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Week in Review: Is Classic Best Fit for Life Is Good?

'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) got the job done Saturday in the GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, which probably means that a start in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic is on his schedule. The Whitney was a “Win and You're In” race for the Classic and has traditionally been one of the most important preps for the season-ending $6-million race. If trainer Todd Pletcher and owners WinStar Farm and the China Horse Club play this one by the book, the Classic is where they will end up.

But is that the best Breeders' Cup race for him?

After his performance in the nine-furlong Whitney, where he didn't quite deliver the type of spectacular performance he is capable of, it's a fair question to ask. The Classic is run at a mile-and-a-quarter and it's pretty clear than 10 furlongs is not Life Is Good's best distance. He'll have a lot easier time winning the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, the race he won last year, than the Classic.

Life Is Good has tried a 1 1/4 miles only once, in the G1 Dubai World Cup, and the result was, perhaps, the most disappointing race of his career. He had the lead until about 100 yards before the wire only to be passed by three horses. Pletcher has pointed out that the racing surface at Meydan was deep and tiring and said that worked against Life Is Good. That may be true, but with a horse with this much talent, he should have found a way to pull off the win. More so than the condition of the racetrack, the distance got him.

His first start after Dubai came in the GII John A. Nerud S. at seven furlongs and he thrashed a good horse in Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) to win easily. That seemed to set him up perfectly for the Whitney, where the competition included Olympiad (Speightstown) and three others. It's not that Life Is Good ran a bad race, or anything close to it. He won by two lengths and got a 107 Beyer. It was a good effort, some have said it was gutsy and that he showed heart. After getting loose on the lead, he had to fight off stablemate Happy Saver (Super Saver) to grind out the win. But, as brilliant as Life Is Good had been in some of his earlier starts, we expected something more than gutsy.

It also matters that Olympiad, who had been so consistent, winning five straight, picked this day not to show up. That meant the competition Life Is Good faced wasn't as strong as had been expected.

Winning a $1-million, Grade I race in Saratoga is no easy feat, but this didn't look like Life Is Good at his best, and the distance probably had something to do with that.

In some years, maybe Life Is Good could overcome distance limitations and win the Classic. But this year's field will be loaded. At a mile-and-a-quarter, can he beat Flightline (Tapit) or Epicenter (Not This Time)? Then there's Country Grammer (Tonalist), who finished ahead of him in the Dubai World Cup and is partially owned by WinStar.

Passing on the Classic isn't exactly a no-brainer. It's worth $4 million more than the $1-million Dirt Mile and if they don't run there they may cost themselves any chance at being named Horse of the Year. It's a race everyone wants to win and looks great on the record of a future stallion. But if you want to pick the race that is the best fit for Life Is Good and the one where he has the best chance of winning, that's an easy call. It's the Dirt Mile.

The Future of Belmont Park

On this week's TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland, NYRA CEO and President Dave O'Rourke said that NYRA's long-range plan is likely to include shutting down Aqueduct and running at Belmont in the winter. That's one of the reasons NYRA is planning on installing a synthetic Tapeta surface at Belmont. It also looks like stands will be torn down and replaced with a smaller facility.

O'Rourke also said there are no plans to change the current circumferences of the tracks, meaning the main track at Belmont will remain the massive mile-and-a-half oval that it is. Buy why? The 12-furlong track works for one race, the GI Belmont S. For every other race, it's simply too big, it's impractical and the sight lines are not good. It also means that any 1 1/4-mile dirt races, like the Breeders' Cup Classic, have to start on the clubhouse turn. A nine-furlong main track, which they have at Aqueduct ands Saratoga, makes more sense.

Fillies Dominate the Hall of Fame

Two horses from the modern era were inducted this week into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame and, in Tepin (Bernstein) and Beholder (Henny Hughes), both were fillies. That's no coincidence. Since 2015, six fillies have made the Hall of Fame and only three male horses: American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), Lava Man (Slew City Slew) and Wise Dan (Wiseman's Ferry). The latter two are geldings.

In an era where star males horses who are not geldings will almost always call it quits after their 3-year-old seasons and maybe run nine or 10 times in their careers, you're not going to get many who have Hall of Fame credentials. Justify (Scat Daddy), who raced just six times, is one of the few exceptions, but only because it would be awful hard to keep a Triple Crown winner out of the Hall of Fame. Otherwise, the voters will be hard pressed to put a horse into the Hall of Fame who raced just two years and made a limited number of starts.

