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Lynch Prepares Red Danger, Toby’s Heart For Kentucky Downs Starts

Promising juvenile Red Danger has already competed twice during the Saratoga meet, running fifth in his debut on July 17 sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track. Moved to turf for his start on August 11, the Orb colt rallied from fifth to display a strong closing kick in winning the 5 1/2-furlong contest by 1 1/4 lengths.

Lynch said Silverton Hill's Red Danger will use that Saratoga experience to step up to stakes company next out at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky. Red Danger had been training in the Bluegrass State at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., before setting up a show at the Spa in early July.

“He stepped up like we needed him to the other day and now we'll look at one of those 2-year-old stakes at Kentucky Downs,” Lynch said. “We're very happy with how he did it and his time at Saratoga set him up nicely for his next steps.”

The news wasn't as positive for Amerman Racing's graded stakes-winner Gift List, who was working her way back from one setback before needing a chip removed last week, postponing her return to the track.

“We had another little hiccup with her,” Lynch said. “She had a small chip removed and she's going to be laid up for a little bit. She'll be back in the fall, hopefully.”

Gift List has not run since finishing third in the Grade 3 Wonder Again on June 3 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. as the 3-year-old Bated Breath filly worked her way back after recovering from pneumonia and combating colic.

On August 6, Gift List breezed four furlongs in :54.20 seconds on over Saratoga's Oklahoma turf training track. Lynch's original goal was to get her ready for the $700,000 Jockey Club Oaks going 1 3/8 miles on September 18 at Belmont, but those fall plans have now been placed in a holding pattern.

After earning black type in the Wonder Again over a Belmont turf rated good, Gift List was slated for a potential next-out start in the first leg of the Turf Triple with the $700,000 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks on July 10 followed by the $700,000 Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational on August 8.

Instead, she likely will have to skip the Turf Triple series entirely, curtailing the momentum she generated to start 2021 when she ran second, a half-length back to Jouster, in the Grade 2 Appalachian in April at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., before winning the Grade 2 Edgewood by 4 1/2 lengths going 1 1/16 miles in April at Churchill Downs. That winning effort netted a personal-best 88 Beyer.

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Toby's Heart, who ran third in the Grade 3 Lake George on July 23 going one mile on the Saratoga turf, was listed as a probable for Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Lake Placid for sophomore fillies going 1 1/16 miles but instead will opt for the $500,000 Music City at 6 1/2 furlongs on Sunday, September 12 at Kentucky Downs.

Owned by Terry Hamilton, Lynch and Gary Barber, Toby's Heart won the 5 1/2-furlong Limestone Turf Sprint in April at Keeneland over a course labeled good. Stretched out to seven furlongs, the Jack Milton filly ran fifth in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly in May at Belmont but responded by running second in the Tepin contested at the Lake George distance on June 26 at Churchill Downs over firm ground.

After heading back to Kentucky, Lynch said there is a possibility Toby's Heart will return to Belmont for the fall meet.

“She's doing really well and we're looking forward to cutting her back in distance a little bit and having a crack at the big pot down there and then see what our options are,” Lynch said.

Toby's Heart breezed a half-mile in :51.50 Sunday on the Oklahoma training turf.

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Casse ‘All Smiles’ After Get Stormy’s Fourstardave Victory, 104 Beyer Speed Figure

Trainer Mark Casse was all smiles on Sunday morning at Saratoga Race Course after securing his first Grade 1 victory as a newly enshrined Hall of Famer when Got Stormy bested males to win the $500,000 Fourstardave for the second time on Saturday.

Owned by Spendthrift Farm and MyRacehorse Stable, Got Stormy set a course record over the inner turf capturing the 2019 Fourstardave in a time of 1:32 flat with Ricardo Santana, Jr. up.

After finishing second in last year's running to pacesetting Halladay, the 6-year-old chestnut daughter of 2010 Fourstardave victor Get Stormy vindicated herself with a sharp 1 ½-length triumph under Tyler Gaffalione.

