Stars Come Out To Play on Travers Day

It's a bit of Christmas in August Saturday at venerable Saratoga Race Course, which plays host to no fewer than five Grade I events for horses of all ages–on dirt and on turf–topped by the main event on the summer calendar, the $1.25-million GI Travers S. While the fields are short on numbers, they are long on quality, as three of the races have attracted reigning Eclipse Award winners, none of whom are anything close to a cinch in their respective heats.

Champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has had a tumultuous first two-thirds of the season but has his chance to put it all behind him on Saturday. Having defeated future GI Kentucky Derby hero Mage (Good Magic) in the GI Curlin Florida Derby Apr. 1, the $110,000 Keeneland September bargain was famously withdrawn on the eve of the Run for the Roses–for which he was likely to start favorite–and was first off a 71-day absence in the GI Belmont S. June 10. A highly creditable second to the race-fit Arcangelo (Arrogate), the dark bay exits a rough-and-tumble nose victory after surviving a lengthy inquiry in the GII Jim Dandy S. July 29. But here he is, a golden opportunity to cement his spot at the head of this year's sophomore class straight ahead.

“You're never going to make up for not getting to run in the Kentucky Derby,” Todd Pletcher told TDN's Mike Kane at Tuesday's draw. “But it would be, I suppose, some sort of consolation prize if we were able to win the Travers against the three Classic winners.”

Pletcher has been twice successful in the Travers, most recently with Belmont runner-up Stay Thirsty (Bernardini) in 2011.

The third of the Classic winners to whom Pletcher refers is National Treasure (Quality Road), who outlasted Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) and Mage to win the GI Preakness S. The $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad set a moderate pace when last seen in the Belmont, but gave way readily in the stretch to finish sixth. He looms part of the early pace equation with the outposted Curlin S. hero Scotland (Good Magic) and leaves from gate five with John Velazquez calling the shots. Blinkers come off for the Travers.

“I just got a text from Bob [Baffert] and he loves the post. I don't disagree with Bob too many times,” said Starlight Racing's Jack Wolf. “If he wants to take the blinkers off or put triple blinkers on, that's fine with me.”

Mage, who looks to become the first Derby winner to double up in the Travers since Street Sense in 2007, passed the Belmont and reportedly was underdone when nearly overcoming a wide trip to drop a narrow decision to Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. five weeks ago. Flavien Prat has been named to replace the injured Luis Saez.

Baffert was deep into his Hall of Fame career when sending out Arrogate to that stunning victory in the 2016 Travers, and the late stallion has a chance to join the fellow Travers winners Easy Goer, Birdstone and Bernardini as sires to account for a Travers winner of their own. Arcangelo's rise has been meteoric, as he progressed from a third-out graduation to victory in the GIII Peter Pan S. and an historic Belmont S. score for trainer Jena Antonucci. He makes his first start in 77 days Saturday, but that is of little concern to his connections.

“He's grown up so much and has gotten stronger and more professional over this little bit of a breather we gave him,” Antonucci said. “We're so thrilled to be here and blessed to do this. To have the opportunity to be here at this stage is amazing.”

Winchell Thoroughbreds looks to become the first owner since Ogden Phipps in 1989 and 1990 to score consecutive Travers wins. Disarm (Gun Runner), whose boom sire was a distant third to Arrogate seven years ago, was a troubled fourth in the Derby and won the GIII Matt Winn S. at Ellis June 11, but was a bit one-paced when fourth in the Jim Dandy. To that end, trainer Steve Asmussen tweaks the colt's equipment this weekend.

“We need to find more,” he said of the decision to add blinkers. “We aren't satisfied with the results of his last race and I think he's capable of more. This is our first step in trying to pull it out of him.”

'TDN Rising Star' and GI Toyota Blue Grass S. hero Tapit Trice (Tapit) tries to give his all-conquering stallion a second Travers winner in three years. Seventh in the Derby and third in the Belmont, he'll need to improve many lengths off his latest fifth in the Haskell.

