‘TDN Rising Star’ Agate Road Earns BC Berth In Pilgrim

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's AGATE ROAD (c, 2, Quality Road–Yellow Agate, by Gemologist) saved his best for last, as he found his best stride inside the final furlong and edged away to take Wednesday's GII Pilgrim S., earning an all-expenses-paid trip to Santa Anita for the Nov. 3 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in the process. Favored at 2-1 off a Saratoga 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy maiden victory that really had to be seen to be believed, the $650,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase was content to sit one from the tail as the outposted Spirit Prince (Cairo Prince)–a latest third in the GIII With Anticipation S. Aug. 31–crossed and cleared all the inside traffic to lead through an opening quarter in :23.51. Quietly ridden down the back by Irad Ortiz, Jr., Agate Road was asked for some acceleration as the field hit the turn, but was consigned to an overland run and lost some ground. Spun wide into the stretch, Agate Road began to zero in on the front-runners with less than a furlong to travel and did his best work through the wire. The final time for the 8 1/2 furlongs was 1:42.83. Fulmineo (Bolt d'Oro) knifed through late for second ahead of the dead-heating Liam's Journey (Liam's Map) and Spirit Prince. Sales history: $650,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP. O-Repole Stable & St Elias Stable; B-CHC Inc (KY); T-Todd Pletcher.

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A Season of Triumph and Tragedy, Saratoga Meet Concluded Monday

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Following a tradition that has been in place for several years, King's Tavern across the street from Saratoga Race Course was not open for business Monday, the final day of annual summer meet.

Closed on closing day.

On purpose.

While it may be a sad afternoon for the 22,097 patrons on the grounds for the last card of 2023, the Fitch brothers, who operate King's and the City Tavern on Caroline Street, use closing day at the track to pause a bit on Labor Day and celebrate. They put on a party for every member of their staff, all of whom were able to bring a guest, in late morning and then take the group over to the races.

Jason Fitch teed up “awesome” and “fantastic” to describe business at King's during the season.

That wasn't the case for the New York Racing Association. Despite unusually wet weather that did a number on total handle, NYRA reported that attendance was up 2.8% to 1,105,863, the third-highest in history. It was the eighth consecutive year that Saratoga's attendance topped one million. The average daily paid attendance was 27,642.

With 65 races washed off the turf–a 306% jump from the 16 last summer–and four cancelled due to wet weather, handle dropped 9.0%, from $878,211,963 to $799,229,288. The daily average handle was $19,980,732.

A year ago, the handle jumped $62.7 million, 7.7%, from rainy 2021 when NYRA lost 45 grass races.

For King's, Fitch said, “The weather was OK. I think the weather not being as hot helped out. Unfortunately, when it rains during the season it sucks for the track, but for us, people just get out of the rain.”

The Fitch brothers' taverns and other Saratoga businesses are likely to be packed with racing fans in early June if the New York Racing Association moves the GI Belmont S. upstate during the demolition and rebuild of Belmont Park. NYRA officials acknowledged in June that the 2025 Belmont could be held at Saratoga. On Sunday, NYRA President and CEO David O'Rourke said his company is considering running the Belmont S. in Saratoga in 2024 and 2025.

In a runaway, Irad Ortiz, Jr. was the leading jockey for the second consecutive year and fifth overall with 62 wins. His brother, Jose, was next with 37 wins.

Linda Rice tied Chad Brown for the training title with 35 victories by winning twice Monday, including the final race of the season with Lt. Mitchell (The Lieutenant). In what might be a historic bookend, Rice also won the first race of the season on July 13 with Bustin Bay (Bustin Stones).

“We won three yesterday which gave us a chance,” said Rice. “I thought it was pretty unlikely, but you never know. The day before we were second beaten a neck, fourth beaten a head. But then yesterday after winning three, I thought, 'Well, maybe we have a chance.' It's been a tremendous year. A lot of highs and lows in racing. We've all seen them and we've all experienced them. Today was a good day.”

Rice made history in 2009 when she became the first woman to win the Saratoga title. Now she has two.

“They were both really special in their own way. You never take the fun out of the first one and, of course, this is a win and a tie at the same time,” said Rice. “It's been a great year, it's been a lot of fun, there's always a little heartache in the middle and would've, could've, should'ves. But it's been a great meet.”

It was Brown's third straight title and sixth overall.

“It was a great meet and I'm proud of my team,” said Brown. “The Alabama and Saratoga Derby at the top, those were huge wins. My team persevered through the weather–we had a record number of off-the-turf races and second-places, and they were still able to grind out a tie for the win, which is amazing. Hopefully, we can continue that into the fall.”

Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables finished on top of the owner's table with 22 victories, including the GI Albama S. with Randomized (Nyquist).

“Winning at Saratoga is always special,” said Klarman. “Winning a race that's as historically important as the Alabama will always be a highlight of my ownership career.”

Klaravich Stables now boasts 23 owners' titles at NYRA tracks, and six consecutive at Saratoga.

According to NYRA, 10.61 inches of rain fell after July and led to a soggy, sometimes grim meet. The 155th Saratoga season was irreparably damaged by the deaths of eight horses, who suffered injuries in racing, and four more who were euthanized after being injured in training. Even though more than five dozen races were taken of the turf for safety reasons, six of the eight deaths were from incidents in races that were conducted on the turf courses. One of the six on turf was believed to be a heart attack.

The two fatalities from dirt races were eerily similar: high-profile unbeaten 3-year-olds breaking down in the stretch while leading and on their way to victory in seven-furlong undercard races on the two biggest days of the meet. Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) shattered her right foreleg in the GI Test S. on Whitney Day, Aug. 5. Three weeks later, New York Thunder (Nyquist) suffered a catastrophic injury to his left foreleg in the GI H. Allen Jerkens on Travers Day.

The horrific injuries dramatically changed the atmosphere each day and diminished the reaction for White Abbario (Race Day)'s surprise win at 10-1 in the Whitney and Arcangelo (Arrogate)'s victory in the Travers.

“Triumph and tragedy could be a good way to put it,” O'Rourke said.

New York Thunder's death was the second on Travers Day. Two hours and forty minutes earlier, Nobel (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), an Irish-bred 4-year-old was injured in the gallop-out after the fifth race on turf. O'Rourke said NYRA considered cancelling the remainder of the card following the Jerkens and possibly not running the following day. He said that his team reviewed the surfaces, consulted with jockeys, trainers and veterinarians and decided that the tracks were safe. There were no serious injuries reported in the seven race days following the Travers program.

“I think a fair question would be, 'Well, what's our reaction?'” O'Rourke said about the injuries and deaths. “Over the last few years, we've leaned pretty heavily on the technology, whether it is trackers, projects going on two years now. PET scan imaging has been a discussion that's coming to fruition near-term. Of course, you have other things such as tracks. For us, it's leaning in to those type of two aspects of technology that will allow us to improve safety. We're completely focused, and more than ever motivated, to move as quickly and as prudently as possible on some of these.”

Tracking sensors are aimed at identifying changes in a horse's stride that may be the result of stress on legs or an undetected injury. PET scans will be used for deeper analysis of horses that have been flagged by vets for possibly having an issue.

NYRA will have a synthetic track at the new Belmont Park and O'Rourke said a synthetic track could be installed at Saratoga, but it would not happen in time for the 2024 season. Synthetic tracks are considered to be safer surfaces for horses. Turf horses adjust better to synthetic surfaces than dirt and there are likely to be fewer scratches when races are moved from turf to synthetic surfaces.

“You could do one here with the inner turf course and then widen the outer turf course. You'll get more lanes,” O'Rourke said. “You'll have technically less running lanes on turf, but in off-weather you wouldn't be beating up the course. So you might get more actual run out of it. And then Option B is you go with synthetic and you change out the dirt tracks. And that's something that the board is engaged on right now, that conversation.”

O'Rourke said it was not likely that the dirt track at Saratoga would be replaced by a synthetic track in the near term.

The $1.25-million Travers drew the three winners of the Triple Crown races for a showdown in August for just the fourth time in history. Forte (Violence), the 2-year-old champion, also was in the mix and was the favorite. Arcangelo, trained by Jena Antonucci for Blue Rose Farm, completed the Belmont S.- Travers double. In the three previous times, a horse that did not compete in any of the Triple Crown races prevailed.

Antonucci bucked current practices and did not give the gray colt a prep race before the Travers. Hall of Famer Javier Castellano added to his stakes record, with his seventh victory, as Arcangelo won by a length over Disarm (Gun Runner).

With the victory, Antonucci became the second woman and the first since Mary Hirsch, to win Saratoga's biggest race. She gave credit to her crew.

“Mostly gratifying for the team and for what we collectively have done,” she said. “Yes, someone has to sign the paychecks and drum the drum, but this isn't a “me” thing, it's an “us” thing. This horse is showing what the team can do.”

Antonucci said the meet was one of mixed emotions, of highs and lows.

“If anything, I hope that it heightens the responsibility of every person involved to steward the best decisions possible,” she said. “And if, through tragedy, we all feel the most exposed to do better and to grow, than that's what's going to be. I think every single person needs to make sure and do a self-check that everyone's doing their part to make it all more productive and a better outcome for everybody.”

