Miles D | Horse Racing Free Tips

Champ Tops ‘Quality’ Travers Field

Eclipse winner Essential Quality (Tapit) headlines a strong field of seven in Saratoga's prestigious GI Runhappy Travers S. Saturday evening. Should he succeed he would be the second colt in as many as years to complete the GI Belmont S./Travers double and the first juvenile champion to take the Midsummer Derby since Street Sense won the 2007 renewal.

Opening his sophomore account with wins in the GIII Southwest S. Feb. 27 and GII Toyota Bluegrass S. Apr. 3, the Godolphin homebred was fourth as the favorite in the GI Kentucky Derby May 1. Skipping the GI Preakness S., the gray captured the June 5 Belmont and defeated Keepmeinmind (Laoban) by a half-length in the Spa's GII Jim Dandy S. July 31 with GIII Ohio Derby victor Masqueparade (Upstart) in third.

“I feel like he's as good as he's ever been,” trainer Brad Cox said. “If we run our race, we'll be tough. There's six other good colts in there and we still have to play our game. If we do, I think we'll be a big factor.”

The ultra-consistent Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) looks to rebound after an unlucky incident in Monmouth's GI Haskell Invitational S. last out July 17. The bay clipped heels and almost went down, losing rider Paco Lopez in the process, when Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) came over on him in the stretch. Hot Rod Charlie crossed the line first, but was disqualified for that incident and Mandaloun (Into Mischief) was promoted to first. Kicking off 2021 with a win in the GIII Lecomte S., Midnight Bourbon was third to Mandaloun in the GII Risen Star S. Feb. 13 and was second to Hot Rod Charlie in the GII Louisiana Derby next out Mar. 20. Rallying for sixth in the Run for the Roses, the $525,000 KEESEP buy was second in the Preakness prior to his Haskell incident.

“He's a big horse and time should benefit him a bunch as he gets bigger and stronger and more mature,” said David Fiske, bloodstock advisor to Winchell Thoroughbreds. “He'll have to break well but I should expect to see him on or near the lead.”

Missing by a head in the GII Wood Memorial S. Apr. 3, Dynamic One (Union Rags) could only manage 18th on the First Saturday in May. The $725,000 KEESEP purchase seems to be coming around at just the right time, rallying to a decisive score over the re-opposing Miles D (Curlin) in the restricted Curlin S. going nine panels at this oval July 30. The chestnut represents new Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who saddled his last Travers winner 10 years ago in Stay Thirsty.

Rounding out the field is blue-blooded King Fury (Curlin), who started his sophomore season on a winning note in a sloppy renewal of Keeneland's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. Apr. 10. A close second in the Ohio Derby, the $925,000 FTSAUG acquisition was forced to miss the Jim Dandy due to his barn's quarantine. Left with limited options, trainer Ken McPeek ran his pupil on grass in the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational and he showed the turf was not for him, finishing 10th in that Aug. 7 event.

“He came out of it fine. He just got hung wide on the second turn,” McPeek said. “I really feel like he needed a run. It was going to be a couple of months between races otherwise. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to run in the Jim Dandy, but he will be prepared for this.”

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The Special Bond Uniting Two Travers Colts

How very apt, that a Saratoga card also featuring a race named in her honor should culminate Saturday in a GI Runhappy Travers S. bearing a twin imprint of the legacy of Personal Ensign. Both Dynamic One (Union Rags) and Miles D (Curlin), one-two in the Curlin S. last month, trace their ancestry to the Hall of Fame mare: Dynamic One's mother is out of Personal Ensign's granddaughter Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat); while Miles D's dam is Storm Flag Flying's unraced half-sister Sound the Trumpets (Bernardini).

But if nobody could be surprised to see fresh tendrils of class on the family tree developed by Ogden Phipps from Dorine (Arg) (Aristophanes {GB})–the Argentine matriarch imported to Claiborne in 1970–then few will perhaps be aware that both these colts also find a more literal “bond” in a second remarkable female.

For the dams of both Dynamic One and Miles D are among just eight mares grazing the pasture of River Bend Farm, on the banks of the Ohio River near Goshen, north of Louisville. And while the farm's owner Ina Bond is in a position at least to ensure quality, if not quantity, then it is pretty astonishing for so small a band of broodmares to account for two of the six rivals to Essential Quality (Tapit)–especially when you consider that Bond has already bred one Grade I winner at Saratoga this summer, in Coaching Club American Oaks winner Maracuja (Honor Code).