Plenty Of Talent On the Travers Undercard

The elite-level action kicks off with the GI Forego S., a five-horse affair that shapes more like a match race. Juddmonte's Eclipse-champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) has very much lived up to his name and carries an eight-race winning streak into the seven-furlong test. To make it nine on the trot, he'll have to once again run down Gunite (Gun Runner), who appeared every ounce a winner in a sloppy renewal of the GI A. G. Vanderbilt H. July 29, only to be run down in the last couple of jumps. The latter was in receipt of just two pounds last month in the handicap, but is critically four pounds better off this time around (124-118).

Elite Power and Gunite threw down in the Vanderbilt | Sarah Andrew

Whereas the two older sprinters should boss the Forego, the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. looms a much more competitive affair, where a case could be made for at least five of the six entrants.

David Aragona has tabbed 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Lion (Justify) as the 2-1 favorite on the morning line off his victory in the GI Woody Stephens S. downstate June 10, but so open is the Jerkens that Drew's Gold (Violence,) who endured his first career defeat that day, is the 12-1 outsider. New York Thunder (Nyquist) turned in a Shancelot-esque effort in winning the GII Amsterdam S. by 7 1/2 lengths July 28 to remain unbeaten in four starts, while Fort Bragg (Tapit) drops back in trip off a nose success over subsequent Jim Dandy runner-up Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) in the GIII Dwyer S. July 1. Even Verifying (Justify) cannot be ruled out, as tries a sprint trip for the first time since debuting victoriously here over six furlongs 366 days ago. The half-brother to Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) gutted it out in the GIII Indiana Derby July 8.

A pair of former champions lock horns in the GI Ballerina S., a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint in early November.

Goodnight Olive (Ghostapper) was making her graded stakes debut in last year's Ballerina and went on to best Caramel Swirl (Street Sense) by 2 3/4-lengths en route to a victory by a similar margin over champion 'Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the Filly & Mare Sprint. Easy winner of the GI Madison S. on seasonal debut in April, the dark bay was an unlucky third behind Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) in the GI Derby City Distaff May 6 and just managed to stave off Wicked Halo (Gun Runner) in the GII Bed O'Roses S. June 17. The latter would go on to frank the form in the July 23 Twin Bridges S. at Ellis.

Echo Zulu is perfect in her two runs this season at four, a 5 3/4-length tally in the May 29 GIII Winning Colors S. followed by a 7 1/4-thumping of Dr B (Liam's Map) in the GII Honorable Miss H. here July 26.

The GI Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer S. offers a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Turf and, really, what's not to admire about the evergreen Channel Maker (English Channel)? A winner of nearly $3.9 million in a career spanning 54 starts to date, horse racing's version of Cal Ripken, Jr. makes a mind-boggling sixth consecutive appearance in the Sword Dancer, including a front-running 5 3/4-length score in a soft-turf renewal in 2020. The chestnut doesn't appear to be slowing down either, as he exits a two-length defeat of Verstappen (War Front) in the GII Bowling Green S. July 30, a race marred when favored Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) clipped heels and fell.

Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Westerberg's Stone Age (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) was a one-paced third in last year's GI Saratoga Derby and now calls New York home for trainer Chad Brown. Runner-up to Rebel's Romance in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Turf, the dark bay was beaten a long way from home when last seen in the Listed HH The Amir Trophy in Qatar this past February.

Soldier Rising (GB) (Frankel {GB}) was beaten a length into third by then-stablemate Gufo (Declaration of War) in this event last year and was runner-up in the GI Man O'War S. and GI Manhattan S. this spring. He arguably took the worst of it in the Bowling Green and can rebound at a hint of a price here.

Breeders' Cup Berth Up For Grabs In Pat O'Brien

The seven-furlong GII Pat O'Brien S. offers its winner a spot in the field for the GI BigAss Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile up the road at Santa Anita and has drawn a field of 11 that lacks a true standout.

Though still eligible for a second-level allowance, Anarchist (Distorted Humor) was runner-up in the GIII San Simeon S. down the hill in Arcadia Mar. 5 and filled the same spot in the GIII Kona Gold S. on the dirt Apr. 22 before shipping into Woodbine to salute in the May 14 GIII Jacques Cartier S. Second to Elite Power in the GII True North S. June 10, he missed by a head to the outstanding Cal-bred The Chosen Vron (Vronsky) in the GI Bing Crosby S. July 29.

