Trainer Michael Tomlinson has come to Saratoga Race Course with a serious 3-year-old sprinter in the past, saddling graded stakes-winner Barbados to a game third-place finish in the 2015 Grade 2 Amsterdam. On Saturday, he returns to the Spa for the first time in four years with Patricia's Hope and Mark Farrar's Conagher in the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial for sophomores sprinting seven furlongs.
“He's doing very well. He got up here on Monday night and has trained well since,” said Tomlinson. “He'll gallop tomorrow.”
Conagher, a chestnut son of Jimmy Creed, enters from a 2 1/4-length victory going the Allen Jerkens distance on August 1 in Colonial Downs' Housebuster, going wire-to-wire and defeating Old Homestead, who won the Lafayette in impressive fashion in April at Keeneland. The effort came on the heels of a runner-up effort in the 1 1/16-mile Iowa Derby on July 9 at Prairie Meadows where he was defeated by Ain't Life Grand, who will race later on Saturday's card in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers.
“The horse that ran second was quality,” Tomlinson said of the Housebuster effort. “He had won a stakes race at Keeneland, so he didn't beat a slouch. We wanted that race as a prep to back up to sprinting after going two turns in Iowa. It was a good race with pressure all the way and he drew off.”
Conagher's best effort to date was a dominating allowance optional claiming victory going seven furlongs on June 3 at Churchill Downs. He showed his usual frontrunning tactics and drew off to a 5 1/4-length win under returning rider Joe Rocco, Jr., earning a career-high 104 Beyer Speed Figure.
Of nine entrants in the Allen Jerkens, only multiple graded stakes-winner Jack Christopher owns a higher figure, boasting a 107 for his 10-length win in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun at Belmont Park.
In that June 3 effort, Conagher soundly defeated returning rival and Grade 1-winner Gunite, who was making his first start back off an eight-month respite. Tomlinson said it gives him confidence that Conagher has already beaten one of the most formidable foes he will face on Saturday.
“He handily beat Gunite and I realized that was Gunite's first race back off the layoff,” said Tomlinson. “He did it the right way and well see what happens. His efforts have shown that a Grade 1 is within his grasp.”
Tomlinson said both speed and a smart ride from Rocco, Jr. will be key to success on Saturday.
“He's obviously got a lot of speed and he can go quickly. He has a lot of ability and can carry at least a mile,” Tomlinson said. “It's a very tactical jockeys' race and there are several in there with speed, so it will be a test.”
A win with Conagher would mark the first Grade 1 triumph for Tomlinson, who has scored at the graded level with top trainees Kettleoneup, Sir Cherokee, Barbados and Jordan's Henny. Tomlinson said winning a Grade 1, especially at Saratoga, would be very meaningful.
“This would be my first Grade 1, but we've won several Grade 2s and 3s with some other horses,” said Tomlinson. “It's exciting; we'll see.”
A $9,000 purchase at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, Conagher has amassed total purse earnings of $312,353 through a record of 9-4-3-1. He is the second foal to race out of the Niagara Causeway mare You Should Be Here, a direct descendant of Grade 1-winning and producing mare Fall Aspen.
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