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Con Lima Heads Competitive Bunch in Saratoga Oaks

Freshly minted Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher sends GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. runner-up Con Lima (Commissioner) to target the GIII Saratoga Oaks Invitational S., the middle jewel of NYRA's Turf Tiara Series and upgraded in its third edition this year to graded status. At 1 3/16 miles, Sunday's Saratoga Oaks is just a hair shorter than the July 10 Belmont Oaks, in which Con Lima led but yielded in the final strides to Santa Barbara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who hailed from the powerful Aidan O'Brien barn with Group 1 form just two weeks prior in Ireland.

Coming off consecutive victories in Belmont's June 3 GIII Wonder Again S. and Gulfstream's May 1 Honey Ryder S. prior to the Belmont Oaks, Con Lima has the highest Beyer–89–of the American runners in the field. Her record stands at a stellar 11 first- or second-place finishes from 12 starts for her ownership group–Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph F. Graffeo, Eric Nikolaus Del Toro, and Troy Johnson–but she's up against a couple of formidable Europeans in this spot.

Creative Flair (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) hails from the Charlie Appleby stable with three wins from her last five starts. After consecutive mile scores and a mile listed stakes placing in England, she stretched out to 10 furlongs and promptly notched her first stakes win. She shortened up to nine furlongs for the G3 Prix Chloe in France, getting run down at the end for a third. The Godolphin homebred gets Mike Smith in the irons to share morning-line favoritism with Con Lima. Godolphin won this race last year with Antoinette (Hard Spun).

Peter Brant's Rocky Sky (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}) has done little wrong, never off the board in four starts in Ireland and now makes her first appearance since a 1 1/4-mile win in a listed event Apr 25. She makes her American debut for new trainer Chad Brown, who has a stunning record with European imports on the stateside lawn.

Lightly raced Higher Truth (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is Brown's other runner here and has improved with every race. A second-out maiden win in April gave way to an allowance victory in June. She parlayed those two victories into a nose third behind Con Lima in her first stakes try in the Belmont Oaks.

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Nine Maiden Winners Seek First Stakes Win in Adirondack

A field of nine maiden special weight winners–eight of them at first asking–line up in search of their first black-type win in the GII Adirondack S. going 6 1/2 panels Sunday at Saratoga. Both Mainstay (Astern {Aus}) and Saucy Lady T (Tonalist) are exiting the July 15 GIII Schuylerville S. over the track, where they finished one-two, respectively, while Ontheonesandtwos (Jimmy Creed) and Wicked Halo (Gun Runner) filled the same spots in the June 26 Debutante S. at Churchill Downs.

Morning-line favorite is Deuce Greathouse, Cindy M. Hutson, Madaket Stables LLC, and Thomas J. Romano's Ontheonesandtwos, who followed up a wide but winning debut with an extremely wide second in the Debutante. A length away from victory, she finished willingly and got an 81 Beyer, co-highest in the Adirondack field. Trainer Norm Casse seeks his first Adirondack win and replaces Florent Geroux with Irad Ortiz, Jr. on the filly.

From the powerful Steve Asmussen stable, who won this race last year with Thoughtfully (Tapit) and has two other Adirondack victories since 2011, Wicked Halo is from the first crop of Asmussen's 2017 Horse of the Year. She shares the co-highest 81 Beyer in the field, notched in her debut at Lone Star June 5, and set the pace after bobbling at the start of the Debutante but yielded late. A homebred for Winchell Thoroughbreds, her 79 Beyer that day keeps her in the hunt here.

Butch Reid, Jr.'s Mainstay made headlines before her debut as a half-sister to last year's 2-year-old filly champion Vequist (Nyquist), then backed it up with a June 4 first-asking graduation by 7 3/4 lengths in the slop at Monmouth. She subsequently stumbled at the Schuylerville start and couldn't catch the loose-on-the-lead winner, but chased her in second all the way around and held her spot by daylight at the wire. Swilcan Stable LLC and LC Racing campaign the filly, who switches to a new rider in Joel Rosario.

Tom Amoss sends Joel Politi's Microbiome (Twirling Candy), the sole runner in the field with a win over the surface. She aired in the second race on opening day, went straight to the front, and never looked back to graduate by 5 1/2 lengths.

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South Point’s Saratoga Consignment Forges on in Recio’s Honor

Mike Recio's broad smile may not be on display at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale, but he will be well represented by his South Point Sales team as they forge ahead with the consignment at the summer's premiere yearling sale. While Recio continues his battle with sepsis in the ICU at Central Baptist Hospital in Kentucky, South Point sales coordinator Justina Severni and longtime team member John Fahey will pick up the torch.