In fairness, this apparent Midas touch did not prevent the sale of Maracuja's dam Patti's Regal Song (Unbridled's Song) for just $50,000 at the Keeneland November Sale of 2019. But if that has turned into a windfall for Checkmate Thoroughbreds, then at that same auction Bond herself achieved a similar coup in buying an 8-year-old mare named Beat the Drums (Smart Strike) for $400,000. She must have been delighted that the Phipps Stable had been willing to cull a mare whose latest yearling had raised as much as $725,000 at the September Sale. After all, while Beat the Drums had shown little in two career starts, the Phipps Stable was glad to retain a stake in the yearling with his purchasers Repole Stable & St. Elias Stable. And this colt, of course, has turned out to be none other than Dynamic One.

Beat the Drums, moreover, has started to pay her way already. The Honor Code colt she was carrying that November was sold as a yearling to Centennial Farms for $260,000; Bond is very pleased with her weanling colt by Ghostzapper; and the mare is in meanwhile foal to Street Sense.

Miles D, for his part, similarly helped to recoup Bond's investment in his dam. Sound the Trumpets had cost $675,000 at the Keeneland November Sale of 2017, with the bonus of a Curlin cover. The resulting foal was Miles D, who was sold through Denali to White Birch Farm as a September yearling for $470,000.

The next foal out of Sound the Trumpets, a Pioneerof the Nile colt, did not achieve quite the same traction, as a $120,000 RNA, and has been retained to race. “He's called Trumpets Blare, he's with Ian Wilkes and just getting ready to run shortly,” explained Bond, adding that Sound the Trumpets was given this cycle off after the late spring delivery of a fine colt by Medaglia d'Oro. The mare, after all, is still only eight.

“She also has a [Quality Road yearling] filly, that I think I'll keep,” Bond said. “I think I'd like to keep any fillies from that family. It just keeps producing, including in the last couple of years, not just runners but producers as well. And Sound the Trumpets is an extremely good-looking mare. We're very careful always to seek good conformation, because if they have an injury you're lost. Frankly I'm more of a commercial breeder than a racer, so I always try to get correct broodmares with a really strong pedigree–not just 'what have you done for me lately', the way a lot of people go for the hot new stallions. I spend a lot of time and get a lot of help doing the matings.”

There is hardly a stronger maternal line in the Stud Book, of course, than the sequence of three consecutive Breeders' Cup winners comprising Personal Ensign, My Flag (Easy Goer) and Storm Flag Flying. But if anyone should believe in pedigree, it is Ina Bond. For her own “page” is one of the most resonant in Kentucky: her great-grandfather George Garvin Brown founded Brown-Forman–think Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels–and her grandfather Owsley Brown and father W.L. Lyons Brown both served as chairman. Bond in turn inherited an energetic commitment to both corporate and civic service, giving her time to a bewildering variety of business, community, educational and charity institutions. Now a septuagenarian, she admits that for much of her life, she has been too distracted to make the most of the sanctuary she has always relished on the farm since its acquisition in 1990.

“I got kind of overwhelmed,” she reflected. “I used to do a lot of volunteer work and was on a lot of different boards, commercial and non-commercial, I just got very busy and was always playing catch-up. Nowadays there are so many more tracks, so many horses and sires, everybody loves the betting. But it's a good thing, I suppose: it seems like whatever is going on in the world, the market for horses is very strong.

“I was always fascinated by horses, right from when I was little; in fact, I think I was in a horse show when I was in first grade. My mother was a good friend of Warner Jones, and I bought River Bend Farm from his son-in-law. It's a beautiful farm, but when I was starting out, the market was really bad. But though I had just a few mares, that first year one of them got us the second top price at the September Sale.

“I lived on the farm and it got me out a little bit, away from all these other things I was doing. But I also had children, and then eight grandchildren, as well as all those other different things stopping me from getting out with the horses as much as I'd like. But thankfully I did get some help. I have a nice crew who take care of the mares and foals; they never missed a day this summer no matter how hot it's been. And my farm manager Larry Weeden has helped me for 30 years; he's very good.”