Castellano continued with what has been a strong year with three graded-stakes wins: the Travers, the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and the GIII Schuylerville on opening day. Veteran trainer Gary Contessa, returning to racing in New York after a stint in Delaware, managed just two wins, but they were in graded stakes, the Schuylerville and the GI Hopeful on Monday with Nutella Fella (Runhappy), who paid a whopping $111.

This is the 10th season that the Fitch brothers have operated King's. The track season is the busiest time of the year for their business. To mark the end of the exciting and tiring summer, the Fitches and their staff take the day, have a party and go to the races.

“It's bittersweet,” Jason Fitch said. “Love the meet. Love the hustle and bustle of summer. You love Travers, but you hate Travers because Travers means that summer is over.”

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Quality Road’s Agate Road Defies All Logic In ‘Rising Star’ Turf Debut

Repole Stable and St Elias Stable's Agate Road (c, 2, Quality Road–Yellow Agate, by Gemologist) was hammered into even-money favoritism for his turf and two-turn debuts on the strength of a near-miss runner-up effort in a rained-off maiden Aug. 5. At the end of 8 1/2 very eventful furlongs Saturday afternoon at the Spa, the $650,000 Keeneland September purchase was named a 'TDN Rising Star'.

Drawn widest in a field of 10, Agate Road was behind the eight ball right from the opening bell, as he broke a good two paths to his outside, costing himself any shot at securing a forward position. To make matters a bit more complicated, he didn't take the first turn particularly well and settled near the tail of the field as 11-1 Ocala Rocket (Hard Spun) led them along at a moderate early clip. Racing with just two behind as they hit the backstretch, but still patiently handled by Irad Ortiz, Jr., Agate Road found himself with about eight lengths to find banking around the final turn, but was forced to take the scenic route, conceding ground to add to his trouble line through the opening 6 1/2 furlongs. But, switched out widest into the lane and despite being bothered by a shifting-out rival nearing the furlong grounds, Agate Road steamed home down the center of the course to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a race he really had no business winning. He becomes the 15th 'Rising Star' for his sire.

Agate Road is the second winner from three foals to race out of Yellow Agate, a $70,000 Keeneland November weanling turned $210,000 KEESEP yearling purchase by China Horse Club who validated 13-10 favoritism in the GI Frizette S. in 2016. The mare is also responsible for Agate Road's year-older full-sister Plentitude, a maiden winner at first asking over the Tampa main in April track before taking an allowance sprinting over the Belmont turf course in June. She was most recently fourth in the Blue Sparkler S. at Monmouth July 8

The dam of the yearling filly Gin's Beach Road (Quality Road), a $650,000 acquisition by Live Oak at last month's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, Yellow Agate aborted her Constitution foal of 2023 before being bred once again to Quality Road.

6th-Saratoga, $105,189, Msw, 9-2, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:46.79, fm, neck.
AGATE ROAD, c, 2, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Yellow Agate (GISW, $291,503), by Gemologist
2nd Dam: Lemon Sorbet, by Lemon Drop Kid
3rd Dam: Flabbergasted (Ire), by Sadler's Wells
Sales history: $650,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0, $78,750. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. Click for the free equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

O-Repole Stable & St Elias Stable; B-CHC Inc (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher.

 

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The Week in Review: No Plan? No Problem for Castellano in Travers

After getting brushed and shuffled in the early stages of Saturday's GI Travers S. while losing momentum and position, Javier Castellano decided to wing his trip aboard 2.7-1 second choice Arcangelo (Arrogate). He would later explain with a laugh–in the way that only winning jockeys can find humor when their riding tactics go off-kilter–that “it seemed to me that everybody had a plan, except myself.”

Sometimes no plan ends up being the best plan, as demonstrated by Arcangelo's artful dissection of a “loaded” Midsummer Derby that brought together not only the winners of this year's three Triple Crown races, but also the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile champion colt from last season.

Yet while Arcangelo's team–owner Blue Rose Farm, trainer Jena Antonucci, and the now seven-time winning Travers jockey Castellano–deservedly basked in the glory of the colt's well-improvised, 105 Beyer Speed Figure score that came 11 weeks after a 7-1 upset of the GI Belmont S., the connections of the high-profile Travers also-rans might have been rightfully questioning how their own pre-race strategies also seemed to disintegrate shortly after the starter sprung the latch for Saratoga's annual showcase race.

Take 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence), for example. The reigning 2-year-old champ and winner of three of five graded stakes at age three was favored to win the Travers at 1.75-1 odds. But I wouldn't bet that too many people expected him to outbreak the field, especially considering he was fractious in the gate from post one and that he had never led at the first call in any of his previous nine races. Yet he popped out on top and spearheaded the pack for the first 100 yards before jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. decided he wanted Forte back in his comfort zone of targeting pacemakers and not being one himself.

