saratoga derby invitational | Horse Racing Free Tips

War Like Goddess Wins Glen Falls For Mott, Casa Creed To Fourstardave

George Krikorian's War Like Goddess rallied from last-of-7 to capture Saturday's $250,000 Grade 2 Glens Falls, a 12-furlong inner-turf test for older fillies and mares at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 4-year-old English Channel bay notched her third straight graded win, encompassing the Grade 3 Orchid in March at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 3 Bewitch in April at Keeneland.

Mott said he was pleased with the winning trip engineered by regular pilot Julien Leparoux.

“I thought she accelerated very good. I couldn't describe it any other way other than impressive,” Mott said.

Mott said he would point War Like Goddess to the $600,000 Grade 1 Flower Bowl on September 4 at Saratoga, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Natalie Baffert and Debbie Lanni's Du Jour, who exited post 2 under Joel Rosario, finished third just 3 1/2-lengths back of winner State of Rest in Saturday's Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational.

The Temple City bay captured the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 American Turf in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., before finishing fourth last month in the 10-furlong Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational in his first start for Mott.

“I thought he ran well to be third. I wasn't disappointed,” Mott said. “He had a little bit of trouble getting through. As he was coming through, they kind of squeezed him a little bit, but he still ran well. We're happy with his performance.”

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector earned a 102 Beyer in a convincing front-running score in Friday's nine-furlong Alydar.

The 4-year-old Bernardini colt, who was making his first start for Mott, captured the Grade 2 Blue Grass last August at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., and the Ellis Park Derby last August for former conditioner Tom Drury, Jr.

He entered the Alydar off a trio of off-the-board efforts.

“He had kind of lost his way a little bit, but it looks like he's back into form,” Mott said.

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LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable's High Oak, an impressive maiden winner in June at Belmont, and Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur-winner Casa Creed breezed a bullet half-mile in :48.11 in company Saturday on the Oklahoma dirt training track.

“They both went well. I was very happy with them,” Mott said. “They both did what I wanted them to do. They maybe worked a little better than expected.”

High Oak, a 2-year-old son of Gormley, is pointed to Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Saratoga Special presented by Miller Lite, a 6 1/2-furlong main track sprint for juveniles.

Casa Creed, a 5-year-old son of Jimmy Creed, scratched out of Friday's Grade 3 Troy presented by Horse Racing Ireland after drawing post 12. Mott said Casa Creed will now target the $500,000 Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap on August 14, a “Win and You're In' qualifier to the Breeders' Cup Mile.

“We didn't like our post the other day and I think we'd prefer to take our chance in another race,” Mott said. “Not that we think it's an easier spot, but maybe we'll get a little better draw and have a chance at a better trip.”

Casa Creed will stretch back out to one mile in the Fourstardave after an impressive rally to win the six-furlong Jackpocket Jaipur. Mott acknowledged that the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, to be contested at five furlongs at Del Mar, would likely be too short for the late-running Casa Creed.

“That's probably not his cup of tea,” Mott said.

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Swiss Skydiver Gets Final Work For Whitney

Peter Callahan's three-time Grade 1 winner Swiss Skydiver put in her final piece of serious preparation for Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

With Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard, the Kenny McPeek-trained 4-year-old daughter of Daredevil went five-eighths in 1:01.21 Sunday over a Saratoga main track rated fast.

A winner over six different ovals, including Saratoga when capturing last year's Grade 1 Alabama, Swiss Skydiver has won with five different jockeys aboard.

Ortiz, Jr. will look to increase that number when he pilots the chestnut filly in the Whitney.

“He loved her and said she felt great,” McPeek said. “We're excited, we should be ready. She's adaptable to racetracks and jockeys, it doesn't really matter.”

Swiss Skydiver has posted six graded stakes wins over five different ovals with her biggest claim to fame taking place against males in last year's Grade 1 Preakness Stakes. The last female to capture the Whitney was undefeated Hall of Famer Personal Ensign in 1988.

McPeek breezed graded stakes winner King Fury over the Oklahoma training turf Sunday in preparation for Saturday's $1 million Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational going 1 3/16 miles over the Mellon turf course.

The son of Curlin, out of Grade 1-winner Taris, worked with Jose Ortiz aboard in company with Fighting Seabee, winner of the 2019 Grade 3 With Anticipation, and finished off his five-furlong move in 1:01.25.

Owned by Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimneys Farm, King Fury scored in the Grade 3 Lexington on April 10 over a sloppy and sealed track at Keeneland two starts back. He arrives at his turf debut off a close second to Masqueparade in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 26 at Thistledown.

McPeek said he would like to run King Fury in the $1.25 million Grade 1 Runhappy Travers.

“Jose seemed to think that he can handle the turf,” McPeek said. “We'll learn a little something about him and it's a big purse. That's been our goal all summer is to get him to the Travers. The turf race is looking deep but it shouldn't hurt him.

“It's a very good group of 3-year-olds and Essential Quality had another workmanlike win yesterday, but it's hard to separate the 3-year-olds until the Breeders' Cup,” McPeek continued. “That's the race that really separates everybody.”

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Lexitonian Gets 102 Beyer Speed Figure For Vanderbilt Upset

It took five years and 19 races, but Lexitonian notched a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure for the first time when he registered his first career Grade 1 victory by topping Special Reserve by a half-length to win Saturday's $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., garnering a 102 number.

The Jack Sisterson trainee came close previously to attaining Grade 1-winner status when finishing second by a head to Flagstaff in a highly competitive edition of the seven-furlong Grade 1 Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day May 1.

After running last-of-sixth and being eased in the Grade 1 Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan on Belmont Stakes Day June 5, Lexitonian cut back to six furlongs in the Vanderbilt and shined, dueling Special Reserve in the stretch before edging clear, improving his career record to 5-2-2 with earnings at $687,682.