“These are some of the best yearlings South Point Sales has ever sold,” Severni said. “We are going to help Mike and his family the best way we can by selling these horses as well as we possibly can. We spoke to the owners and they were all on board, so we just want to thank them for having faith in us to do right by their horses. We are very grateful to them for sticking by us. Hopefully we have a great sale.”

South Point's Saratoga consignment is comprised of eight yearlings this year. One of the standouts based on pedigree is Hip 171, a colt by Hard Spun. The bay is out of the unraced Perfect Note (Elusive Quality), who is a daughter of MGISW Music Note (A.P. Indy) and a half-sister to G1 Dubai World Cup hero Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) and GSW Gershwin (Distorted Humor).

“He is a PA-bred with a great physical and an amazing pedigree,” Severni said. “He is out of a half to Mystic Guide. We sold the half-brother by Nyquist last year for $510,000 at the Fasig [Yearling Showcase] Sale.”

Recio's company offers two yearlings from the first crop of Bolt d'Oro, a filly out of Scenic Road (Quality Road) (Hip 186) and a colt out of Mary Edna (Pioneerof the Nile) (Hip 144).

“We have two Bolts who are good on paper, but physically are just absolute standouts,” Severni said. “They are two different types of horses, but both are beautiful. For a first-crop sire, we think Bolt will do really well up here. The Bolts all look a lot like him. They have long toplines, beautiful shoulders, great hind ends and good walks. They also have great minds and have settled in well up here.”

The other freshman sire represented at the South Point barn is Mendelssohn. A son of the regally bred Coolmore sire out of MSP Ghost Flower (Ghostzapper) is catalogued as Hip 104.

“He is a May foal, but he has really grown into himself and has shown well up here,” Severni said.

Rounding out the consignment are a Gun Runner colt (Hip 24); a daughter of Union Rags (Hip 60); a filly by More Than Ready (Hip 136); and a Munnings filly (Hip 143).

“The outpouring of support we have gotten from the industry has just been absolutely incredible,” Severni said. “People from all over the country have offered their help for this sale and the upcoming sales and it really means a lot to the entire South Point family. We are grateful to the team at Fasig-Tipton, who have done an incredible job helping us along the way and giving us any support we need. I think we are going to be ready for a pretty good sale.”

Click here to donate to a GoFundMe to benefit the Recio family.

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Asmussen Record-Breaker a Rising Star

In an effort befitting the record-setting 9,446th training victory in the Hall of Fame career of Steve Asmussen, L & N Racing & Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC's Stellar Tap (Tapit) cruised through the Saratoga stretch to earn the 'TDN Rising Star' distinction on the GI Whitney S. undercard at Saratoga.

The 11-2 chance, wearing the silks of longtime Asmussen client Winchell Thoroughbreds and campaigned in partnership with another loyal owner, L & N Racing, jumped straight into the bridle and argued the pace outside of 6-5 chalk Brigadier General (Street Sense). Traveling the better of the two as they neared the stretch, the $250,000 Keeneland September acquisition, who previously RNAd for $385,000 at Keeneland November, responded when set down by Asmussen's go-to jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. and rocketed clear to take it by 5 1/4 impressive lengths. Keepcalmcarryon (Union Rags), a debut runner-up to 'Rising Star' and next-out GIII Sanford S. hero Wit (Practical Joke) closed off well to complete the exacta.

Stellar Tap is out of a half-sister to SW & GISP Sea Queen (Lemon Drop Kid) and to GISW Nereid (Rock Hard Ten), the dam of SW & GSP Figarella's Queen (Medaglia d'Oro). Gioia Stella is also the dam of a yearling filly by Speightstown, a filly foal by Curlin and most recently visited Speightstown once again. Stellar Tap is bred on the same cross over El Prado (Ire) that is responsible for GISW Laragh and GSW White Rose.

5th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 8-7, 2yo, 7f, 1:23.82, ft, 5 1/4 lengths.
STELLAR TAP, c, 2, by Tapit
1st Dam: Gioia Stella, by Medaglia d'Oro
2nd Dam: Dowry, by Belong to Me
3rd Dam: Sea Jamie Win, by Dixieland Band
Sales history: $385,000 RNA Wlg '19 KEENOV; $250,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $55,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
O-L & N Racing LLC & Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Moyglare Stud Farm Ltd (KY); T-Steven M Asmussen.

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