Fillies are a different matter. With a top broodmare being worth considerably less than a top sire, it makes economic sense to continue to race them. Beholder ran 26 times and raced at six. Tepin retired after her 5-year-old campaign and made 23 starts.

Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) ran 20 times and was still out there at age six. Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) raced 19 times and stuck around through her 4-year-old year. With top male horses, those are numbers you don't see anymore.

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Yearling Sales Season Arrives in Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–Fasig-Tipton marks 101 years of selling at Saratoga Monday with the start of its highly anticipated Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale.

The Saratoga Sale is known for offering some of the country's top yearlings, many of whom have quite the star-studded pedigrees. The 2022 catalogue, which features 216 yearlings, is no exception.

“It's just a fantastic collection of yearlings, both in terms of pedigree and the physical conformation,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said. “We were excited all spring when we were going to the farms with the interest and the enthusiasm we were getting from folks with top quality yearlings. I think it's just as exciting of a group of yearlings that we've ever had the opportunity to offer. It's truly is a special catalogue and we couldn't be any more excited or optimistic about the 2022 Saratoga edition.”

The Saratoga Sale is just the second yearling auction of the season, following Fasig-Tipton's July Sale in Lexington. The July Sale featured a very strong market, giving sellers plenty to be optimistic about heading into this premier boutique auction.

“I think there's always a little bit of, you know, anticipation, anxiety, hesitation to see what the markets going to be,” Browning said. “July starts the yearling sales and we've seen a little bit of change in the worldwide economy. There's been a little bit of downturn in the financial markets and there was a little concern, but it was really encouraging to see positive signs in terms of the statistical performance of the sale. But even more than the statistical performance, was just the level of interest and the activity that took place before the sale and on the sales grounds. I think that we've seen strong, strong interest pre-sale here for the Saratoga Sale and I expect a very healthy market.”

Gainesway sold the topper at last month's July Sale and were also responsible for the sale-topper at Saratoga last year, an Into Mischief colt out of GI Test S. winner Paola Queen. They offer that colt's full-sister here this year. The operation's General Manager Brian Graves agreed with Browning's thoughts on the momentum from the July Sale carrying into Saratoga. “The first sale of the year, July, was a really good sale,” Graves said. “Averages were up and medians were up. There was competition for all of the horses. I think the economy has improved since then. I don't see any reason this won't carry the momentum. The quality horses are here. I feel very good about our group. I am confident it will be a good sale.”

With one of the world's top race meets being held right across the street from the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, it makes Saratoga the ideal place to sell horses.

“There's always a lot of excitement and anticipation when we when we come up to Saratoga,” said Denali Stud's Conrad Bandoroff. “We've been very fortunate to catch some great results up here and have clients that give us some very nice horses to sell. We always target a couple of what we think are some of our nicest yearlings from the farm to come up here. It's just a great environment to sell horses.”

He continued, “It's a world-class race meet and a world-class boutique sale. The buyers and owners are up here. People just love to buy a nice yearling in Saratoga. We're very, very lucky that we have one of the best show areas on the ground, where our horses can really present themselves and showcase their best physical attributes. We call it the Saratoga magic. It can work the right way and the stars align and it can just be a really magical place to sell horses.”

Graves expressed similar sentiments, saying, “It feels energetic. It looks like all the usual buyers are here and even a few new ones. There is plenty of activity. Being centered around one of the best race meets in the world in a small town, the environment gets pretty electric during these night sessions.”

While Gainesway and Denali are familiar faces at the Saratoga Sale, Jill Gordon and Jacob West's Highgate Sales, which debuted at Fasig's February Sale, hangs its shingle up at the Spa for the first time.

“Saratoga is a sale both buyers and sellers look forward to each year and naturally has great energy,” Gordon said. “Bringing a draft here was one of our first short term goals when we launched Highgate earlier this year and we are grateful to our clients supporting us with two quality offerings. We are excited to be here for what is hopefully the first of many Saratoga drafts for Highgate.”

In addition to the perfect setting, the auction has produced some high-class racehorses. Its top graduates include unbeaten MGISW Flightline (Tapit), who brought $1-million at the Spa; MGISW Rushing Fall (More Than Ready); GI Florida Derby hero Known Agenda (Curlin); GI Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A.P. (Honor Code); GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Sharing (Speightstown); and many more.

The 2020 Saratoga Sale was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the auction came back strong in 2021 with 135 yearlings summoning $55.155 million. The average was $408,556 and the median was $350,000.

