Cody's Wish brings a six-race win streak into Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Whitney, the highlight of this weekend's graded stakes action across North America. He'll face a field of five rivals as he seeks his first victory at a distance greater than a mile as well as a berth in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
With five stakes consisting of purses in excess of $2.53 million, Whitney Day features two other Grade 1 events: the $600,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational and the $500,000 Test. The Derby features nine entrants, including both the winners of the Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks, while the Test features Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous. Also featured on the card is Caravel's start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Troy, as well as the $135,000 Fasig-Tipton Lure.
The other Grade 1 on the weekend is the Clement L. Hirsch at Del Mar, which offers a berth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. Five entrants have signed on for the 1 1/16-mile contest.
Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., is staging three turf stakes Saturday and four on Sunday, all positioned to be stepping stones to the big-money races at Kentucky Downs' all-grass late-summer meet. The winners of the Ellis stakes receive a guaranteed fees-paid berth in the corresponding race at Kentucky Downs. Five of the stakes are worth $200,000, and another is worth $250,000; each has drawn a field of at least 10 starters.
The one stakes this weekend that doesn't carry Kentucky Downs Preview in its name is Sunday's Grade 3 Pucker Up, a stakes for 3-year-old fillies that Ellis Park inherited from Arlington Park. The $300,000 Pucker Up is the richest race of the Ellis Park meet; its winner receives a fees-paid spot in the $1 million Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs.
Also on Sunday: the G3 Adirondack at Saratoga features juvenile fillies, including opening-day G3 Schuylerville winner Becky's Joker; the $500,000 West Virginia Derby (G3) card at Mountaineer Park; and the G3 La Jolla at Del Mar.
Saturday
4:26 p.m. – Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga
Pretty Mischievous vies for sovereignty atop the sophomore filly division while cutting back in distance in Saturday's seven-furlong Test. She enters the Test on the heels of back-to-back Grade 1 scores for conditioner Brendan Walsh, beginning with a tenacious win in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 5 at Churchill Downs. The daughter of Into Mischief was last seen posting a nearly identical performance to the Oaks in the Grade 1 Acorn on June 9 at Belmont Park, a 1 1/16-mile test conducted around one turn.
The Test will be Pretty Mischievous' first start at a sprint distance since scoring her first triumph against winners in a seven-furlong optional claiming contest in October at Churchill. Walsh said he looks forward to the pace scenario his filly is likely to get in an extended sprint and that the Test's timing proved favorable over a start in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, which was run on July 22.
Undefeated New York-bred Maple Leaf Mel looms large after an easy last-out score in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 8 at Belmont Park in her first outing for her conditioner and namesake Melanie Giddings.
Dorth Vader [post 6, John Velazquez] will face a rematch with Pretty Mischievous after coming up a head shy in the Acorn with a strong late rally under returning Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez for trainer George Weaver.
Todd Pletcher trainee Munnys Gold [post 7, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] was last seen finishing a pacesetting fourth in the Acorn, defeated 4 1/2 lengths by Pretty Mischievous after setting moderate fractions.
Completing the field are the dual-winning Michael McCarthy trainee Clearly Unhinged [post 2, Javier Castellano]; stakes-winner Tappin Josie [post 3, Kevin Gomez] for trainer Horacio De Paz; stakes-placed Jersey Pearl [post 4, Luis Saez], a last-out 9 1/2-length allowance winner at Ellis Park for conditioner Darrin Miller; and graded stakes-placed Interpolate [post 5, Flavien Prat] for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown.
5:01 p.m. – Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational at Saratoga
Nine sophomores representing three nations will face off in the 1 3/16-mile turf affair. Belmont Derby winner Far Bridge has boasted talent and trajectory for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who also conditioned his Champion sire English Channel. In five runs, he has three wins and a pair of seconds. He will be piloted from post 5 by Jose Ortiz, who is perfect in two trips aboard Far Bridge, including the Belmont Derby coup.
