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Maxfield Has Final Woodward Prep For Walsh; Pletcher Breezes Several Stakes Contenders

A number of star equines breezed Saturday morning at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., in preparation for next weekend's lucrative card that will feature seven graded races worth $2.3 million in purse money.

A pair of Grade 1s highlight the Saturday, Oct. 2, card with the $500,000 Woodward for 3-year-olds and up going a one-turn 1 1/8 miles on Big Sandy; and the $500,000 Champagne for 2-year-olds running one mile in a prestigious race, affording a spot in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile to the winner. The Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo will see juvenile fillies running 1 1/16 miles on turf that day, along with the Grade 3, $200,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on the grass.

Sunday, Oct. 3, will continue the high-level action, with the Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette for 2-year-old fillies at one mile on the main track with a spot in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies up for grabs. The day will also include the Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim for juveniles going 1 1/16 miles on the turf and the Grade 3, $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Waya at 1 3/8 miles in a turf route for fillies and mares 3-and-up.

Godolphin's Maxfield registered his final breeze for the Woodward on Saturday, covering a half-mile in 48.55 seconds on the main track.

Under mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s, the five-time graded stakes-winning millionaire completed his half-mile move at 8:45 a.m. marking the quarter-mile in 24.71 and galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.10 and up six furlongs in 1:14.81 under Jose Ortiz, who has piloted Maxfield to five of his seven lifetime victories.

“It was a very good work,” said Maxfield trainer Brendan Walsh. “We just wanted to give him a feel for the track. He did all of his serious work in Saratoga. It was just a routine half-mile. He galloped out really well. We're all set for the Woodward.”

Maxfield, a dark bay 4-year-old son of Street Sense, enters the Woodward off a runner-up effort to Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 7, at Saratoga. Maxfield arrived at the Whitney from wins in the Alysheba on April 30 and the Stephen Foster on June 26, both Grade 2 events at Churchill Downs.

Maxfield will be targeting his first Grade 1 victory since winning the Breeders' Futurity in October 2019 at Keeneland.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher also worked a slew of horses in pursuit of graded stakes action next weekend.

Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable and Gainesway Stable's Wit, second in the Grade 1 Hopeful last out on September 6 at Saratoga, and Robert and Lawana Low's decisive maiden winner My Prankster worked in company at 7:45 a.m. over the Belmont training track in preparation for the Champagne.

Wit and My Prankster breezed through splits of 25.25 and 37.25, before completing their five-furlong breeze in 1:01.84.

“It was a good solid work for them both,” said Pletcher, who eyes his seventh Champagne conquest. “They're pointing for the same race, so I thought it made sense to work them together. They make good workmates, they were head-and-head throughout.

“My Prankster was very impressive in his maiden win,” Pletcher added. “His gate work I thought was impressive before he first ran, he's not a horse that is an overzealous work horse. If you hadn't seen that gate work, you might not have expected the debut he had, but he's a pretty laid back colt. It's always a big stretch to go from a one start maiden to a Grade 1 stake, but we've had some success doing that.”

Pletcher worked three-time Grade 1-winner Malathaat at 9:30 a.m. on the Belmont training track in company with graded stakes-winner and fellow Curlin daughter Spice Is Nice, who completed their four-furlong works in 49.46.

Shadwell Stables' Malathaat is scheduled to train up to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff and was a last out winner of the Grade 1 Alabama on August 21 at Saratoga. Earlier this year, she won the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland en route to a victory in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

Robert and Lawana Low's Spice Is Nice, a winner of the Grade 3 Allaire DuPont Distaff in May at Pimlico, will target the Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame on October 10.

“Everything has gone according to plan with Malathaat,” Pletcher said. “This was her second half-mile breeze since the Alabama and we'll go five eighths next week and start to pick things up a bit. There's quite a bit of time in between races, so hopefully we'll have her ready.”

