Lawrence Goichman's New York homebred Lachaise, a younger half brother to a pair of stakes winners, will attempt to uphold the family tradition when he makes his second career start in Wednesday's Grade 3, $175,000 With Anticipation at Saratoga Race Course.
The 18th running of the With Anticipation for 2-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course serves as the headliner in Race 9 on a 10-race program that kicks off the final week of the summer meet. First race post time is 1:05 p.m. (ET).
By Oscar Performance and out of the Elusive Quality mare Elusive Rumour, Lachaise was preceded to the races by siblings Myhartblongstodady and Runaway Rumour, both also owned by Goichman and trained by Jorge Abreu. Runaway Rumour won the Wild Applause and ran second in the Grade 2 Lake Placid at Saratoga and Grade 2 Sands Point last year, and was scratched when Friday's $200,000 Yaddo came off the turf.
Myhartblongstodady won 6-of-15 starts and nearly $443,000 in purses from 2018 to 2021, winning twice at Saratoga in 2020 including the Yaddo. She also won the Ticonderoga that year and last fall's John Hettinger, both at Belmont Park, the latter after running second in defense of her Yaddo title.
“His whole family is long on the turf. He comes from a good family, and they all show up and run,” Abreu said. “I feel pretty confident.”
Lachaise ran big on debut August 4 at Saratoga, drawing off under jockey Flavien Prat to win a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight for state-breds on the grass by 1 1/4 lengths as the favorite. The same day, Abreu sent out Goichman's 2-year-old filly Alluring Angel to a half-length upset in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden grass sprint.
“He was breezing pretty well,” Abreu said of Lachaise. “The day they won, I liked him the most. The filly surprised me because I didn't think she was ready to win first time out, but he was ready for the race he ran.”
Jose Ortiz breezed Lachaise a half-mile Wednesday over the Oklahoma training track in :49.43, ninth-fastest of 56 horses, and will ride in the With Anticipation from post position 8.
Another horse with a win at the With Anticipation distance on the Saratoga turf is Bourbon Lane Stable and Circle N Thoroughbreds' Our Dream Rye'd, who graduated with a 1 1/4-length maiden special weight triumph July 30 in his second start.
It was the first race on grass for Our Dream Rye'd, who finished sixth on debut June 19 sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs over Churchill Downs' main track. The winner of that race, Mo Strike, came back to capture the Grade 3 Sanford July 16 while third-place finisher Disarm broke his maiden next out August 6, both at Saratoga.
“He's an improving colt,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “We had no grass at Churchill, so I just used the race to get a good education in him, get him running, get him started and get him moving. He came here and lived up to what I thought he could do in his last race. He's trained even better now for this next race and he's improved, but he's going to have to because you're running against winners now.”
Wilkes continues to work with Our Dream Rye'd on getting into his races quicker. He broke a step slow in each of his starts and found himself at or near the back of the pack early, though jockey Julien Leparoux was able to navigate a winning trip last out.
“His only bad habit is he's got to break a little better. He ran really good here at the distance on the turf and showed a good turn of foot. He's trained very good since then, so I'm very pleased with him,” Wilkes said. “He's just got to learn. He'll get a lot of confidence out of that last race, so he should break better this time.”
Leparoux, who won the With Anticipation with Nownownow in 2007 and Balance the Books in 2012, gets the return call from post position 9.
West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing's Battle of Normandy fetched $500,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Select Yearling Sale last summer, and a year later rolled to a 2 1/4-length debut triumph August 6 on the Saratoga turf, also at 1 1/16 miles. Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey wheels him back in the With Anticipation, where he will once again be ridden by Kendrick Carmouche from post 1.
Kirk Wykoff's Three Diamonds Farm and trainer Mike Maker won the 2020 With Anticipation with Fire At Will, and the connections look to strike again with recent acquisition Bourbon Therapy. Wykoff purchased the Free Drop Billy colt from trainer and co-owner John Ennis for $40,000 following a 1 1/2-length maiden special weight triumph June 27 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
All three of Bourbon Therapy's races have come sprinting on the turf, including his April 28 debut at Keeneland and a runner-up finish May 30 in Indiana.
“Stretching out I don't think will be an issue. From what I understand he was ready early, and the only races for him were [sprints],” Maker said. “Watching his previous races, it looks like he should be forwardly placed.”
Maker will leave that up to the break and jockey Luis Saez, who rides from post position 4.
“He worked over the turf the other day and he worked really well. We've had no complaints so far,” Maker said. “I feel pretty good about him. He's been a pretty straight-forward horse, very professional.”
Susan Moulton's homebred Andthewinneris, also by Oscar Performance, defeated Bourbon Therapy when they met at Keeneland in April, and gets back on the turf in the With Anticipation after running a distant third to Gulfport in the six-furlong Bashford Manor July 4 at Churchill Downs. Gulfport came back to run a troubled second as the favorite in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special August 13.
Flavien Prat, up for the debut win, climbs back aboard from post position 2.
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse won last year's With Anticipation with Coinage, and entered the pair of Boppy O and Determinedly for a title defense. John Oxley and Breeze Easy's Boppy O will be racing first time on the grass, having broken his maiden May 20 going five furlongs at Gulfstream Park, and finishing 10th in the Sanford. Oxley also owns Determinedly, runner-up to Our Dream Rye'd at Saratoga who was three-quarters of a length ahead of show finisher and next-out winner Rarified Flair.
Dylan Davis rides Boppy O from outermost post 10, while Hall of Famer John Velazquez is named on Determinedly, the lone horse on the also-eligible list.
Ballybrit Stable's Bramble Blaze [post 6, Jose Lezcano] and John D. Stephens' El Conejito [post 5, Jomar Torres], both winners going a mile on the Monmouth Park turf in their lone starts; Richard Greeley's Noble Huntsman [post 3, Manny Franco], fifth last out in the 5 1/2-furlong Skidmore August 19 on the grass at Saratoga; and K E M Racing Stables' Quincy Café [post 7, Eric Cancel], promoted maiden special weight winner July 31 at Laurel Park yet to run on turf, are also entered.
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