Brickyard Ride (Clubhouse Ride) was a short-priced third in the San Simeon before validating 4-5 favoritism in the Kona Gold with a half-length defeat of Anarchist. The 6-year-old entire was a well-beaten third to The Chosen Vron in the state-bred Thor's Echo S. May 28 and cuts back to a sprint after rounding out the trifecta when trying to wire the field in the GII San Diego H. July 29.

A miniature version of Channel Maker, C Z Rocket (City Zip) tries the O'Brien for a fourth straight time at age nine. Victorious in 2020 when also second in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, he rounded out the exacta again in 2021, but was a slow-starting eighth last year. The bay ran on some to be fifth in the Crosby and gets blinkers back on Saturday.

The Estate of the late Jerry Moss is represented by the lightly raced homebred Sir Atticus (Gormley), winner of a 6 1/2-furlong allowance July 21 for which he earned a competitive 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

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River Oak Moving Through The Gears

Trading in horsepower is second nature to Nathan McCauley. For many years his father Ron owned a big Toyota franchise in Lexington, and McCauley showed a precocious flair for the same game when opening his own dealerships in Tennessee. And since quitting automobiles for Thoroughbreds, McCauley has discovered a couple of niches largely unexplored by those horsemen whose own transitions, from one generation to the next, tend merely to consolidate familiar commercial conventions.

In fact, since opening River Oak Farm for business in 2019, he reckons to have bought and sold as many as 250 horses. That's a pretty staggering turnover, when you consider that the resident population tends not to exceed 50. A lot of these trades have been broodmare pinhooks, driven not so much by the long game of building a family as by alert identification of up-and-coming stallions.

So does this imaginative, adventurous program reflect a marketplace felicity learned in his first career?

The question prompts a chuckle. “I think so,” he says. “And I'm smiling, just because I'm thinking of Lindsay Laroche, my business partner. I think I do trade a lot more horses, especially mares, than is typical. And sometimes it must be uncomfortable for Lindsay, that we do so much. But I'm kind of wired that way: comfortable doing multiple deals in a week, keeping track of it all, maintaining a comfortable exit strategy. Saying that, I'm now at the stage where I think the most challenging thing that you can do is also the most satisfying. And that's to breed.”

McCauley (center) in the winner's circle after Stitched wins the GII Wise Dan S. | Coady Photography

Sure enough, he has lately shown aptitude in every department. He bred Eda (Munnings), unbeaten in her last six and a graded stakes winner in each of her three seasons; he pinhooked the dam of Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo); and he not only bred but co-owns Stitched (Mizzen Mast), winner of the GII Wise Dan S. earlier this summer.

“I love breeding and raising horses,” he stresses. “It's just that there's a lot more risk involved, and it's a lot more expensive. So if you're going to take those chances, you have to pay for it some way. I don't have the car dealerships anymore, we just have River Oak, so we need to sell good horses. And we do. We sell our best mares every year.”

That was why Show Me (Lemon Drop Kid) was cashed out to Camas Park Stud for $535,000 even as her daughter Eda was emerging as one of the best juvenile fillies in California in 2021-and actually before she won the GI Starlet S.-having been purchased for just $24,000 three years previously. In an typical snapshot of McCauley's program, she had been acquired to support one of his stallion picks.

“We bought her to breed to Munnings,” he explains. “I really believed in him, and felt that I needed to put the focus of my operation behind Munnings while he offered this tremendous value. In her case, Lemon Drop Kid was an incredible broodmare sire; she'd been an expensive 2-year-old, and a debut winner for Mark Casse at Gulfstream Park; and she was a half-sister to a graded stakes-winning 2-year-old. So she had a great resume, and I thought she'd really fit Munnings physically too. I felt very lucky to get her for that.”

Eda herself realized $240,000 at the Keeneland September Sale (before doubling her value for Eddie Woods the following spring). And McCauley, having meanwhile sent Show Me back to Munnings, was able to offer her carrying a sibling to a recent stakes winner/head runner-up in the GII Sorrento S.

