Todd Pletcher worked a number of his top horses over the weekend, including undefeated Happy Saver who breezed in company with Country Grammer Sunday in preparation for Saturday's $400,000 10-furlong Grade 2 Suburban Stakes for 4-year-olds and up on Saturday, July 3 at Belmont Park in Elmont, Ny.
Belmont's Independence Day weekend slate runs July 3 through Monday, July 5, offering six stakes races including a pair of Breeders' Cup Win and You're In qualifiers led by the Grade 2 Suburban [Classic] and the $250,000 Grade 2 John A. Nerud [Sprint], which will see 4-year-olds and up contest at seven furlongs on July 4.
The holiday weekend kicks off July 3 with the $100,000 Perfect Sting Stakes and continues on July 4 with the $100,000 Manila Stakes, while the $250,000 Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes anchors a Monday, July 5 card that also offers the $150,000 Grand Couturier Stakes.
Wertheimer and Frere's Happy Saver, a 4-year-old Super Saver chestnut, completed his sophomore season by making the grade in the 10-furlong Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup with a three-quarter length win over Suburban-rival Mystic Guide in October at Belmont Park.
Happy Saver made his seasonal debut a winning one last out with a one-length score in an optional-claiming mile on May 28 on Big Sandy. At 7:45 a.m. Sunday, a rail-riding Happy Saver worked a half-mile in company with fellow Suburban contender Country Grammer in :49.26 on the Belmont dirt training track.
“I thought it was a good work from both. Happy Saver was just a little bit better at the end of the gallop out, but they both worked well,” said Pletcher. “We'll see how they bounce out of it. I'll talk to Elliott [Walden] at WinStar and talk about the Suburban potentially for Country Grammer. We'll firm that up tomorrow.”
Pletcher said Happy Saver's previous work – five-eighths in :59.40 on the dirt training track in company with Repole Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Moretti – was also impressive.
“We gave him a really solid five-eighths work last week with a big gallop out; that was the one we were looking for,” said Pletcher. “He is coming off just the one start and we're stretching him out to a mile and a quarter, so we wanted to get a good one into him last week.”
Moretti, who is also targeting the Suburban, worked a half-mile in 48.75 Saturday on the Belmont dirt training track.
“We breezed Moretti yesterday, and I think we're on target with him, so we could have as many as three in there,” said Pletcher.
A 5-year-old son of Medaglia d'Oro, out of the Grade 1-winning Concerto mare Rigoletta, Moretti is a half-brother to 2017 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile-winner Battle of Midway.
Last week, WinStar Farm's Country Grammer worked a half-mile in :49.05 on June 21 in company with Mahaamel on the Belmont training track.
Country Grammer, a 4-year-old Tonalist bay, captured the Grade 1 Gold Cup last out on May 31 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. He was recently transferred to Pletcher.
Pletcher said the change of work partners for Country Grammer was a matter of timing.
“I didn't want to work him too quickly after arriving and I wanted to space him out to get there, so that's just the way it worked out from the time he arrived,” said Pletcher.
In trying to separate a number of his top sophomores, Pletcher said Shadwell Stable's Mahaamel, an Into Mischief colt bred in Kentucky by Clarkland Farm, will target next Monday's one-turn mile G3 Dwyer, while Spendthrift Farm's Following Sea, a Runhappy colt, is pointed to the nine-furlong $1 million Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 17 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.
“I think we'll go in the Dwyer with Mahaamel. He's going to breeze tomorrow and assuming we're happy with that, we'll go to the Dwyer with him,” said Pletcher. “I spoke to Ned Toffey at Spendthrift and we've decided we'll go to the Haskell with Following Sea.”
A $700,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Mahaamel earned a 99 Beyer with the addition of blinkers in his second-out graduation in a seven-furlong maiden special weight on June 4 at Belmont.
Following Sea earned a career-best 100 Beyer winning a 6 ½-furlong allowance sprint against older horses by 6 1/2-lengths on June 3 on Big Sandy.
Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables' multiple Grade 1-winning 5-year-old Mind Control, recently transferred to Pletcher, worked a half-mile in :48.06 Sunday on the Belmont dirt training track in preparation for the John A. Nerud Stakes.
“He's been a terrific work horse since he came in,” said Pletcher. “We've been targeting this race for a while and he looks good. He's proven he's a really nice horse and he's trained the way you'd expect for a horse with his credentials. He seems like he's doing really well.”
Mind Control, a five-time graded-stakes winner for his former trainer Gregg Sacco, posted both of his Grade 1 wins at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, Ny., capturing the 2018 Hopeful Stakes as a juvenile and added the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes to conclude his sophomore season.