Pletcher also worked Spendthrift Farm's Following Sea, a dual Grade 1-placed sophomore son of Runhappy, who will face elders next out in the Grade 2, $250,000 Vosburgh on October 9 at Belmont – a “Win And You're In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Following Sea went a half-mile in 49.23 over the Belmont training track. He finished a distant third to Jackie's Warrior and stable mate Life Is Good last out in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 28 at Saratoga. In his only start over Big Sandy, Following Sea bested winners going 6 ½ furlongs on June 3.

“He went well,” Pletcher said. “He seemed to run really well in his allowance win here at Belmont, so that's part of the reason why we chose the Vosburgh.”

Pletcher said Robert and Lawana Low's Classy Edition emerged from her Joseph A. Gimma triumph on Friday in good order. While the daughter of Classic Empire is likely for the $250,000 Maid of the Mist against fellow New York-breds on October 30, Pletcher did not rule out a start in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“She's been very impressive in both starts, so I think we have to consider open company,” Pletcher said. “The Maid of the Mist comes [one week] before the Breeders' Cup so we'll target that race. But if she's doing so well that we can't resist, we'll talk about it.”

Pletcher also stated that Classy Edition could target the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle on December 4 at Aqueduct.

Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister's promising Champagne aspirant Jack Christopher, trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, breezed five-eighths in company with sophomore maiden winner Pipeline in 1:00 flat Saturday on the main track.

Jack Christopher, a Munnings chestnut who was purchased for $135,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, registered a 92 Beyer for a his 8 3/4-length debut score in a six-furlong maiden special weight on August 28 at Saratoga.

John Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock Services' Pipeline, by Speightstown and out of the Empire Maker mare Vivo Per Lei, graduated at fourth asking in a seven-furlong maiden tilt on September 4 at Saratoga. The bay colt's 3 1/4-length score matched a career-best 97 Beyer.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Sunday Morning Luck Strikes Again at Keeneland

Less than 48 hours after what was arguably her greatest achievements in the horse business, Rosilyn Polan was back at Keeneland with a pair of yearlings slated to go through the ring on Sunday. Earlier in the week during Book 2 of the Keeneland September Sale, her City of Light colt out of the Tapit mare Anchorage became the probable sale topper when he sold for $1.7 million to Woodford Racing, Talla Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds.

But now it was on to Book 3 and the spirited breeder and consignor was ready for round two.

“Of course, as beyond exciting as the Anchorage colt was, now that I'm here with another consignment, that's really behind me and this is where my focus is now,” Polan said at Barn 28 as she stood alongside the stalls of her Accelerate colt and Sharp Azteca filly. They wouldn't bring quite what her first offering sold for, but the duo did fetch over $160,000 combined.

Although the owner of Sunday Morning Farm had her mind set on her final two offerings of the auction, it was clear that most other salegoers were still fixated on her farm's earlier success as a steady stream of well-wishers dropped by to extend their congratulations.

“People have been so genuinely happy for me, people I don't even know,” she said. “People ask me if I expected that [result]. Well nobody ever dreams of even getting to a million dollars. I knew people would like him, but nobody even thinks of liking him for that kind of money. The words haven't been invented yet to describe that feeling. The only thing that would have made the day more perfect would have been to have my daughter Laiken there. She is always such a good help to me and is my best cheerleader.”

The day before Polan's City of Light colt entered the sales ring, another colt by the Lane's End first-crop sire, consigned by Woods Edge Farm, brought $1.05 million.

“I had told a friend of mine, 'Oh darn, I wanted to be the most expensive City of Light at the sale,'” Polan said with a laugh of still a bit of disbelief.

But even after achieving such a monumental goal, the breeder went home that night to commemorate the achievement by catching up on barn chores.

“My celebration is all right here,” she said, pointing towards her heart. “The best thing about what I do is that I go back home and work. I have fly masks to tend to and stalls to tend to. That keeps me grounded and keeps my happy. It fills me up.”

City of Light colt out of the stakes-placed mare Anchorage fetches $1.7 million. | Keeneland

Polan had held a similar celebration ceremony last year, when her Practical Joke colt brought $575,000 at the same auction. Now of course named Wit, he brought attention to his breeder earlier this summer when he became a GIII-winning 'TDN Rising Star.'