The victory registered a 104 Beyer Speed Figure, a tenth lifetime triple-digit number for the talented mare, and included a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Mile on November 6 at Del Mar.

Despite last week's Hall of Fame induction, the summer campaign had been a frustrating one for Casse, who was winless at the current Saratoga meet before Got Stormy's Fourstardave coup.

“It's been a rough meet, but my wife [Tina] said it best: 'It's been gloomy in Saratoga until the storm blew through,'” Casse said.

Got Stormy arrived at the Fourstardave off two fifth-place finishes at graded stakes level after making her seasonal bow a winning one in the Grade 3 Honey Fox on February 27 at Gulfstream Park.

Sent off at 12-1 odds, Casse said he nevertheless felt confident in his mare because of her demeanor in the paddock.

“It's her. She just gets happy,” Casse said. “She was walking around after I had saddled her and I told Tyler, 'She's got her game face on today, they better be ready,' I could tell she just wanted to go out there and do it.”

Casse said Got Stormy, a seven-time graded stakes winner with graded scores at six different tracks, will appreciate a return to Del Mar, where she captured the Grade 1 Matriarch in her final start of 2019.

“The good news for us is she's 1-for-1 at Del Mar,” Casse said. “We should have hard and fast [turf] there, and the turns aren't quite as tight as they are here but they're sharp. I want to get one race into her, I just haven't figured out where I want to do that yet.

“She just loves training here so much. Most horses do,” Casse added regarding Got Stormy's affinity for Saratoga. “She enjoys the tight turns. She can run around a turn like most horses can't, so that helps.”

Casse mentioned the possibility of attempting a dual conquest in the $600,000 Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint on September 11 at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky.

“I can go to Kentucky Downs just as a prep, run her at 6 ½ [furlongs] and we don't care about the weather,” Casse said. “If it rains, it's okay. Where the soft ground hurts us is when she's trying to get a mile.”

Previously owned by Gary Barber, Got Stormy was purchased for $2.75 million by Spendthrift Farm at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

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Ned Toffey of Spendthrift Farm said he was delighted to see the superstar mare secure a Grade 1 victory when sporting Spendthrift's orange and purple silks.

“Mark was very confident. He said she was doing so well,” Toffey recalled. “I think clearly, she really likes Saratoga. It was just great to see. This was so gratifying because when Mr. [B. Wayne] Hughes decided to get involved with MyRacehorse, he really believed that this was something that would be successful, but what they need are really good horses.

“She didn't appear to have lost any steps yesterday so that was great to see,” Toffey continued. “She's such a gutsy, hard trying mare. You just love to see that kind do well.”

Toffey said he felt gratified to be able to provide the multiple MyRacehorse partners a prestigious victory at Saratoga.

“To get a Grade 1 and to be able to see a project like this come full circle, work out this way, and have a bunch of enthusiastic MyRacehorse fans to be there and share it with us was a great feeling,” Toffey said.

Casse said that maiden Volcanic, a two-time starting son of Violence owned by Breeze Easy, could race back in the $300,000 Grade 1 Hopeful on September 6. The $230,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase finished third last out in a six-furlong maiden event on July 24 at the Spa.

The Hall of Fame trainer said Live Oak Plantation's graded stakes-winner Souper Sensational, who finished second in the Grade 1 Longines Test here on August 7, could race back in the $250,000 Grade 2 Prioress on September 4 at the Spa.

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Pappacap Doing Well After Best Pal, Casse Considering Next Start

Pappacap, an impressive 4 ¾-length winner of Saturday's $200,500 Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes, was comfortably ensconced in his stall Sunday morning while Allen Hardy-Zukowski saw to the regular routine in his role as overseer for the California-based string of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse currently stabled at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, in Del Mar, Calif.

Pappacap, a 2-year-old son of Gun Runner, “looks good and ate up well,” Hardy-Zukowsky said. “Now he'll rest a day or two before going back to the track and we'll see what happens from there.”