“That was a life-changing day for me,” McCauley admits. “The price was well over reserve. And I was still very happy to see Eda then go on and win her Grade I, so that her dam turned out to be a great buy for those connections.”

McCauley had first struck the Munnings seam with the home-bred Free Rose, who proved a revelation when switched to turf. After he melted the clock in a Keeneland allowance, “Bing” Bush came in for a piece with Abbondanza Racing in California. “Wonderful guys,” McCauley says. “We sent Free Rose out to Richard Baltas, and he ended up winning the [GIII] La Jolla H. and the [GII] Del Mar Derby. And I'm sitting there at Del Mar, having the time of my life. And the team at my car dealership are calling me every day to solve problems, and all I want is to be at the track. So I thought, 'Man, I've got to find a way to do horses full-time.' Within a year or so, I sold out of my dealerships, and was 'all in'.”

Eda | Benoit

The whole Turf adventure had started with his father, who had worked his way up from car salesman to manager to owner. Ron had all five of his sons selling cars right out of high school, but there was one other bond that they all shared.

“We got very lucky, we sold right before the [2008] recession,” McCauley says. “And we had always gone to Keeneland, and to the Derby, and for years we were saying, 'Dad, we should buy a horse.' We twisted his arm, and finally talked him into it.”

Ron bought a yearling, and then went into overdrive. He bought half a dozen mares at the November Sale, and started building a farm.

“So he really caught the bug, as did we all as a family,” McCauley says. “And actually we were very lucky: Eugenio Colombo introduced us to Madeline Auerbach and Barry Abrams who owned the great California stallion, Unusual Heat. And they sold us his daughter Golden Doc A.”

That filly made them think the game was easy, winning the GI Las Virgenes S. and running fourth in the GI Kentucky Oaks. Moreover the McCauleys bought into a couple of other Grade I fillies by Unusual Heat, Bel Air Sizzle and Lethal Heat. Of course, there were also bumps in the road; but the family had discovered a captivating new world.

And apart from anything else, it turned out that the boys shared an innate horsemanship.

“Well, we grew up in the country, in the middle of the woods, and had a couple of $100 horses,” McCauley says. “So we had a love for horses as a young age. But none of us were experienced horsemen, and we all got a baptism of fire when my dad started the farm.”

McCauley's late brother Alex proved to be “just a natural,” breaking the horses, while Tyson built much of the farm infrastructure. Then one Thanksgiving dinner their dad introduced a casual thunderbolt.

“You know,” he said. “I think Tevis could maybe train our horses for us.”

McCauley remembers exclaiming: “Dad, Tevis isn't crazy enough to think that he could do that!”

“And the following week they had applied for stalls,” McCauley remembers with a grin. “I don't think there's anything Tevis has ever put his mind to that he couldn't do. He was a 20 percent lifetime trainer, and won many stakes.”

Tevis quit the racetrack when starting a family-he now has a successful hunting lodge-and soon afterwards their parents dispersed the stable. Yet it was precisely then that the middle son sold his Nashville dealerships and decided on full immersion.

“I had been fortunate to have so many good people around me,” McCauley emphasizes. “Eugenio Colombo, Hubert Guy, Lesley Campion, the Taylor brothers. I picked their brains nonstop, and obsessed over the TDN every day. I didn't have a lot of money, but about 15 years ago started pinhooking some mares.

“The very first one, I called Lesley and said that I'd seen this well-bred mare in for $16,000. I didn't even have the five or six grand to put up my third, so just suggested her as one they could do themselves. But they put up the money for me, and we resold her and doubled our money. Then I could play a little on another, and it just grew from there. I started finding stuff that worked; started thinking that maybe I could see one or two things that other people don't.”

One especially useful intuition, as we've seen with Munnings, was for emerging sires. For instance, from his parents' dispersal he salvaged an unraced filly from one of the first crops of Into Mischief.

“She'd been bred on a $7,500 stud fee,” McCauley recalls. “Her name is Walking Miracle. She had a paddock accident, and we were told to put her down. But she was in such good spirits, my mom insisted that we give her a chance, and she had a miraculous recovery. She had been such a gorgeous foal that it made a big impression on me, about what Into Mischief could get you physically.”