Nurturing pedigrees is itself a task of conservation, and that is an area that has impassioned Bond's son Austin Mussulman–notably in the restoration of Ashbourne Farms in Oldham County, long part of the family and now a wedding, meeting and entertainment venue, securing the habitat alongside Harrods Creek. His wife Janie, meanwhile, comes from another storied Kentucky farm in Buck Pond, through which Maracuja–bred in partnership by Bond, her son and daughter-in-law–was sold as a Saratoga yearling for $200,000.

Buck Pond stands a surprise Travers winner in V.E. Day (English Channel) and now Bond, her family and her friends can root for another. The scrupulous standards of this boutique operation are certainly commensurate with the task facing Dynamic One and Miles D. Auspiciously, moreover, Bond reckons she has seldom had young stock on the farm of greater elegance and ease of motion than now. Look out, then, for the first foal of the young Ghostzapper mare Persephone's Dawn, an Into Mischief filly presented by Denali as Hip 488 at Keeneland September.

Aristocratic as these bloodlines are, any underdog can take legitimate inspiration from Bond's Saratoga summer: one mare cheaply culled after producing a subsequent Grade I winner, but promptly replaced by one whose own yearling son was even then embarking on a career that has meanwhile already taken in a shot at the Derby.

“That's what makes this business so attractive,” Bond observes. “You never know. When I sold the dam of Maracuja, she hadn't really produced much, but now she has a Grade I winner. I'm not a great big farm, like the ones around Lexington. We're not Juddmonte or Darley. I've basically been a small commercial breeder for 30 years. So needless to say, I'm quite excited by the Travers, though the competition is huge. I did not raise Dynamic One, but he's from that wonderful family; and I know Chad Brown is a great trainer, and he wouldn't have Miles D in there if he didn't think he had a shot, I think he really likes that colt. As I say, I've always been a small player. So this is a big deal for me, and I'd be thrilled if either of them were to be placed–or even give everyone a big surprise and win.”

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Champion Essential Quality ‘As Good As He’s Ever Been’ Ahead Of Saturday’s Travers

Reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox has already secured a memorable meet at historic Saratoga Race Course and will be looking to accomplish a feat that has not been achieved in 79 years when he sends out ultra-consistent Godolphin homebred Essential Quality in Saturday's Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers at the Spa.

The 152nd running of the Runhappy Travers – for 3-year-olds contesting the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles, is slated as Race 12 on the packed 13-race card that features seven graded stakes among six Grade 1 contests. First post is set for 11:35 a.m.

For the third consecutive year, FOX will air the Runhappy Travers as the centerpiece of a 90-minute telecast beginning at 5 p.m. The networks of FOX and FOX Sports will air 7 1/2 total hours of live racing and analysis on Runhappy Travers Day, with coverage scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on FS1.

Cox, who has saddled Essential Quality to seven wins in eight starts, including three Grade 1 scores, won one of the most prestigious races for older horses at the Saratoga meet when Knicks Go posted a gate-to-wire triumph in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 7. The Kentucky-born conditioner can now become just the third trainer all-time and first since John M. Gaver, Sr. in 1942 to win the Travers and Whitney in the same year with different horses.

Essential Quality offers his trainer a good opportunity to join that list, as the Champion 2-Year-Old drew post 2 with regular rider Luis Saez aboard in being installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite.

“I feel like he's as good as he's ever been,” Cox said. “If we run our race, we'll be tough. There's six other good colts in there and we still have to play our game. If we do, I think we'll be a big factor.”

The gray Tapit colt was undefeated in three 2020 starts, racking up wins in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity in October at Keeneland before returning a month later to the same track to win the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

After posting back-to-back wins to start his sophomore campaign on the Kentucky Derby trail – capturing the Grade 3 Southwest at 1 1/16 miles in February at Oaklawn Park and the 1 1/8-mile Grade 2 Blue Grass in April at Keeneland, Essential Quality ran his only non-winning race with a competitive fourth in the “Run for the Roses” on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.

Undeterred, Essential Quality overcame Hot Rod Charlie's blistering fractions to run down his rival in the 1 1/2-mile Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on June 5 – giving Cox his first win in a Classic – and followed that effort, which netted a personal-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure, with a half-length win over Travers-rival Keepmeinmind in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on July 31 in the local Travers prep.

“He's sharp, mentally. He's sharper this race than going into the Jim Dandy,” Cox said. “My plan all along was to have him peak in this spot. Our goal since the Kentucky Derby was to have him at his best Travers Day and from a mental and physical standpoint, I feel he's right where we want him.