“I can't compare the two horses or the two feelings,” she said when asked to describe the similarities between her experiences with Wit and with this yearling colt. “I will say that with both of them, I just felt so special.”

Polan did admit that with Wit, she had not realize how well he would be received until after he was on the grounds at Keeneland.

“He was just so laid back about it but when he came to the sale, every time he came out of his stall he got bigger and had more presence and was loftier.”

But this City of Light yearling was different, she said. “The Anchorage colt was always that way, whether it was at the farm or the sale, he was always coming out of his stall saying, 'Let's go.' At the sale people would comment to me, 'It's four o'clock in the afternoon and he's still marching.' But that was always his type.”

To Polan, his powerful-but-easygoing stride and eye-catching presence was reminiscent of what she saw in the colt's dam six years ago at the Keeneland November Sale.

“I was trying to buy a mare in foal to Will Take Charge,” she recalled. “I wasn't able to buy anything so I went and looked at every RNA after the sale. I looked at quite a few before I saw Anchorage, but from the second I saw her I went, 'Oh yeah, this is it.' I mean she just fills your eye and she's got so much presence. She's a big, heavy mare that looks like she would hit the ground hard, but when I brought her home and turned her out, she went off across the field and her feet never hit the ground -just like mine after that sale.”

Polan sold Anchorage's first Will Take Charge foal for $130,000 at the following November Sale. That filly, named Tijori, won on debut to earn 'TDN Rising Star' status. Bred back to the same sire, Anchorage produced a Will Take Charge colt that brought $280,000. Now named Abaan, the Todd Pletcher trainee broke his maiden earlier this month at Saratoga by over seven lengths.

“She continues to produce fabulous runners,” Polan said proudly. “At home, she's my special mare. I'm sure everyone's going to say that if I sell a million-dollar horse out of her, of course she's my special mare. But she just is. She's such a queen and she's the gift that keeps on giving.”

Polan recalls the stunned sensation she felt when Anchorage foaled her City of Light colt last February.

“I felt like the luckiest person in the world,” she said.

As the newborn stepped up on wobbly legs, she thought back to the photo of trainer Michael McCarthy sending City of Light off to Lane's End alongside his young daughter when the champion retired in 2019.

“In the picture, there he was on the van and the daughter was boo-hooing because she couldn't believe that her horse was leaving. So I got in touch with Allaire [Ryan] at Lane's End and asked if I could send her a picture of this foal because he was so special and I wanted to show this young girl that her horse was not gone. That was my first picture of the foal and from the minute he stood up, some horses give you that feeling and some don't. This one was, 'Oh my gosh, wow.'”

Polan's City of Light colt out of Anchorage thrives as a youngster at Sunday Morning Farm. | Rosilyn Polan

According to Polan, the stunning bay didn't lose an ounce of 'wow factor' from the moment he got to his feet to when he went through the ring at Keeneland.

“He was a beast on the farm and never really went through a gangly stage,” she explained. “All summer as we've been sales prepping him, he would handwalk 45 minutes up these hills and then he would go in the stall and lay down. He would sleep flat out all day long and sometimes I would have to wake him up to feed him. He just had a good attitude. There was nothing super sweet about him; he's always been a man.”

While the colt's stall now stands empty back at Sunday Morning Farm, it will soon be filled by his half-sister by Omaha Beach that was foaled in March.

“She is like the farm princess,” Polan said with a big smile. “I don't spoil them and I didn't make her that way. She was just born that way.”

Also on the farm is Wit's younger brother– this one a son of none other than City of Light.

Polan said she currently has eight mares in her broodmare band.

“I count them 40 times a day and then I forget,” she jokes, and then shares what she looks for in potential additions to her band. “It's the same thing when buying a mare as choosing what stallion to breed to: If they make my knees weak then that's the one I want. I don't get emotional about it to where I'll spend whatever it takes. With my mares I have to have a price limit and I'm just lucky that I've been able to have been so lucky.”

And luck, Polan believes, is what it all comes down to in this business.

“Everyone says they're glad to see that the small breeder can do this. Well honestly, the big breeders deserve it just as much as anybody because look at the financial responsibility that they put on the line to be who they are. I think it has more to do with luck than it has to do with hard work or intention or being out there every evening going through your fields, because we all do that. We all work hard and some of us get lucky and some of us haven't had our luck yet.”