McCauley doubled down on Into Mischief for as long as he could afford the fee. But Walking Miracle was always special in her own right, having been home-bred from an Aldebaran mare claimed for just $12,500 as a half-sister to GI Hollywood Gold Cup winner Mast Track.

Swill | Coady Photography

“At that time I needed mares to breed to Scat Daddy,” McCauley explains. “He was another one I was just crazy about. They don't always work out like that, by the way! But I think he'd had three graded stakes winning 2-year-olds that year, and he was affordable, $17,500. That's been my niche, finding stallions early that are on the upswing. Not This Time would be our most recent example, my dad was an original shareholder.”

But reviving the family's Mizzen Mast link (he was sire of Mast Track) with Walking Miracle has given McCauley a different kind of kick, as the result was Stitched-rather an exception in his program, having been retained after failing to make his reserve at $50,000 at the Keeneland September Sale of 2020. Stitched's shock success at Ellis Park took him past $500,000 in earnings and he's been a great ride for McCauley with “the O.G.s”.

“So the term is the 'original gangsters', as they're the original partners that were involved in Free Rose,” McCauley explains. “There are five of us, and they're so supportive. They really encourage me with the risks I take-and we just have a blast, win, lose or draw.”

Walking Miracle's first foal, Swill (Munnings), broke his maiden shortly after Stitched went under the hammer.

“I knew that [Swill] was a promising horse, I loved what I was seeing from the mare, and I thought a lot of Stitched as a yearling,” McCauley explains. “He was a beautiful moving horse, had great mechanics. And Mizzen Mast was terribly underrated. The only question was, could I afford to race him? So when my buddies asked if they could do that with me, that was all I needed.”

There's no mistaking the extra fulfilment that McCauley, still only 40, derives from teaming up with others on his wavelength. He loves the work of trainer Greg Foley and his sons Travis and Alex; and then there's Laroche, with whom he has “struck up a wonderful friendship.” Unfortunately McCauley wasn't able to go to Royal Ascot to root for one of his partner's European projects, Snellen (Ire) (Expert Eye {GB}), winner of the Chesham S.

Needless to say, there will be a wide spectrum of outcomes when you're trading in such volume. (Around 30 mares will go to the sales every winter, many off the track carrying a first foal; while the average foal crop would be 15 to 20.) Even a successful mare pinhook like Borealis Night (Astrology)–picked up for $50,000 in February 2019 before sold at Keeneland that same November for $285,000–was a bit of a mixed result, in that her upgrade cover by Uncle Mo would ultimately produce Arabian Knight.

“Borealis Night was by Astrology, but sister to a couple of good horses, and just a beautiful physical specimen,” McCauley says. “By then Uncle Mo was starting to show an affinity for A.P. Indy, and we just thought we'd breed the best physical that we could to one of the best stallions around. We sold her, we made a profit, and that was good. That served River Oak Farm's business model. And we always take a lot of satisfaction when people that buy mares from us have that type of luck.”

Much the same thing happened with a Smart Strike mare claimed for $30,000 back in 2012. McCauley sent her to Hard Spun and processed her through Keeneland November for $130,000. The resulting foal sold well before winning two Grade II prizes as Rocketry.

“Those early mares taught me a lot,” McCauley argues. “To this day, that mare was one of the nicest physicals we ever bought. And then you'd get some that had the pedigree, but you wouldn't necessarily want them in your broodmare band. And so those mares have a slot, and we would take them to market, and it taught me a lot about how I make my living today.

Army Mule | Sarah Andrew

“There's certain mares we have a strong feeling about, that wouldn't be expensive, and those are the type that we're breeding on the farm, and trying to raise good horses out of. But that's a long game, and very challenging. Show Me wasn't worth a lot, for instance, until Eda came along.”

Right now, the emerging stallion that intrigues McCauley is Army Mule, whose early ratios have been so conspicuous.

“I ended up bringing a lot of mares to him at the end of the season,” he says. “If he can come up with a Grade I winner in the next little bit, he's going to explode. And one part of the River Oak program that I'm terribly excited about is that we bought into Uncle Chuck. He went to Journeyman Stud in Florida last year, and covered 135 mares. I've got seven Uncle Chucks on the farm that are just unbelievable. I just have a strong feeling about him. He was a beautiful-moving horse, unexposed, had a ton of talent. And that family [Uncle Mo half-brother to Maclean's Music] is just incredible.”