“I think he's a classic-distance horse,” Cox added. “He's proven that already. I like the post. Hopefully, with a good trip, we'll get the job done on Saturday.”

Essential Quality has already amassed a field-high $3.5 million in earnings and will team with a familiar face, as Saez – the meet's leading rider – has been aboard for all eight of his previous starts.

“He fits him real well,” Cox said. “Luis is riding him with a lot of confidence. He thinks the world of him. He's been able to breeze him his last two works up here and he's super excited about the opportunity on Saturday. I don't give Luis many instructions with this horse. It's just 'do your thing' and it tends to work out.”

Cox's chase for history includes trying to join Gaver, Sr., who won the 1942 Travers with Shut Out and the Whitney with Swing and Sway, and James G. Rowe, Jr., who won the Travers with Twenty Grand and Whitney with St. Brideaux in 1931.

Keepmeinmind will attempt to thwart that bid for history, earning another opportunity to oppose Essential Quality. Owned by Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith and Spendthrift Farm, the son of Laoban ran a hard-charging second to the Runhappy Travers morning-line favorite in the Breeders' Futurity and ran third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The duo met up twice more in the spring, when Keepmeinmind finished fifth in the Blue Grass and seventh in the Kentucky Derby.

The Robertino Diodoro trainee competed in the Triple Crown's second leg, running fourth in the Preakness in May at Pimlico, before earning additional black type with a third-place Grade 3 Ohio Derby performance in June at Thistledown. Keepmeinmind matched his career-best 97 Beyer for closing on Essential Quality in the Jim Dandy last month, finishing second, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of fellow Travers foe Masqueparade.

Listed at 6-1, Keepmeinmind will have the services of Joel Rosario, who rode him for the first time in the Jim Dandy, from post 3.

“He's getting better and better,” Diodoro said. “The horse is overdue and he deserves a win. We definitely think the extra distance will help him big time and it's a huge plus having Rosario on the horse for the second time.”

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon, the runner-up to Rombauer in the Preakness, has not raced since clipping heels with Hot Rod Charlie and unseating rider Paco Lopez in the Grade 1 Haskell in July at Monmouth Park.

The son of Tiznow, who started his sophomore campaign with a win in the Grade 3 Lecomte in January at Fair Grounds, will look for a better trip in his first Saratoga appearance. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who set the all-time wins record for a North American thoroughbred conditioner earlier this month with a big Whitney Day at Saratoga, will look to add another milestone at the famous track in seeking his first Travers score.

Ricardo Santana, Jr. will be in the irons for Midnight Bourbon [9-2] from the inside post.

FTGGG Racing's Masqueparade bested King Fury by a half length in the Ohio Derby, extending his winning streak to three, before finishing third in a Jim Dandy contest that will see the trifecta rematch in the Travers.

The Upstart colt's top three speed figures in his seven-race career have come in his last three starts, starting with an optional claiming victory in May at Churchill before graduating to stakes company. After showing an affinity for Saratoga last out, Masqueparade will stretch out to 10 furlongs for the first time for trainer Al Stall, Jr.

Stall, Jr. said Masqueparade, who drew post 6 with Miguel Mena aboard, will be looking for a better trip after leaving from post 2 in the five-horse Jim Dandy, with Dr Jack [to his inside] and Weyburn [outside] possibly putting undue pressure on his charge.

“I love the draw. It's completely different than the Jim Dandy draw,” Stall, Jr. said. “We're very happy with that. Being on the outside, we can chase some speed. If there's no speed, we can lay very close. He can be more comfortable. In the Jim Dandy, he was trapped inside between speed horses, so we couldn't get anything done because they were shuffling us back and we were last on the backside. Now he can float away from there and see how things go. He's got good natural speed, so I really like where we are. I think he deserves a chance.”

Stall, Jr. will be saddling his first Travers starter and is looking for the personal Whitney-Travers double, with Blame having won the 2010 Whitney.

Mena, who has been riding predominantly at Ellis Park and Indiana Grand Race Course, has been aboard for all of Masqueparade's starts and will travel to the Spa on Saturday. Masqueparade is listed at 8-1.