Bidding gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Monday evening at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion and continues Tuesday with a second session starting at the same time.

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Northview Stallion Station Expansion Leads to Saratoga

After pinhooking success near its home base in Maryland last fall, Northview Stallion Station and the Golden family's Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds will look to keep the momentum going with a debut consignment of three horses at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale Monday.

“It's been a goal of ours for several years to start consigning up here [in Saratoga],” explained Northview's David Wade. “We've had homebreds that have fit the Keeneland market and we've had homebreds that fit the Timonium market, but we were looking specifically for something to pinhook up here at Saratoga. It's difficult for Northview to consign at Keeneland because we are a small consignor for that quality of horse, but in Saratoga, you can come up with two, three, four horses and not get lost and sell at the top of the market. That's where we've wanted to be. Hopefully this works out for us and we can continue to do it.”

Asked if the move marked a new direction for the farm, which was founded by the late Richard Golden in 1986, Wade said, “I don't know that it's a new direction, it's an expansion. We are still breeding horses and selling commercially. But this is just something different to try to see if we can make it work. There are a lot of different ways to lose money in the Thoroughbred industry and there are a lot of different ways to make money in the Thoroughbred industry. So we are looking for other ways to make money.”

Northview's Saratoga consignment kicks off Monday with one of two yearlings by freshman sire Mendelssohn (hip 31). The filly, out of graded winner Munny Spunt (Munnings), was purchased by Sycamore Hall for $280,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

The first-crop 2-year-olds by Mendelssohn have been gaining momentum on the racetrack in recent weeks as the Coolmore stallion has been represented by maiden winners at Ellis Park, Saratoga, Laurel and Delaware Park.

“I feel a lot better than I did a month ago,” Wade said of bringing two yearlings by the sire to market next week. “He finally got that winner in Saudi and then all of a sudden he ends up with a nice winner at Ellis Park and then a really nice winner at Saratoga and then he has had another three or four since then. So he's starting to heat up. He's moved up the freshman sire list. I think he is seventh today, whereas a couple of weeks ago he was probably down there around 20th. So there have been some nice timely wins that make you feel a lot better.”

Mendelssohn added another nice winner Sunday at the Spa in the form of 'TDN Rising Star' Pink Hue.

While Mendelssohn continues to get things done on the racetrack, Northview has already had success with the stallion in the sales ring. The operation purchased a Mendelssohn colt for $100,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November sale. Returned to the sales ring last October, the chestnut topped the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Sale on a bid of $235,000 from pinhooker David Scanlon. Not to be outdone, Scanlon, in turn, sold the colt for $1.3 million at this year's OBS Spring Sale.

“We pinhooked one last year that we took to the Timonium sale that we bought for $100,000 and we got $235,000 and topped the sale,” Wade said of the operation's pinhooking resume. “We had a second horse that I actually bought with the intention of pinhooking for the farm which was an Empire Maker colt, but when I got him back to the farm, Mike Golden, who owns Northview with his sister, saw the horse and he said, 'I'm not selling this horse. I want to race it.' So he's now with Graham Motion and he'll hopefully make a start in four to six weeks.”

The Empire Maker colt (hip 790) was purchased for $150,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November sale. Now named Kicks Like Tucker, he continued preparations for his debut with a three-furlong work in :37 flat (1/4) at Fair Hills last Thursday.

Northview's Saratoga consignment will continue with a colt by Bernardini (hip 90) out of Stargirl (Medaglia d'Oro), who is a half-sister to stakes winners Little Nick V (Colonel John) and Now Spun (Hard Spun). The yearling, whose third dam is Grade I winner Pacific Squall (Storm Bird), was purchased by Wade on behalf of Sycamore Hall for $125,000 at this year's Keeneland January sale.

“We had several horses that we had short listed at the January sale, but the important thing when you shortlist these horses to pinhook them, you have to try to buy them at the right level,” Wade said. “And he was one of the horses who was certainly on our list. I don't think I would have gone any higher for him, but I think we left some room to make some money. We will find out on Monday.”

Of the colt's progression since January, Wade said, “He's actually grown and gotten a little bit bigger than I thought he would. He was kind of a compact, mature-looking horse with a lot of speed, but he's gotten a little bit bigger than I thought he would have.”