As for the mares, it looks like McCauley may have done it again with Lookintogeteven (Ghostzapper), claimed for $40,000 at Santa Anita last fall. In the meantime, her half-brother Drew's Gold (Violence) has emerged as one of the fastest 3-year-olds around. Lookintogeteven will be going to the November Sale with an Epicenter cover.

“When I started, back around the time of the recession, nobody was really buying mares,” McCauley reflects. “But then I started really paying attention, and understanding the claiming game. I picked up on the value of horses pretty fast, started to study stats and pedigrees. You never really know what they're worth. But I was a car guy! I'd been at auctions every day. I started a spreadsheet many years ago, and began to see outliers.

“Maybe you see something that was born to be a good horse but just ended up in the wrong program. You're going to have some gut feel, but I let the data drive it: opportunities, performance, the pipeline. And if you can catch onto that kind of stuff, and make a bet based on it, sometimes it works out.”

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New York Thunder Roars to Victory in the Amsterdam

Undefeated in three career starts, but facing a steep trifecta of challenges to scale–trying dirt, graded company, and the tough New York circuit for the first time–New York Thunder (c, 3, Nyquist–Start Over, by Midshipman) set sizzling fractions on the front end of Saratoga's GII Amsterdam S. Friday and held sway to win by 7 1/2 lengths while eased up late despite spending most of the stretch on his wrong lead. His 1:07.77 six-furlong split was faster than the 1:07.92 track record set in 2019 by Imperial Hint (Imperialism) in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt H., the same Grade I event which will be among the features on Saturday's 2023 GII Jim Dandy S. card.

When the Amsterdam gates flew, attention centered on joint second-choice and GSW Ryvit (Competitive Edge), who was riding a five-race win streak, as he stumbled and recovered but lost position after being on the lead in his last three. One gate to his outside, New York Thunder was unaffected and immediately found the front. After a blazing first quarter in :21.48, June 10 GI Woody Stephens S. runner-up Drew's Gold (Violence), in the clear in second, took a run at New York Thunder and got within a half-length at the :43.56 half. That was the closest he or anyone else got. New York Thunder quickly found another gear and immediately opened up while on the incorrect lead. By the time he swapped leads and bested the six-panel track record, the race was already long over. The bay strutted home a much-the-best, facile winner in 1:14.65. GSP Deer District (Oscar Performance) nosed out Drew's Gold for the place.

“I wasn't really worried [about the fractions],” said winning trainer Jorge Delgado, the nephew of this year's GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Gustavo Delgado. “I worry in the mornings because he breezes so fast that it scares you. He goes :46 and :47 in hand and you can relate it to the afternoons. Every surface he's been on–Keeneland, here, at different racetracks–he's breezed the same fractions, so that tells you that he can handle any surface in my opinion and he proved that today.

“I have really good chemistry with [rider Tyler Gaffalione] and I can feel when he has a lot of horse. I saw him looking back and I know he had a ton of horse; he wouldn't play like that unless he had tons of horse. Once he asked the horse, I knew my horse was prepared and it was just so fun.”

New York Thunder has done nothing wrong in his brief career. He debuted last November in a five-furlong maiden special weight at Gulfstream on the all-weather surface, set all the fractions, and sizzled to a 6 1/2-length score with a 93 debut Beyer Speed Figure. He followed that up with a five-furlong turf win at Gulfstream while dropping his Beyer by 10 points, and finally reappeared in late April at Woodbine going six furlongs in the Woodstock S. on the synthetic to mark another daylight score and a 97 Beyer. His five works since have included three bullets. He was entered in the Woody Stephens won by Arabian Lion (Justify), but scratched with a bruised foot and a rail draw to await this spot. Delgado said the Aug. 26 GI Allen H. Jerkens Memorial S. might be the colt's next target.