Three Chimneys Farm's King Fury, runner-up in the Ohio Derby, trained at Saratoga through an imposed quarantine due to a positive case of Equine Herpesvirus-1 in their barn, causing him to miss the Grade 2 Jim Dandy and instead return in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 7, where he finished 10th after a wide trip in his turf debut.

“He came out of it fine. He just got hung wide on the second turn,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “I really feel like he needed a run. It was going to be a couple of months between races otherwise. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to run in the Jim Dandy, but he will be prepared for this.”

King Fury, a son of Hall of Famer Curlin, started his juvenile year with high expectations as a $950,000 purchase at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton New York Select Yearling Sale across the street from the Spa. After notching a win in the Street Sense in October at Churchill, King Fury made the grade with his 2 3/4-length score in the Grade 3 Lexington going 1 1/16 miles over a sloppy and sealed Keeneland track in April.

His previous start on dirt saw him rally from last-of-9 to get second in the Ohio Derby, and McPeek said a better trip on the fast track could have made the difference.

“I think he should have won. He got shuffled back at one point during the race and I think if that hadn't happened, he wins handily,” McPeek said. “He's a very good horse and he's going to relish a mile and a quarter.”

Jose Ortiz, aboard for the Saratoga Derby Invitational, will return to ride King Fury [15-1 odds] from post 7.

Repole Stable, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable's Dynamic One – second in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino in April at Aqueduct – showed his affinity for the Saratoga track last out, rallying from last-of-seven to close strong, besting Miles D by 1 3/4 lengths in the Curlin on July 30 at Saratoga for his first stakes victory.

Dynamic One, trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, rebounded from an 18th-place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby to garner a personal-best 97 Beyer in the Curlin. The Union Rags colt did not break his maiden until fourth asking in March at the Big A but enters with momentum as Pletcher seeks his third Travers score.

“He obviously didn't fire in the Kentucky Derby, but his maiden races were pretty fast,” Pletcher said. “He showed he belonged in the Wood. We were happy with the way he was training going into the Curlin, that appears to be his most professional race so far so hopefully he's going into his best.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Dynamic One [post 4, 6-1].

The Travers is one of the few stakes to elude four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, who will send out his 12th all-time starter in this race with Peter Brant and Robert LaPenta's Miles D, who handled the jump to stakes company with a runner-up effort in the Curlin.

The son of Hall of Famer Curlin has improved his Beyer Speed Figures in each of his three starts, including a 95 last out when running 1 3/4 lengths back to Dynamic One in his Saratoga bow.

Miles D [post 5, 12-1 odds] will pick up jockey Flavien Prat's services, with the rider looking to extend his success in the division aboard multiple horses. Prat guided Rombauer to victory in the Grade 1 Preakness and piloted Hot Rod Charlie to a close second behind fellow Travers-contender Essential Quality in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, earning a placing in all three legs of the Triple Crown, as he was aboard for Hot Rod Charlie's third-place Grade 1 Kentucky Derby finish.

“He's obviously a bit of a longshot in the race, so he's going to have to step up,” Brown said. “I'm thankful to have a horse in the race and hopefully he runs the race of his life and will be right there.”

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Travers Contenders Breeze, Letruska, Swiss Skydiver Work At Saratoga

A number of prominent graded stakes contenders for next Saturday's Runhappy Travers Day card breezed this morning at Saratoga Race Course, including Grade 1 Belmont Stakes-winner Essential Quality, the likely favorite for the $1.25 million Grade 1 Runhappy Travers at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The 152nd edition of the Travers is the centerpiece of a blockbuster day of racing featuring seven stakes, including six Grade 1 events, offering $4.6 million in total purse money with automatic berths in the Breeders' Cup to the winner of the $750,000 Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer [Turf], the $600,000 Grade 1 Personal Ensign presented by Lia Infiniti [Distaff], and the $500,000 Grade 1 Ketel One Ballerina [Filly & Mare Sprint].

In addition, the Travers Day card will also include the $600,000 Grade 1 Forego, a seven-furlong sprint for 4-year-olds and upward, and the $500,000 Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs. Rounding out the signature day at the Spa is the $400,000 Grade 2 Ballston Spa on turf for older fillies and mares.

Godolphin homebred Essential Quality, the reigning 2-year-old Champion and last-out Grade 2 Jim Dandy winner, breezed at 8:45 a.m. after the break, going five furlongs in 1:01.58 on the main track in company with Juddmonte homebred Bonny South, who is targeting the Personal Ensign.