However modest Polan's outlook on the reasoning behind these recent successes, she will keep the fond memories tucked away to ponder daily as she raises up the next crop of future runners at Sunday Morning Farm.

“I think it's what keeps us all working in the Thoroughbred business,” she said. “It's the carrot in front of the old nag, or whatever they say, and it's just amazing to think that a payoff like this can happen to anybody.”

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Pletcher Prepares Life Is Good For Kelso, Wit For Champagne

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher worked graded stakes winner Life Is Good a half-mile over the training track Saturday in preparation for Saturday's $300,000 Grade 2 Kelso Handicap, a one-turn mile for 3-year-olds and up at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Owned by CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm, the son of leading sire Into Mischief recorded his four-furlong move in :48.46 over a fast main track – the 17th fastest of 132 recorded works at the distance. This was a second work back for Life Is Good following a game runner-up effort in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, where he engaged in a dramatic stretch duel with Jackie's Warrior, coming up a neck shy of victory.

“I thought he worked super,” Pletcher said. “I was really pleased with the way he went and it looked like he was moving along there really well.”

Unbeaten in his previous three efforts, which include victories in the Grade 3 Sham and Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., this winter, Life Is Good will see an increase in ground from the seven-furlong H. Allen Jerkens.

“I think it's a good progression for him coming off the layoff and the one seven-eighths race.”

Pletcher also worked three-time Grade 1-winner Malathaat Saturday, who went an easy half-mile in :49.49 over the Belmont training track in her first breeze since winning the Grade 1 Alabama on August 19 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Pletcher said the Shadwell Stable-owned daughter of Curlin will train up to the $3 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff on November 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“It was her first work back and she did it well,” Pletcher said. “Her energy level is really good at the moment. We plan on training up to the Breeders' Cup.”

Also returning to the work tab for Pletcher was Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable, and Gainesway Stable's Wit, who was second after stumbling at the start of the Grade 1 Hopeful on September 6 at Saratoga.

The son of freshman stallion Practical Joke went a half-mile in :49.93 over the Belmont training track and will target the $500,000 Grade 1 Champagne on October 2 – a “Win And You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile on November 5 at Del Mar.

“He worked well,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully, we get a little cleaner break this time. It certainly hurt his chances, he fell on his head leaving there, but I thought he ran on courageously after that.”

Pletcher said Bass Stables homebred Annapolis, who broke his maiden on debut going two turns over Saratoga's inner turf by 4 ½ lengths, will target the $200,000 Grade 2 Pilgrim on October 3 at Belmont Park.

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Gunite Caps Grade I Double For Gun Runner in Hopeful

Gunite (Gun Runner) capped off a remarkable summer for both his freshman sire and his trainer on closing day Monday at Saratoga, shaking off pace pressure and kicking away in the stretch to an 11-1 upset of the GI Hopeful S. His well-earned victory made it a clean sweep of the Spa's annual marquee 2-year-old races for Three Chimneys Farm's freshman sensation Gun Runner after Echo Zulu dominated the GI Spinaway S. Sunday, and was the icing on the cake for Steve Asmussen, who had his most successful Saratoga season yet, highlighted by his becoming the all-time winningest trainer in North America earlier in the meet.

Lagging back early in his first two starts before rallying to finish third and then second, Gunite found his early foot third out June 26 at Churchill, dueling through a :21.68 quarter and edging away to a 1 1/2-length graduation. Going toe to toe with favored Doctor Jeff (Street Boss) in the GII Saratoga Special S. here last out Aug. 14, he won the battle with that rival fading to fifth, but lost the war, as he proved no match in the final furlong for re-opposing High Oak (Gormley).