The Northview trio is completed by a son of Mendelssohn (hip 110) who is out of Undisputed Legend (Domestic Dispute) and is a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Whereshetoldmetogo (El Padrino). Bred by Wade, the yearling is one of six Maryland-breds in the Saratoga catalogue.

“I think Maryland has always had a strong program,” Wade, a lifelong resident of the state, said. “A lot of the better Maryland-breds wind up going to Kentucky or to Saratoga and every once in a while you see a really good Maryland-bred who is going to go to Timonium. And there are a lot of them that are retained to race, not just to sell. But the Maryland program has always been strong. The breeders that we have there are pretty smart cookies. So we are bullish on the Maryland program and the Maryland-bred incentives.”

Wade is also optimistic heading into the two-day Saratoga sale.

“I think all three of these horses are coming into the sale just right,” he said. “[The market] looked pretty good in July in Kentucky. The 2-year-old sales certainly looked very good. I think, as these foal crops have continued to get smaller and purses have continued to go up, that there is going to be demand for horses. So I think we are sitting in pretty good shape.”

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale will be held Monday and Tuesday in the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. Bidding begins each evening at 6:30 p.m.

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Golden Pal Exits Troy in Good Order

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Before the conversation began rolling, trainer Wesley Ward brought his visitors to Golden Pal (Uncle Mo)'s stall Saturday morning and pointed to the 4-year-old, who was sprawled on his side on the wood chips-covered floor.
Ward chuckled.

“Every day at this time he takes a nap,” Ward said.

Some 10 hours after the two-time Breeders' Cup winner won the GIII Troy S. at Saratoga Race Course, his first start after a rare clunker in the G1 King's Stand S. at Royal Ascot in June, Golden Pal looked like a contented dog resting in front of a fireplace. A few minutes later, he was on his feet checking out what was going on in the shedrow.

“Mentally, he's really a highly intelligent horse,” Ward said. “People think you are crazy, that it's just like, 'a horse is a horse.' You see that he's up in the front of the stall. That wasn't the case at Ascot. He was in the back of the stall and when he flew home and was in his own stall in his own home he was in the back of the stall kind of sulking. It took a little while for him to come out.”

Golden Pal didn't need any cheering up after running his record at Saratoga to three-for-three, all in stakes.

“He knows he won,” Ward said.

The 5 1/2-furlong Troy was the first of Golden Pal's seven career victories in 11 starts that he was not leading at every call. Golden Pal did not leave the gate as sharply as he normally does, but the race scenario played out exactly as Ward had hoped. Under Irad Ortiz, Jr. Golden Pal stalked and pounced, edging pacesetter True Valour (Ire) (Kodiac (GB)) by a head.

Ward has been preparing for the Breeders' Cup during training, having his veteran exercise rider Julio Garcia work him behind horses in breezes. Prior to the Troy, Ward took another step.

“I had a conversation with Irad's agent, Steve Rushing,” Ward said. “I said, 'A lot of jockeys get on my horses, and they just go, because they see me, think speed and they go.' And Irad, the reason I started to ride him is that he would break and do like he did yesterday. Lately, he kind of got a little speedy with some of the horses of mine and I told Steve, 'Look, especially with this horse, let's slow down a little bit, because mine are going to be up in the forefront of the race anyways.' I said, not just him but the others, but especially this one.'”

Ward has called Golden Pal the best horse he has trained and said that the colt's speed is his greatest asset.

“If he contain it, that makes him a better horse,” Ward said. “Because if you're strictly go-to-the-front type horse, you're a victim of the pace.”

Golden Pal is scheduled to leave Saratoga Sunday for Ward's base of operations at Keeneland. The tentative plan is to prepare him to leave the turf, where he has found so much success, and run in the GII Phoenix S. on dirt Oct. 8 at Keeneland. It is intended as a showcase for breeders that he is effective on turf and dirt. He will go on to attempt a second-straight win in GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 5 at Keeneland, which is expected to be his career finale.

However, if all goes well, Ward said that the Coolmore syndicate that owns the colt might run him in Australia to expose him to breeders in the Southern Hemisphere.

Ward was pleased that Golden Pal showed that he had learned his lessons well in the Troy. Though he is accustomed to seeing Golden Pal leading the way in his races, he said he was always confident that the son of Lady Shipman (Midshipman) would catch the leader.

“I was. It was a nail-biter, but for me, I knew the greatness of this horse,” he said. “Take nothing away from the horse that he beat because he ran a really good race, but I knew when they hit that last little bit of the stretch that the greatness was going to come out of him, and it did.”

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