Essential Quality, with Luis Saez up, worked outside of Bonny South and was caught by NYRA clockers working five-eighths from the half-mile pole through splits of :11.40, :23.22, :47.81, and out in 1:15 flat.

“He seems to be a little more forward leading up to this race than he was in the Jim Dandy,” said trainer Brad Cox. “We've tried to sharpen him up the last few weeks and I feel like we have mentally. He's ready to go. Luis was super excited with how he worked. His last two works were better than his first two leading up to the Jim Dandy, so I feel like we have a horse who is every bit as good as we were leading into the Jim Dandy; maybe even better.”

Cox said the work was a good follow-up to the bullet five-eighths in :59.40 last weekend that was also over the main track.

“Last week, we were looking to do a little more, we weren't going quite as quick this week,” Cox said. “Overall, he was doing everything the right way.”

FTGGG Racing's Masqueparade, winner of the Grade 3 Ohio Derby in June at Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio, worked four furlongs in :48.11 seconds in company with Sum Kinda Pretty on the main track after the break.

“I got him in 47 and four and out in a minute and change. He was traveling like a winner, hopefully. Visually, with what I saw, I'm happy,” Stall, Jr. said.

Stall, Jr. said the Upstart bay, who was a prominent third last out in the Jim Dandy, should improve second time out over the Spa main track.

“With the shipping, I only worked him twice from the Ohio Derby to the Jim Dandy,” Stall, Jr. said. “When we got up here, we noticed the track was a little deeper than it was in the past or at least it seemed that way. I think he got a little bit out of that race and it should help him for this race.”

Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith, and Spendthrift Farm's Keepmeinmind, runner-up in the Jim Dandy last out, worked a solo half-mile in :47.55 under exercise rider Dennis Means on the main track after the break.

“He went very good,” said trainer Robertino Diodoro. “He was doing it nice and easy all on his own and with a strong gallop out once again. Touch wood, everything is on schedule. This was easy as could be and I thought Dennis did a good job because he's not an easy horse to slow down.”

A number of the morning works, including those for Essential Quality and Masqueparade, were moved back due to a wet track from overnight rain.

“I thought the maintenance crew did a great job. The track, after the break here, looked good,” Diodoro said.

Keepmeinmind, who graduated in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill in November, competed in two-thirds of the Triple Crown finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Grade 1 Preakness.

Diodoro said the Laoban bay will need to bring his best to topple Essential Quality.

“He needs to have his game face on for game day and be ready to run the race of his life,” Diodoro said.

Trainer Kenny McPeek sent last year's Grade 1 Preakness-winner Swiss Skydiver out to breeze on the Oklahoma training track at 7:30 a.m. under Jose Ortiz, covering five furlongs in 1:00 flat.

Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver, who is targeting the Grade 1 Personal Ensign, maneuvered around a work team down the lane and galloped out strong.

“We tried to time it so it wouldn't be so crowded out there but it was,” McPeek said. “I think she needed that. She galloped out great and cooled out good. No problem.”

Three Chimneys Farm and Fern Circle Stables' King Fury went to the Oklahoma dirt training track at 9:30 a.m. under Jose Ortiz and covered five furlongs in 1:01.13 solo in preparation for the Travers.

“It was a solid breeze. We caught him in a minute,” McPeek said. “It was a nice solid maintenance breeze. The horse can run all day. He's coming into the race great. I think a mile and a quarter will be right up his alley.”

The Curlin chestnut captured the Grade 3 Lexington in April in his seasonal debut and followed with a rallying second in the Ohio Derby, finishing a half-length back to Masqueparade.

Last out, King Fury finished tenth in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational after a wide trip in his turf debut.

“He's a horse that won't have any trouble with the distance. He fits fine,” McPeek said. “The horses that ran in the Jim Dandy, he'd actually beaten the horse that ran second [Keepmeinmind] in the Ohio Derby and he had a troubled trip when he did that. If he jumps to another level, I think we're good. The turf race was probably a bad idea in hindsight.”

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher worked a number of his stakes contenders on the Oklahoma dirt training track Saturday, including Repole Stable, Phipps Stable, and St. Elias Stables' Dynamic One, the last-out winner of the nine-furlong Curlin on July 30 at the Spa.

With Irad Ortiz, Jr. up, Dynamic One worked in company with graded-stakes winning filly Spice Is Nice through a half-mile in :50.67.

