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Racing ‘Rookie’ Speaker’s Corner Ready To Step Up In Pennsylvania Derby

The rookie of the Pennsylvania Derby, experience wise, is Godolphin Racing's Speaker's Corner.

When the son of Street Sense enters the starting gate for the Grade 1, $1 million race, it will be just the fourth start for Speaker's Corner and second this year. All of the eight other runners have more race day experience.

Of the other Derby runners, two of them – I Am Redeemed and Americanrevolution – will be making the Pennsylvania Derby their fifth career start.

The lack of seasoning might be cause for concern to those who like Speaker's Corner, but that anxiety should dissipate when you see who is training him. Hall of Famer Bill Mott is not sending Speaker's Corner to Parx because he wants to load up on Philly Cheese Steaks.

Speaker's Corner's highly anticipated return to the races came Aug. 14 at Saratoga in an allowance, a seven-furlong race he won easily by 5 ¼ lengths.

“It was everything we expected and a little bit more,” Mott said. “I was happy with it, for sure. I wasn't sure if the seven-eighths would be enough ground for him. I thought they would run him off his feet a little bit early in the race.”

That didn't happen. The talent the colt showed as a 2-year-old was still there despite a long layoff. He broke his maiden in his second start last October at Belmont and some of the horses he beat that day included Caddo River, Greatest Honour, Miles D and Pennsylvania Derby rival Bourbonic.

After that, an ankle injury put him on the equine disabled list for a while and a spring-time virus that went through Mott's barn delayed his return even longer.

It was worth the wait. Mott is asking him to take a gigantic step forward as he tries graded stakes company for the first time.

“We have always felt we belonged with this group,” Mott said. “We have the one race under our belt and it's working out well.”

Speaker's Corner, who will be ridden by Jose Ortiz, is 12-1 on the Derby morning line.

Mott will also saddle Juddmonte's Obligatory in the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion. The daughter of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin finished fifth in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga in her last start on Aug. 7.

“The big thing about her is that it is a two-turn test,” Mott said about the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion.

“We know she's quite effective at seven-eighths and a flat mile at one turn. This is a bit of a fact-finding mission for us to figure out if the configuration of the race is going to suit her. We'll see.”

Ortiz also has the mount on Obligatory, who is 10-1 on the Cotillion morning line.

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Obligatory Will Attempt ‘Two-Turn Test’ For Mott In Cotillion

The stage has been set for Saturday's 52nd Running of the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes as nine fillies will contest the one and one sixteenth miles on the main track at Parx Racing, Bensalem, Pa.

Juddmonte's Obligatory will make her seventh career start and third consecutive Grade 1 try on Saturday for Hall of Fame Trainer Bill Mott. The filly by Curlin fell short by a half-length to Search Results in the Acorn at Belmont Park then finished fifth in the Test at Saratoga in her last start on August 7.

“The big thing for her is that it is a two-turn test,” Mott said. “We had only one two-turn race when she was quite inexperienced. She was not effective that day because of her inexperience. We're hoping she got more races under her belt. We know she's quite effective at seven-eighths and a flat mile at one turn. It's an experiment for us. I know it's a big race and she's doing well. I think she competes with those horses at a flat mile or a one-turn race. We have to see how she gets along at two turns.”

Previously, the Kentucky-bred filly began her career in the fall at Belmont Park as a 2-year-old and finished fourth. She then returned to break her maiden in her first start as a sophomore and followed up with a fourth-place finish in the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 20. Her strongest performance came in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs on April 30, when she closed from last to win by a length at odds of 16 to 1.

Obligatory will break from the rail under regular rider Jose Ortiz at odds of 10 to 1.

Baoma Corporation's Private Mission will ship east from her Del Mar, California home and come to Parx in search of her third straight victory after winning against allowance company at Santa Anita then besting six others in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar.

The filly by Into Mischief has been training well towards Saturday according to Hall of Fame Trainer Bob Baffert and will break from post seven under Flavien Prat.

“We will figure out a plan on game day,” Baffert said. “I think seven is ok. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't.”

Private Mission is 9 to 2 on the morning line.

