bully and he thought he could get away with anything. He made his bed. I hope he like sleeping in it.

Bill Mott: I'm not happy about it and I'm not pleased that this happened in the first place. I am sorry to see that some of these guys got themselves involved in this kind of stuff. The bottom line is to be good. I don't think you have to do what these guys were doing. I don't know where this all ends. I hope that some time the sport will become proactive enough to stay in front of this problem. This is a great sport. The fact that they are on to some of this stuff is a good thing. But they can also go overboard on therapeutic medications. The testing of the therapeutic medications has become much better and they are picking things up in picograms. I'm not comfortable or confident that the penalties are in line with the testing, for the therapeutic medications. People are worrying more about that than they should be. They should be worried a lot more about the performance-enhancing drugs like EPO that probably do make a difference and are given illegally. That's the challenge. USADA is coming in and I hope they will be more focused on finding the illegal, performance-enhancing drugs.

Shug McGaughey: I'm glad this happened because it has cleared the air. Hopefully, this will be another step toward getting this problem straightened out. The biggest creep I've ever been around or seen in my whole life is Jason Servis. I hope they start getting after him. He is a horrible, horrible guy and had has been horrible for the game. I didn't really know Navarro. I saw that video they took at Monmouth and that was terrible. But the good news is that we won't have to ever worry about him ever again.

Graham Motion: Every trainer should be appalled by what this guy was doing. I don't understand how you couldn't be. Basically, he was cheating all of us. I don't see this as a good day. I feel about as down about the sport as I ever have been. We need to clean it up more. Servis and Navarro aren't the only two guys. Where are we going? What else is coming? Is this it? These guys were beating some of us all the time and I find it hard to believe they were the only ones doing this. It's incredibly disappointing that these tracks aren't more proactive and doing something about this situation. With Navarro, it was also his behavior. He was so in your face with this. It's so upsetting to know what happened to XY Jet. We can all have horses get hurt but to actually treat a horse with something that probably ended up causing his demise is pretty shocking to me. This whole thing is pretty sad.

Ken McPeek: I am disappointed that this industry has to deal with something like this. This should get the attention of those who want to stain the game, so that makes this a good thing. Navarro claimed some horses off of me over the years, but he never really did anything significant with any of them. I had heard other trainers complain about him and what he was doing. Maybe their experience was different than mine. I don't know what tricks he was up to. I think we're headed in the right direction. The threshold levels are so low that we are practically racing drug free. Good horsemen can handle that and good horsemen have shown they can play by the rules and prosper.

Christophe Clement: What I want to know is will my owners ever get paid back for every time they were beaten by Jorge Navarro over the last four of five years? What have the racetracks done to protect my owners? It's not about me, it's about my owners. People are supposed to regulate the sport and protect them from this sort of thing happening. I'm not sure how many times Navarro beat me, but I finished behind Servis a number of times and in some big races. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. It's the culture out there. The vet is in charge. We need more horsemanship and less medication. There is a great difference between how people train around the world versus how they train in the U.S. Here, the vet is so much more powerful.

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Happy Saver, Mind Control Top Nominees To Aug. 27 Charles Town Classic

A pair of Grade 1 winners from the barn of recent Hall of Fame inductee Todd Pletcher in 2020 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) winner Happy Saver and 2019 Allen Jerkens (G1) victor Mind Control as well as defending Charles Town Classic winner Sleepy Eyes Todd lead a list 108 nominations for both the Charles Town Classic and Charles Town Oaks, which closed this past Saturday. The Classic and Oaks will both be run on Charles Town's biggest night of the year – Friday, Aug. 27 – a card that includes a total of nine stakes races with more than $2 million in purse money on the line.

In addition to his two Grade 1 winners, Pletcher also has multiple graded stakes winner Dr. Post and Moretti nominated to West Virginia's richest race – an event he will try and win for the third time after taking it with Caixa Eletronica in 2012 and again with Stanford in 2016.

Thumbs Up Racing's Sleepy Eyes Todd will attempt to buck recent history and do something the last seven horses to attempt the feat have failed to accomplish – win the Charles Town Classic in consecutive years, with Researcher still standing alone as the race's lone back-to-back winner. The five-year-old son of Paddy O'Prado has banked over $1 million in 2021 despite not finding the winners' circle by virtue of his fourth place effort in the Pegasus World Cup (G1) and fifth place finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1).

Bill Mott, who would be sending out his first Classic starter since he saddled Ron the Greek to a third-place finish behind Game on Dude and Clubhouse Ride in the 2013 Classic, has a pair of possible runners in Bruce Lunsford's talented homebred Art Collector as well as multiple graded stakes winner Modernist. Art Collector took the 2020 Blue Grass (G2) at Keeneland and most recently led at every call to win the restricted Alydar Stakes at Saratoga in his first start for Mott.

Multiple graded stakes winner Warrior's Charge headlines a trio of nominations from trainer Brad Cox, a list that also includes Plainsman and Night Ops, second to the aforementioned Art Collector in the Alydar. Owned by Ten Strike Racing and Madaket Stables, Warrior's Charge was most recently seen finishing second to top older horse Maxfield in the Stephen Foster (G2) at Churchill Downs.

Among the other noteworthy nominees for the Charles Town Classic include 2021 New Orleans Classic (G2) winner Chess Chief, 2020 Pimlico Special (G3) victor Harper's First Ride, Tom Durant's multiple graded stakes winner Silver Dust and a pair of west coast invaders in 2019 Nashua (G3) champ Independence Hall and American Stakes (G3) winner Restrainedvengence as well as 2020 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) runner-up Jesus' Team and Ny Traffic, who came within a nose of upsetting eventual Horse of the Year Authentic in the 2020 Haskell (G1).

The Kentucky Oaks (G1) field is represented in the Charles Town Oaks nominations by three fillies who are possible for the race, including 2021 Fantasy (G3) winner Pauline's Pearl, Honeybee (G3) heroine Will's Secret and the Florida based Competitive Speed from the barn of trainer Javier Gonzalez.

Trained by the newly crowned all-time leading trainer in the history of North American thoroughbred racing, Steve Asmussen, Pauline's Pearl would be Asmussen's third ever starter in the Charles Town Oaks after winning the inaugural edition of the race with Four Gifts in 2009 and sending out runner-up Wicked Whisper in 2020.

The Monmouth Oaks (G3) is also well represented in the Charles Town Oaks nominations with the top five finishers under consideration for the Mountain State's only graded race for fillies lead by the first three under the wire – SMD Limited's Leader of the Band, lightly raced Edie Meeny Miny Mo and Midnight Obsession. Leader of the Band and Midnight Obsession are both trained by Charles Town native John Servis.

Entries for the August 27 Charles Town Classic card will be taken on Tuesday, August 24.

Nominations for three more unrestricted stakes all worth $150,000 and all run at seven furlongs – the Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon Stakes for older fillies and mares, the Russell Road for older horses and the Robert Hilton Memorial for three-year-olds – close this upcoming Friday, August 13.

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