“I caught them in 50 and 1. I thought it was a good steady work with a solid gallop out over a track that's not very fast,” Pletcher said. “He's had two solid works back now and two good gallop outs.”

Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable's Mind Control, last-out winner of the Grade 2 John A. Nerud in July at Belmont, breezed a half-mile in :49.52.

The 5-year-old Stay Thirsty bay captured the 2018 Grade 1 Hopeful at the Spa as a juvenile and followed up a year later with a score in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens.

“It was a very straightforward work. He's a good workhorse,” Pletcher said. “He's easy to train and likes to do his job. He was very professional as usual.”

CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm's Life Is Good, undefeated in three starts, worked five-eighths in 1:00.61 under exercise rider Amelia Green.

The Into Mischief bay captured the Grade 3 Sham in January and Grade 2 San Felipe in March, both at Santa Anita for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert before being transferred to Pletcher.

Pletcher said he was impressed by the colt's fifth breeze at Saratoga in preparation for the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens.

“Another very impressive breeze with a tremendous gallop out,” Pletcher said. “He seems to do things effortlessly. He's impressive to watch and it should have him ready to go in what is a demanding task going seven-eighths in a Grade 1 off a layoff. He seems to be training extremely well.

“I would argue that today was his best work of all, particularly the gallop out,” Pletcher continued. “I had him out the mile in 1:39 and one under a motionless rider. He has a good foundation of fitness.”

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will travel to Saratoga to retain the mount.

“I would expect some pretty fast fractions, so we'll just have to play it by ear off the break and see how it unfolds,” Pletcher said.

Whisper Hill Farm's Graceful Princess, the last-out winner of the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher, worked four furlongs in :48.95 in preparation for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign.

“It was a very good work. She's a very good workhorse and seems to be in good form at the moment,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher also noted that Travers-nominated Bourbonic will instead point to the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on September 25 at Parx in Bensalem, Penn.

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Trainer Chad Brown, in pursuit of his first Grade 1 Runhappy Travers triumph, worked Peter Brant and Robert V. LaPenta's stakes-placed Miles D five furlongs over the Oklahoma training track in 1:01.16 in company with maiden-winner Southern District.

“He looked fine,” Brown said. “His last piece of work was on the training track because the main track was still wet and such, but he went well.”

Miles D, a son of Curlin, was a last-out second to fellow Runhappy Travers aspirant Dynamic One in his sire's namesake sake on July 30 at Saratoga. He broke his maiden off an eight-month hiatus going a one-turn mile on June 12 at Belmont Park.

Trainer Fausto Gutierrez sent multiple Grade 1-winner Letruska to the main track just after 8:45 a.m. for a five-eighths work in :59.02 in her final breeze for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign.

Piloted by Ortiz, Jr., the 5-year-old daughter of Super Saver clocked eighth-mile fractions of :12, :23.20, :35.20 and galloped out in 1:12.00.

“Normally, she is a horse who likes to work fast and she worked well today,” Gutierrez said. “The idea was to feel full of horse and she's a horse that is ready to run.”

A graded stakes-winner over four different ovals this year, Letruska arrives at the Personal Ensign off a coup in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis on June 26 at Churchill Downs.

Drain the Clock, the winner of the Grade 1 Woody Stephens and the last-out runner-up in the Grade 2 Amsterdam, recorded his final work on Saturday ahead of the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens.

The Maclean's Music colt registered a four-furlong work in :47:47 seconds over the Saratoga main for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. The ultra-consistent Drain the Clock enters the seven-furlong H. Allen Jerkens with momentum, posting four wins and a pair of second-place finishes through the first six starts of his 3-year-old campaign.

Joseph, Jr. also saw two contenders for the $600,000 Grade 1 Forego work Saturday at Saratoga, with Chance It and Mischevious Alex logging four furlongs in :48.12 and :48.48, respectively, on the main track.

The Forego, for 4-year-olds and up sprinting seven furlongs, will give four-time graded stakes-winner Mischevious Alex a chance to add to that total.

Chance It, second last out in the Grade 3 Smile Sprint going six furlongs on July 3 at Gulfstream, has compiled a 4-4-0 record in nine starts entering his Saratoga debut.

The post Travers Contenders Breeze, Letruska, Swiss Skydiver Work At Saratoga appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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