Rounding out the field is: Allworthy from post 2 for trainer Joseph Saffie Jr., and jockey Florent Geroux at odds of 12 to 1. Will's Secret will break from post 3 for trainer Dallas Stewart and jockey Jon Court at 12 to 1. Maracuja drew post 4 for trainer Rob Atras and jockey Kendrick Carmouche at 8 to 1. Army Wife will run from post 5 for trainer Michael Maker and will be ridden by Joel Rosario at odds of 7 to 2. Clairiere runs from post 6 for Hall of Fame Trainer Steve Asmussen and will be piloted by Irad Ortiz Jr at 2 to 1. Always Carina trained by Chad Brown breaks from post 8 and will be ridden by Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez at odds of 6 to 1. Leader of the Band obtained post 9 for trainer John Servis and retains rider Frankie Pennington at 12 to 1.

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Eight Well-Matched Fillies Look to Ace Test

With the door to a divisional title slightly left ajar by Malathaat (Curlin)'s recent upset loss, eight evenly-matched sophomore fillies will line up in Saturday's GI Longines Test S. at Saratoga.

Slightly favored on the morning line is Klaravich Stables' Search Results (Flatter), who, if not for the length of a Malathaat neck, may herself be favored for champion 3-year-old filly honors as the calendar turns to the season's second half. A four-length debut victress Jan. 3 at Gulfstream, the $310,000 Keeneland September purchase repeated with a pair of scores in the Busher Invitational S. and GII Gazelle S. at Aqueduct before falling just short when runner-up in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks. She got right back to business with a hard-fought success in the GI Acorn S. June 5 at Belmont, a race out of which the second and third finishers will re-oppose.

The runner-up that day was Juddmonte Farms' Obligatory (Curlin), but the ascendant homebred may have run the best race, closing into a slow pace to miss by a half-length and getting her final quarter in a sharp :23.74. Prior to that, the gray was a visually-impressive maiden winner at Gulfstream, and after a disappointing fourth in the GII Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks, upset the GII Eight Belles S. at 16-1 in a last-to-first flourish.

The top two from June 26's GII Mother Goose S. at Belmont also re-engage here. The winner that day, Shadwell Stable's Zaajel (Street Sense), was the longest shot on the board at 18-1, improving her career-high Beyer by 23 points to 96, while the runner-up, 'TDN Rising Star' Always Carina (Malibu Moon), suffered her first defeat after going two-for-two by a combined 13 3/4 lengths to start her career.

Overachieving Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot) will get the acid test after two dominant scores in three starts to open her account. Crushing maiden special weight foes by 11 1/4 lengths debuting at 8-1 May 6 at Belmont, the $20,000 ran a good second when thrown into stakes waters in the Jersey Girl S. there June 6 and came right back to romp by 6 1/2 lengths over allowance rivals July 11 at Big Sandy.

Rounding out the field are Souper Sensational (Curlin), an impressive victress of the GIII Victory Ride S. last out July 10 at Belmont, Make Mischief (Into Mischief), third in both the Eight Belles and Acorn, and Illumination (Medaglia d'Oro), an eight-length maiden winner last out who will be previously-suspended trainer Bob Baffert's first starter at Saratoga since he was granted injunctive relief by a judge.

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Acorn Trifecta Wheels Back In Saturday’s Longines Test

The top-three finishers from June's Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park – featuring winner Search Results, runner-up Obligatory and Make Mischief – will again comprise a talented field in a prestigious stake for 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Longines Test at seven furlongs at Saratoga Race Course.

The 96th edition of the Longines Test, slated as Race 8 on the 12-race docket, is one of five stakes on a loaded card, headlined by the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney for 4-year-olds and up that is a “Win and You're In” qualifier to the Breeders' Cup Classic. Also on tap will be the Grade 1, $1 million Saratoga Derby as the middle jewel of the Turf Triple series for 3-year-olds, as well as the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls for older fillies and mares on the turf and the $120,000 Fasig-Tipton Lure for older horses on the Mellon turf course.

Klaravich Stables' Search Results, who posted a half-length win in the Acorn going a one-turn mile on Belmont Stakes Day June 5, has won four of her five career starts for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown. The daughter of Flatter did not race as a juvenile but started her sophomore year with three straight wins, building on a debut victory in January at Gulfstream Park with a pair of stake wins at Aqueduct Racetrack in the one-mile Busher Invitational in March and the 1 1/8-mile Grade 3 Gazelle in April.

That victory at the Big A spring-boarded Search Results' appearance in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on April 30, where she was forwardly placed and challenged Malathaat in the stretch before settling for second, just a neck off the winner. Five weeks later, Search Results fended off Obligatory and Make Mischief's late charge to win the Acorn, earning an identical 95 Beyer Speed Figure she achieved in the Kentucky Oaks.