 

 

Pedigree Notes:

Darley's Nyquist, whose champion Vequist won the 2020 GI Spinaway S. and whose Randomized won the July 14 Wilton S. at Saratoga, added another top performance by his progeny at the Spa with New York Thunder's Amsterdam. A former champion 2-year-old and GI Kentucky Derby winner, Nyquist made it eight graded winners and 21 black-type winners with New York Thunder's latest score. Nyquist's fourth crop is two this year and already includes Royal Ascot's G2 Queen Mary S. winner Crimson Advocate. Midshipman, who stands alongside Nyquist at Darley, is damsire of New York Thunder. He has five stakes winners out of his daughters, including dual Breeders' Cup winner Golden Pal, who is bred similarly to the Amsterdam winner as he is by Nyquist's sire, Uncle Mo.

New York Thunder is the lone foal out of the unraced Start Over, who died the year he was born. Start Over's unraced dam is a half to 2012 GI Forego S. winner Emcee (Unbridled's Song) and to $1.8-million Fasig-Tipton November broodmare Baffled (Distorted Humor), the dam of MGISW and WinStar sire Constitution (Tapit). Other members of the family include GI Spinaway S. winner Awesome Humor (Distorted Humor).

Friday, Saratoga
AMSTERDAM S.-GII, $194,000, Saratoga, 7-28, 3yo, 6 1/2f, 1:14.65, ft.
1–NEW YORK THUNDER, 122, c, 3, by Nyquist
                1st Dam: Start Over, by Midshipman
                2nd Dam: Wipe Out, by Hard Spun
                3rd Dam: Surf Club, by Ocean Crest
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($130,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-AMO
Racing USA; B-Gatewood Bell & Forgotten Land (KY); T-Jorge
Delgado; J-Tyler Gaffalione. $110,000. Lifetime Record:
4-4-0-0, $232,323. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Deer District, 118, c, 3, Oscar Performance–Eagle Sound, by
Fusaichi Pegasus. ($140,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-James J. Bakke
and Gerald Isbister; B-Springhouse Farm, Vision TBs, Bruce &
Patricia Pieratt (KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $40,000.
3–Drew's Gold, 122, r, 3, Violence–Frolic's Revenge, by
Vindication. ($25,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-James K. Chapman
and Stuart Tsujimoto; B-Woodford Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY);
T-James K. Chapman. $24,000.
Margins: 7HF, NO, 6HF. Odds: 5.50, 8.40, 1.00.
Also Ran: Gilmore, Ryvit. Scratched: Joey Freshwater.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Drew’s Gold Seeks First Graded Victory In Amsterdam

The Dutch imprint goes much deeper than archeological digs, as it is woven into the cultural and political history of the Empire State. New Netherland was never fully wiped from New York's cartographic DNA after the English won a series of 17th-century conflicts that resulted in the region's changing its national standard.

The GII Amsterdam S., to be run at Saratoga Race Course this Friday, is a nod not only to the nearby New York town of the same name, but that important Dutch heritage. Formerly the Screen King S., the race is a graded stop for 3-year-old sprinters who are looking to elevate their game in a tough division.

Heading into the GI Woody Stephens S. in June, Drew's Gold (Violence) ticked all the boxes in three starts winning an optional claimer at Laurel Park, the Jimmy Winkfield S. at Aqueduct and the Gold Fever S. at Belmont Park by a combined 12 3/4 lengths. Posting a Beyer Speed Figure of 106 in his first Grade I start while second to 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Lion (Justify) reflects promise in defeat. He will line up here against Gilmore (Twirling Candy), who was third in both the GII Pat Day Mile S. on the Derby undercard and in the Woody Stephens.

Trainer Steve Asmussen has six Amsterdam trophies to his credit, including the last three editions. He will enter Ryvit (Competitive Edge), who comes in riding a five-race winning streak which includes a victory on the Preakness undercard in the GIII Chick Lang S. Others that are looking to make their mark in the six-horse field include the undefeated New York Thunder (Nyquist), who was last seen earning his first black-type victory in the Woodstock S. at Woodbine in late April; Deer District (Oscar Performance), an optional claimer winner at Churchill Downs May 28; and Joey Freshwater (Jimmy Creed), who has faced a number of stakes class tests this year for trainer Linda Rice.

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