Casse watched the race in New York, where he had been inducted into racing's Hall of Fame at Saratoga Springs a day earlier, and was soon on the phone with Hardy-Zukowsky.

“He was ecstatic, very happy for the horse and for the owner (Gary Barber),” the assistant reported. The $300,000 Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Monday, September 6, would be a logical next step for Pappacap. In the past 12 years, four horses have gone on from victory in the Best Pal to take the Futurity: Lookin At Lucky (2009); J P's Gusto (2010); Nyquist (2015), and Klimt (2016).

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La Jolla, Graduation Stakes Headline Sunday Card At Del Mar

Stakes horses will once again double up for a Del Mar crowd, this time on Sunday with the presentation of the 81st La Jolla Stakes and the 70th edition of the Graduation Stakes. The races will go as the 6th and 9th races, respectively, on the shore track's 10-race program.

The La Jolla, a Grade 3 affair that carries a purse of $150,000, has drawn a half-dozen 3-year-olds for a mile and one-sixteenth jaunt on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course at Del Mar Thorughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. The Graduation also has drawn six California-bred 2-year-old starters for its five and one-half furlong spin on the main track. It offers a purse of $100,000.

The Irish horse Cathkin Peak, owned by Sterling Stables, Nentwig, and CYBT, is a candidate to be the favorite in the La Jolla. A bay son of the Irish stallion Alhebayeb, Cathkin Peak raced once in his native land as a 2-year-old, then was purchased privately and shipped to California where he won a pair of races, including the overnight Eddie Logan at Santa Anita Park last December. He subsequently chased home the blossoming star Rock Your World in February's Pasadena Stakes, also at Santa Anita, then went on the shelf. This will be his first start in nearly six months, but trainer Phil D'Amato has put a series of steady works into him for this comeback.

Double L Stable and Natalie Baffert's Hudson Ridge hails from the powerful Bob Baffert barn and is a son of one of Baffert's Triple Crown winners, American Pharoah. The colt broke his maiden with a dead-head score in a straight maiden race at Santa Anita on May 1 and came back to win a pair of races after that, including the Cinema Stakes.

Two of the other La Jolla runners — Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal's Zoffarelli and Yuesheng Zhang's Sword Zorro also first saw light of day in Ireland. The former will be making his U.S. debut in the La Jolla, while the latter owns a victory in the Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita on grass April 25.

The Graduation – like many 2-year-old races at this time of year – is a tough one to sort out with only minimal past performances to work with. Morning line maker Jon White could barely separate two of the runners, hanging Lovingier, London, and Zondlo's Rock N Rye as an 8/5 favorite, just a tick better than Lovingier, Beckerle, and Carrillo's Thirsty Always at 9/5.

Rock N Rye is a homebred by Always Thirsty who was a handy winner of a straight maiden race in his second start at Santa Anita on May 30 in his most recent outing. He's been training steadily for this return date at both San Luis Rey Downs and Del Mar.

Thirsty Always, also by Stay Thirsty, scored in his first start at Santa Anita on May 16, then shipped up to Pleasanton and captured the Nevin Stakes there on July 10.

Trainer Walther Solis conditions both juveniles.

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Here's the lineup for the La Jolla from the rail out with riders and morning line odds: Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1); Gary Barber's Wyfire (Kyle Frey, 12-1); Hudson Ridge (Abel Cedillo, 5/2); Cathkin Peak (Juan Hernandez, 2-1); Zoffarelli (Drayden Van Dyke, 3-1), and Sword Zorro (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1).

The field for the Graduation lays out like this: Lovingier or Templeton Horses' Mr. T's Thirsty (Tyler Baze, 2-1); McMahon or Rudy's Trip to Spain (Frey, 2-1); Thirsty Always (apprentice Cesar Ortega); Rock N Rye (Rispoli); Moger, Burke or Estrada, et al's Northvale Road (Tiago Periera, 6-1), and Branch or Hill's Fowler Blue (Edwin Maldonado, 12-1).

First post for Sunday's card is 2 p.m.

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