Irad Ortiz, Jr., aboard for the Gazelle and Kentucky Oaks, will return to ride Search Results, drawing post 7.

Brown will also send out Three Chimneys Farm's Always Carina, who won her first two starts before running second to fellow Test participant Zaajel in the Grade 2 Mother Goose going 1 1/16 miles on June 26 at Belmont. The lightly raced daughter of Malibu Moon will make her Saratoga debut, drawing post 5. Flavien Prat has the call.

Gary Barber's Make Mischief won her debut in June 2020 at Belmont before posting a pair of runner-up efforts in graded stakes at the Spa, finishing behind Dayoutoftheoffice in the Grade 3 Schuylerville and the Grade 2 Adirondack.

Trainer Mark Casse, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame across the street from Saratoga Race Course on Friday, sent Make Mischief to Chris Englehart to start her 3-year-old year, which included a victory by a neck over Brattle House in the one-mile Maddie May in February at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Returning to Casse for the spring, Make Mischief has been a contender when facing top-flight divisional competition again, running third in the Grade 2 Eight Belles in April at Churchill Downs at the Test distance before running third in the Grade 1 Acorn. The Into Mischief filly ran a competitive fourth in the Grade 2 Mother Goose last out and will return to Saratoga with Tyler Gaffalione set to ride from post 6.

“When we broke her, I told Gary I thought she was a pretty good filly,” Casse said. “I think she just needed a little more ground and a little bit of time to grow up. Her races this year have been good. I kept her with Chris Englehart over the winter since we didn't have any horses in New York at that time. He ran her right away and she won and he did a great job with her.”

Make Mischief, bred in New York by Avanti Stable, is the field's most experienced entrant with 12 starts, compiling a 4-3-2 record with earnings of $365,750.

Her stablemate, Live Oak Plantation's Souper Sensational, notched her first graded stakes win last out, displaying a strong closing kick to draw away for a 3 1/4-length score in the Grade 3 Victory Ride going 6 1/2 furlongs on July 10 at Belmont.

Casse campaigned the daughter of Curlin in a series of Kentucky Oaks preps at Fair Grounds to start 2021, and she responded with a runner-up performance in the Silverbulletday. After an off-the-board effort in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra in February, Souper Sensational returned to the same track to earn third in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks also going 1 1/16 mile in March.

Souper Sensational returned to sprinting in April, finishing fourth in the Eight Belles, and last out earned a career-best 95 Beyer for her Victory Ride win over a Big Sandy track rated good.

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Casse said Charlotte Weber, owner of Live Oak Plantation, helped select the $725,000 purchase at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale.

“She is by Curlin out of an Indian Charlie mare, but if you look at her she's more a sprinter type,” Casse said. “She [Weber] helped pick this one out. We bought her here in Saratoga. She's a really good horsewoman herself, she knows what she's looking at. We go around at the sale and she usually picks out one or two and that's how we got her.”

Ricardo Santana, Jr. will ride Souper Sensational for the first time, drawing post 2.

Juddmonte's Obligatory also was a filly who benefitted from cutting back in distance, going from a fourth-place finish in the Fair Grounds Oaks to a one-length win in the Eight Belles in her first stakes sprint for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

After earning a 94 Beyer for her second to Search Results in the Acorn, the fellow Curlin filly will compete at Saratoga for the first time, drawing post 4 in tandem with Jose Ortiz, who won this race in back-to-back years aboard American Gal and Separationofpowers from 2017-18.

Shadwell Stable's Zaajel garnered a 96 number for her 1 1/4-length Mother Goose win for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Zaajel made her turf debut in the Grade 2 Edgewood the race prior, finishing seventh in April over the Churchill grass, before Pletcher moved her back to dirt and running her around one turn.

“That made some of the difference,” Pletcher said. “The race before that was an experiment on the turf that didn't pan out. The time before that in Louisiana she misbehaved in the gate, got off to a poor start and got a little rank in the first turn. I think she'll handle two turns down the road but we wanted to keep her and Malathaat separated for the time being, so backing up to seven-eighths makes the most sense.”

Joel Rosario, aboard for the Mother Goose score, will ride again from post 3.

Rounding out the field is Illumination, an eight-length winner to break her maiden at fifth asking last out in June at Santa Anita Park for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert [post 1, fellow Hall of Famer John Velazquez]; and Bella Sofia, who ran second in the Jersey Girl on June 6 for trainer Rudy Rodriguez [post 8, Luis Saez].

Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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