“I was just sitting outside his stall watching him this morning and he looks great and energetic,” Sisterson said. “He came out of the race in great shape. I was really proud of his effort because from a past performance standpoint, he might be a little untrustworthy at times with a good race and a bad race, but he does all the hard work. We don't mind taking a shot with him and being a longshot. As long as he's doing well, he gives us the confidence to run in any type of race we can.”

Lexitonian, who came into Sisterson's care in 2019, won his first graded race as a sophomore when capturing the 2019 Grade 3 Chick Lang that marked his lone graded stakes score before yesterday. Sisterson said the late-blooming success is reminiscent of his sire Speightstown, who did not win a graded stakes until his 6-year-old campaign in 2004 when he won four of them, including that year's Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Breeders' Cup Sprint.

“We always felt, even when we originally got him, that he had talent but could get better with age,” Sisterson said. “Dan Pride from Godolphin stopped by the barn this morning because he has horses with Brendan Walsh, as we share the same barn. Dan told me that Speightstown didn't win his first Grade 1 until 6 and had an 18-month layoff, so I can understand now why Lexitonian is doing what he's doing at the age of 5.”

Lexitonian, a Calumet Farm homebred, won for the first time in his last seven starts overall and posted his first victory since May 2020. Sisterson said it's a possibility the Kentucky homebred could make a return engagement in the $600,000 Grade 1 Forego at seven furlongs on Travers Day August 28.

“Right after the race, I like to set a plan and obviously we're here in Saratoga and he handled the track well yesterday, so the next stop could potentially be the Forego,” Sisterson said. “We'll see how he comes out of the race and goes from there. But you're looking at the race at Belmont [$250,000 Grade 2 Vosburgh on October 9] or bringing back home for the [Grade 2] Phoenix [October 8 at Keeneland]. The ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup Sprint at the end of the year.”

In last year's Forego, Lexitonian ran fifth in an 11-horse field over a sloppy and sealed track in heavy rain. Sisterson said potential improved conditions could facilitate a better start this time should he choose to run him there.

“I know I'm a little biased, but I didn't think he ran badly in the Forego last year,” Sisterson said. “It was in a downpour and probably not his ideal conditions. He paid $70 yesterday, so no one respected him. But I understand why the public felt that way, because he threw in a clunker there, but when he's on his form, he has a chance.”

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Fellow Calumet Farm homebred Channel Cat set the pace in the $250,000 Grade 2 Bowling Green on Saturday before finishing fourth in the eight-horse field in the 1 3/8-mile inner turf test for older horses. Channel Cat, who was ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez for the third straight race, registered a 97 Beyer in his first race since running seventh in the Grade 1 Manhattan on Belmont Stakes Day.

“He looks in great shape this morning,” Sisterson said. “John gave him a great ride. We felt he'd be the speed early and it was, but it just wasn't his day. He's doing well.”

Channel Cat, the winner of the Grade 1 Man o' War in May at Belmont, has already achieved millionaire status, with the 6-year-old English Channel son compiling a 6-3-5 record in 28 starts with earnings of $1,406,022.

Tango Tango Tango, also owned by Calumet Farm, breezed four furlongs in :50.60 seconds on Saturday over the Keeneland Race Course main track.

The 3-year-old Tourist colt, who won his stakes debut last out in the 1 1/16-mile American Derby on July 17 at Arlington Park, was a possibility for the $1 million Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 7. But Sisterson said it's more likely Tango Tango Tango will return to Arlington to run in the $300,000 Grade 1 Bruce D – a race formerly knowns as the Secretariat – on August 14.

“Probably more than likely, we'll go back to Arlington with him,” Sisterson said.

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Hard Love Likely Starter In Saratoga Derby

After finishing a distant seventh after setting the pace in the 10-furlong Grade 1 Belmont Derby on July 10, Robert V. LaPenta, Augustin Stable, and Madaket Stable's Hard Love is likely to seek redemption in the $1 million Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational, the second leg of the Turf Triple Series, on August 7 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The bay sophomore son of Kitten's Joy previously showed tactical speed, laying in second at every call down the backstretch in his five prior starts before the Belmont Derby.

After a first-out maiden win in October at Belmont Park and a second-place finish in the Central Park at Aqueduct the following month, Hard Love returned to action with vigor when taking the Woodhaven on April 17 at the Big A. In capturing the 1 1/16-mile event, he defeated subsequent stakes winners It's a Gamble and Original as well as Sifting Sands, an impressive allowance winner on Saturday at Saratoga.

Following the Woodhaven, Hard Love defeated a salty group of elders in a nine-furlong allowance event at Belmont Park ahead of the Belmont Derby.

“It's a goal along with some other things, but we'll just let the horse dictate in his training what we're going to do with him, but we're certainly going to keep an eye on it,” Thomas said.

Thomas said Hard Love, who was piloted by Manny Franco, could have been a little more aggressive earlier in the race. He also added that the Belmont Derby winner and Saratoga Derby invitee Bolshoi Ballet is in a league of his own.

“Hindsight is always 20-20 and I wish I had asked Manny to be a little more assertive,” Thomas said. “He went 1:17 for three-quarters and slowed it down. He doesn't possess a massive turn of foot so ideally; we would have gone on a little bit. Another thing is that it was a different group of horses. The winner was exceptional, so not taking anything away from the field. You could even make a case that the filly [Santa Barbara] could have won the Belmont Derby had she run. They were legitimate horses.”

Thomas said Hard Love is likely to appear on the work tab next weekend.

“He just shipped up [Saturday] and possibly will be back on the work tab next week depending on how the weather treats us,” Thomas said.

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