At the same time, GI Kentucky Derby upsetter Mage (Good Magic) also broke with more early energy than usual, leaving Flavien Prat with an unexpectedly hard-to-handle, keyed-up colt as the field scrambled for position into the clubhouse turn.

With both Ortiz and Prat committed to conceding their positions in efforts to get their colts to settle, Castellano had to adjust his own rhythm and cadence in their wake, dropping back to fifth while securing a rail spot for Arcangelo.

The two colts who projected to be the main speeds on paper–the GI Preakness S. wire-to-wire victor National Treasure (Quality Road) and the all-the-way Curlin S. winner Scotland (Good Magic)–then came around Forte and Mage while Arcangelo, taking the shortest route at the fence, edged up into second.

Onto the backstretch, the Travers pack sorted itself into a more logical procession after opening quarter-mile splits of :23.46 and :24.54.

But then the 12-1 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit) surged up with an early bid for third behind Scotland and National Treasure, and these tactics, too, were out of the ordinary for a colt who has historically lagged and had to be scrubbed on in the early stages.

But on Saturday, Tapit Trice was newly adorned with blinkers for the first time in a race, and jockey Jose Ortiz had already started nudging him for run at the mile pole to see if the equipment change would produce a prolonged bid that would be able to sustain giving up five paths of real estate through the initial turn.

By the time the field crested the half-mile marker through a third-quarter split in a speeded-up :23.63, the body language of the contenders was telling: Scotland was all-out under pressure, with National Treasure being pushed along but not making headway while three-quarters of a length behind. Tapit Trice continued his wide journey three deep through the second turn, while Arcangelo fluidly clicked into a higher cruising gear, with Castellano tipping him out to the four path and appearing primed to pounce turning for home.

Forte at this point was rallying admirably considering his dire, self-inflicted circumstances, but the favorite's wide move from last under Irad Ortiz was accompanied by a whiff of too-little-too-late desperation. The punchless Mage dropped back to trail the field and was not hammered on for run by Prat when it was evident he was in no way in it to win it.

Banking off the bend through a fourth-quarter split in :24.65, Arcangelo drew abreast with what had essentially been a six-furlong middle move by Tapit Trice and the stubbornly staying-on Scotland.

Castellano gave one cursory look over his right shoulder to size up the threat from Forte, and he saw enough to know he wouldn't have to glance back in that direction again while hustling his colt with a vigorous hand ride in upper stretch.

Three-sixteenths out, Arcangelo put away both pacemakers, then braced for a fresh challenge from the late-striding Disarm (Gun Runner). A bit of judicious right-handed stick work outside the eighth pole elicited just enough torque from Arcangelo to keep Disarm at bay, with the final margin between them a length at the wire and Tapit Trice 2 1/2 lengths farther back in third.

In order, Forte, National Treasure, Scotland and Mage rounded out the finish.

Although Arcangelo's winning Beyer represents a three-point bump over his 102 for the Belmont S. and continues the colt's upward arc of always running a faster figure than his previous race over six lifetime starts, his final time of 2:02.23 for 10 furlongs was the slowest winning time for the Travers since V.E. Day stopped the timer in 2:02.98 back in 2014.

Arcangelo also made his winning move through a final quarter- mile clocked in :25.85, which is the slowest final split for the Travers since Keen Ice required :26.49 to upset American Pharoah in the 2015 edition.

Your Travers takeaway will depend upon how much emphasis you put on each of the above-mentioned factors.

On one hand, the winner looked visually impressive, and resonates as a colt who doesn't need to have everything go his own way to run his “A” race.

Arcangelo's speed figure came back more than respectable, but when the raw times get compared to the race's recent history, they're only so-so.

You also have to factor in that the next time Arcangelo meets Grade I competition, three of his main contenders are probably not going to suffer the disadvantageous types of trips that skewed the efforts of Forte, Mage, and (to a lesser degree) Tapit Trice.

On Sunday, the connections of the Travers top four reported all colts emerged from the race in decent shape. Mage's team posted on Twitter that he was doing well after “a bad day at the office.”

Antonucci was non-committal about a next start for Arcangelo. The GI Breeders' Cup Classic, though, would afford the same 11-week spacing as the colt's wins between the Belmont S. and the Travers.

That time frame would also match the same 11 weeks that Arcangelo's sire utilized when he won the Travers and the Classic in succession in 2016.

And let's not forget that Arrogate then parlayed those emphatic wins at age three into a sweep of the GI Pegasus World Cup and G1 Dubai World Cup early in his 4-year-old season.

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