Pletcher said a good result in the Nerud could propel Mind Control to another Grade 1 engagement at Saratoga, with the $600,000 Forego Stakes, a seven-furlong test for older horses on August 28, a possibility.
“We'll see how he does in here, but something like the Forego could be on the radar,” said Pletcher.
Pletcher said Donegal Racing's Shamrocket, a 4-year-old Tonalist colt, could return in the $150,000 Grand Couturier Stakes, a 12-furlong Widener turf test for older horses on July 5 at Belmont. Also under consideration is the 11-furlong Grade 1 United Nations on July 17 at Monmouth Park.
“The Grand Couturier is a possibility,” said Pletcher. “He'll work tomorrow. We've kicked around the United Nations a little bit or even an allowance race at Saratoga.”
Two starts back, Shamrocket closed to finish fourth in the Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes on May 8 at Belmont Park and returned last out to win a 10-furlong turf allowance by a neck on June 11 on the same course.
Repole Stable, Phipps Stable, and St. Elias Stable's Dynamic One breezed five-eighths in 1:01.90 Friday on the Belmont dirt training track.
The Union Rags chestnut, who finished second in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 3 at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York, Ny., finished 18th last out in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 1 at Churchill Downs.
Pletcher said Dynamic One could point to the $120,000 Curlin Stakes, a nine-furlong test for sophomores on July 30 at Saratoga.
“He'll either go to an allowance race or the Curlin,” said Pletcher. “We gave him a little bit of time after the Derby and he's done really well physically and put on some weight. We've freshened him up with a couple of races at Saratoga in mind.”
St. Elias Stable's graded stakes winner Dr Post added blinkers for a half-mile breeze Friday in :49.42 on the Belmont dirt training track.
The Quality Road colt captured the Grade 3 Westchester in his seasonal debut on May 1 at Belmont and finished fifth last out in the Grade 1 Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap on June 5.
“We put blinkers on him and I liked the response we got. I'm not sure where his next start will be, but it will be with the addition of blinkers,” said Pletcher.
Dr Post tracked a moderate pace from fifth in the Met Mile but wasn't able to make up ground in the stretch run as a more prominent Silver State pounced to a one-length score.
“He got too far back, and, for a race on paper that you thought would have a lot of pace, it never really developed,” said Pletcher. “He was starting to close into a pace-less race, but it just didn't work out.
“I've had blinkers in mind for a little while,” added Pletcher. “But when he won the Westchester off the layoff, I didn't want to make an equipment change. Now we can make that move.”
Pletcher saddled a pair of contenders in Con Lima and Jouster in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes for sophomore fillies on June 3 on the Belmont turf, a key prep for the 10-furlong $700,000 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, the first leg of the Turf Triple series for sophomore fillies on July 10.
Although sent to post as the longer price at 8-1, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph Graffeo, Del Toro, Eric Nikolaus, and Troy Johnson's Con Lima prevailed by a half-length, while the pacesetting Jouster settled for fourth for owners Starlight Racing and Glen Hill Farm.
Pletcher said the experienced Con Lima, who boasts a record of 11-6-4-0 with purse earnings of $379,865, showed more than enough to start the first leg of the Turf Triple.
“She's ultra-consistent. She shows up and runs hard every time,” said Pletcher. “I thought she handled the mile and an eighth really well and it gives us optimism that she'll handle the mile and a quarter.”
Pletcher said Jouster, who captured the one-mile Grade 2 Appalachian Stakes on April 3 at Keeneland, will point to the one-mile $150,000 Grade 3 Lake George Stakes on July 23 at Saratoga.
“She'll go the Lake George. She didn't quite see out the mile and an eighth, so we'll focus on shorter races,” said Pletcher. “That's why we wanted to go in the Wonder Again, to see if maybe we could stretch her out for these lucrative races at longer distances, but I think she's best at a mile.”
Lawana and Robert Low's Sweet Melania, a 4-year-old American Pharoah chestnut, breezed a half-mile in :50.97 on the Oklahoma training turf at Saratoga on Friday.
The multiple graded stakes winner captured last year's Grade 3 Wonder Again but has not raced since finishing last-of-9 in the License Fee Stakes on April 30 at Belmont.
Pletcher said Sweet Melania is under consideration for Saturday's $100,000 Perfect Sting Stakes, a one-mile Widener turf test for older fillies and mares.
“I've not firmly decided yet. I'm looking to see what options I have at Saratoga with her,” said Pletcher.
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