Let go as the fourth choice in this Labor Day feature as the money poured in on 3-5 GIII Sanford S. romper Wit (Practical Joke) and 5-2 High Oak, Gunite was sent through a rail opening by Ricardo Santana, Jr. to be part of a three-way pace battle through a :22.23 quarter. Meanwhile, High Oak found a perfect spot tracking that trio in fourth while Wit landed in midpack after stumbling at the start. Getting rid of his pace rivals past a salty :44.46 half, Gunite arrived at the top of the lane in command, but appeared ripe for the picking as Wit navigated into the clear after saving ground on the bend. But the favorite could never muster a serious threat to the Winchell Thoroughbreds colorbearer, and Gunite kept to his task past the teeming Saratoga stands to finish the meet's stakes schedule with an exclamation point. Wit was able to hold second over 28-1 longshot Kevin's Folly (Distorted Humor), while High Oak checked in a disappointing fourth.

“I loved how he went through the wire,” said Asmussen, who won his third straight Hopeful. “He didn't get away great today. Ricardo said there was just a little bit of bumping. Going 22 and 1 to 44 and 2, and to look how he did it to the wire, it's going to be exciting going forward. I was concerned we weren't where we expected to be in the first hundred yards. But I watched the race from up the stretch and Ricardo, coming into the stretch, moved his hands a bit but had him plenty gathered up. I felt really good then. It's state of mind. We've been aggressive with him and he's put on weight and gotten stronger the whole time. We've been through the roof with how well he's doing.”

“He's a really nice horse,” said Santana. “He can go to the lead, he can come from behind. He can do whatever you want. Today, I decided to take him back. [Early leader Defend] tried to blow the turn a little bit, so the rail opened. I made my move, and he was making his move by himself. I was really comfortable with him the whole race. He's getting better and better and better.”

The win gave Santana, who spends most of the year in Kentucky and is one of the last remaining Kentucky riders to summer in Saratoga, a fifth Grade I score at the meet.

“It's special,” he said. “Saratoga is one of the best tracks in North America. I'm really blessed. Five Grade I wins in one meet is unreal.”

Asmussen added that Gunite's next target will be the one-mile GI Champagne S. Oct. 2 at Belmont, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, saying, “I love him for more 2-year-old races this year. We know what we want his next two races to be and we feel really good about them. The Champagne and the Breeders' Cup are what we're hoping his next two races are. I love his style for the Juvenile. He's going to travel and we'll try to take it. We're very proud of him.”

Pedigree Notes:

Not only the second Grade I winner already for 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, Gunite is also a remarkable fourth graded stakes winner already for the chestnut, following aforementioned Echo Zulu, GII Adirondack S. heroine Wicked Halo and GII Best Pal S. victor Pappacap. He is the first foal to race out of Simple Surprise, who annexed the Bolton Landing S. for these connections over the local turf as a juvenile in 2015 and later added two stakes placings sprinting on the Fair Grounds lawn. Second dam Simplify captured the restricted Loudonville S. on the Saratoga dirt in 2009 and placed in six other black-type events. Gunite has a yearling full-sister and produced a filly by Copper Bullet this season before being bred to Tapiture.

Monday, Saratoga
HOPEFUL S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 9-6, 2yo, 7f, 1:23.08, gd.
1–GUNITE, 120, c, 2, by Gun Runner
          1st Dam: Simple Surprise (SW, $185,446), by Cowboy Cal
          2nd Dam: Simplify, by Pulpit
          3rd Dam: Classic Olympio, by Olympio
   1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
   WIN. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen; J-Ricardo Santana, Jr. $165,000. Lifetime Record:
5-2-2-1, $293,988. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click
   for eNicks report & 5-cross catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Wit, 122, c, 2, Practical Joke–Numero d'Oro, by Medaglia
d'Oro. 'TDN Rising Star' ($575,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole
Stable, St. Elias Stable & Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck);
B-Rosilyn Polan (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $60,000.
3–Kevin's Folly, 120, c, 2, Distorted Humor–Santa Vindi, by
Vindication. ($80,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Michael McLoughlin;
B-Stonehaven Steadings (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss. $36,000.
Margins: 5 3/4, 3, HF. Odds: 11.60, 0.65, 28.75.
Also Ran: High Oak, Power Agenda, Big Scully, Volcanic, Headline Report, Kitodan, Defend, Street Fight. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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