Eric Nikolaus | Horse Racing Free Tips

After being inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Friday, Todd Pletcher visited another familiar spot Sunday, the winner's circle at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. His 3-year-old graded stakes winner Con Lima added another stakes win to her resume, taking the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational by three-quarters of a length over Higher Truth.

Gam's Mission broke fastest, but Flavien Prat had Con Lima on the lead with a few strides of the gate, taking over before the first turn of the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Oaks. Running easily on the front, Prat and Con Lima controlled the pace, setting fractions of :23.64 for the first quarter and :50.02 for the first half-mile. Behind her, Gam's Mission and Higher Truth stalked in second and third, poised to challenge Con Lima in the stretch.

Around the final turn, Gam's Mission made her move first but was not able to pass Con Lima, fading in the stretch. Higher Truth pursued the front runner in the last furlong, making up ground to get within a three-quarters of a length of Con Lima at the wire. Creative Flair, who was taken up early and had to go wide to find running room, was able to pass horses in the stretch to grab third. Plum Ali, Gam's Mission, Out of Sorts, Messidor, and Rocky Sky rounded out the field of eight.

The final time for the 1 3/16 miles was 1:54.42. Find this race's chart here.

Con Lima paid $8.10, $5.00, and $3.30. Higher Truth paid $6.80 and $4.00. Creative Flair paid $3.30 to show.

“I was analyzing the race beforehand and we were the only speed but I wasn't 100 percent sure with a couple of the Euros if they would show some initiative. I left it in Flavien's [Prat] hands and Plan A was to break well and see if anybody would try to take the lead away from us and if they didn't, we'd be happy to have it. It worked out really well,” Pletcher said after the Saratoga Oaks.

“The speed was pretty much me and the Godolphin filly [No. 7, Creative Flair] and it seems she broke a step slow. I broke better than her and I ended up on the lead,” jockey Flavien Prat told the NYRA Press Office after the race. “Going to the first turn I felt really comfortable. I was really pleased with the way she was traveling and I felt we were doing some easy fractions. She really kicked on well.”

Bred in Texas by Lisa Kuhlmann, Con Lima is a 3-year-old filly by Commissioner out of Second Street City, by Consolidator. Purchased for $22,000 from Niall Brennan Stables at the March 2020 Ocala Breeders Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale, she is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph Graffeo, Del Toro, Eric Nikolaus, and Troy Johnson. With her win in the G3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational, Con Lima has five wins in eight starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of seven wins and five seconds in 13 starts, with career earnings of $884,865.

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Hall of Fame Trainer Todd Pletcher sent out Wertheimer and Frere's Happy Saver and Repole Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Moretti to finish third and fourth, respectively, in Saturday's Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Happy Saver, who bested Mystic Guide in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in October at Belmont, entered Saturday's test undefeated in five starts.

Leaving from the outermost post 6 in the Suburban under Irad Ortiz, Jr., Happy Saver tracked in fourth position, outside of Mystic Guide, as Moretti set the early splits.

Mystic Guide made a strong inside move into the turn but the four-wide Happy Saver failed to fire his best shot, closing to complete the trifecta as Max Player upset Mystic Guide by a neck.

“I thought Happy Saver ran well,” said Pletcher. “He was stuck wide the whole way around there from that post. It was a little bit of a tricky start but I thought he put in an honest effort. They both came back very well.”

Pletcher said he'll take some time to consider options, although the nine-furlong $1 million Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on August 7 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. is a possibility.

“We'll see how he bounces out of it and consider the Whitney and the Jockey Club and play it by ear,” said Pletcher.

The Whitney offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in Del Mar, Calif.

A number of Pletcher stars were on the work tab Sunday at Belmont, including Spendthrift Farm's Following Sea, a Runhappy colt, who is pointed to the nine-furlong $1 million Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 17 at Monmouth Park.

Following Sea breezed five-eighths in 1:00.80 over a dirt training track rated good.

“He breezed well and we're still on target for the Haskell,” said Pletcher.

Pletcher said Shadwell Stable's Malathaat, who worked a half-mile in :49.49 on the dirt training track, remains on target for the $500,000 Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, a nine-furlong test for sophomore fillies on July 24 at Saratoga

“She looked great. Everything is going smoothly with her,” said Pletcher.

Shadwell Stable's Mahaamel, who was slated to start in Monday's $250,000 Grade 3 Dwyer, was clocked in :49.90 on the dirt training track.

“We were thinking about the Dwyer and unfortunately he got a bit of a cough and knocked us off a breeze last week. We'll consider an allowance race for him,” said Pletcher.

Pletcher's potential starters in Saturday's Turf Triple series races breezed a half-mile Sunday on the dirt training track with Con Lima [:50.59] targeting the $700,000 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks and CHC and WinStar Farm's Sainthood [:49.65] eyeing a turf debut in the $ 1 million Grade 1 Belmont Derby.

“They both breezed well and are on track for next weekend,” said Pletcher.

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph Graffeo, Del Toro, Eric Nikolaus, and Troy Johnson's Con Lima is exiting a sharp win in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Wonder Again on June 3 on the Belmont turf, while Sainthood captured an off-the-turf edition of the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge on May 29.

“We were hoping to get that turf try in the Pennine Ridge but it ended up working out OK, so we'll find out next week,” said Pletcher.

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