Belmont Oaks heroine Aspen Grove [post 3, John Velazquez, 119 pounds] takes on the boys on the strength of her first top-level win. A Group 3-winner at two, who was last-of-10 in May's Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas, she is trained by Fozzy Stack and is a daughter of Coolmore-based Triple Crown winner Justify.
A second Irish raider comes in the form of Lindy Farms' The Franchise [post 4, Luis Saez], who is trained by State of Rest's conditioner, Joseph O'Brien. Graduating at fifth asking in a nine-furlong handicap last out on June 30, he is a son of Siyouni, sire of Wednesday's Group 1 Sussex Stakes winner Paddington. The Franchise hails from a deep Daniel Wildenstein female family and is related to a pack of Group 1 horses, including Loup Sauvage, Loup Solitaire and Loup Breton.
Another European of high regard and solid connections entering the fray is Lion of War, a son of European Horse of the Year of 2018, Roaring Lion. From his late sire's only North American crop, the emblazoned bay has three wins from nine starts and exits a strong second in the Golden Gate at Ascot over 10 furlongs, where he was a bit unlucky for running room when it mattered most. Two races back, he was a green, but successful victor in Musselburgh's Edinburgh Cup over nine furlongs, carrying 131 pounds. Oisin Murphy, who rode his brilliant sire, takes the reins from post 8.
Christophe Clement-trained Mondego finished third after setting the pace in the Belmont Derby. The promising colt was making his stakes debut in the Grade 1 affair and returns to top-tier action in what will be his sixth start. Joel Rosario, aboard for his past four runs, including two victories, rides from the inside post.
Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown, who teamed up to win this event in 2020 with Domestic Spending in just his fourth career start, will try to do one better with Program Trading [post 2, Flavien Prat], who races for the third time on Saturday. The bay ridgling won impressively on debut in May at Monmouth and then appeared to improve again when winning in Belmont optional-claiming company on June 25.
On the opposite side of the experience spectrum is Mark Casse-trained Webslinger [post 6, Javier Castellano], a four-time winner from 10 starts, including Churchill Downs' Grade 2 American Turf. The son of Constitution seeks to become a millionaire with a top-two finish in this spot, having earned more than 18 times his $50,000 auction price thus far. Last out, he was an unlucky fourth when closing wide in the Belmont Derby, beaten a dwindling 1 1/2-lengths.
Another with ample graded form from the stateside team is Battle of Normandy [post 7, Tyler Gaffalione], who conquered his debut maiden over the Saratoga turf one year ago. Subsequently second in Saratoga's Grade 3 With Anticipation and fifth in Keeneland's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, he has a pair of rallying seconds in allowance company under Irad Ortiz, Jr. at Keeneland and Pimlico this season for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.
The field is completed by lightly raced blueblood Truly Quality [post 9, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], a son of Quality Road and grandson of Breeders' Cup champion Forever Together, a dual Grade 1 Diana-winner over the Saratoga sod. The Jonathan Thomas-trained dark bay gelding exits a 2 3/4-length Belmont maiden turf win over 10 furlongs—course and distance of the Belmont Derby, one day later. That effort followed a pair of eye-catching runner-up efforts.
5:42 p.m. – Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga
The magical story of Cody's Wish will add another chapter in this “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Classic. Five rivals have signed on to face the Bill Mott trainee over nine furlongs.
Cody's Wish, who boasts a record of 13-9-1-3 and field-high earnings of $2,328,530, will attempt to add a fifth consecutive Grade 1 triumph to his ledger. The son of multiple Champion-producing stallion Curlin arrives at the Whitney from a 3 1/4-length victory in the Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap where he equaled a career-high 112 Beyer Speed Figure while besting returning rivals Zandon and White Abarrio.
Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle Charge It, who was a last-out winner of the Grade 2 Suburban on July 8 at Belmont Park. The 4-year-old Tapit gray colt was in command throughout most of the 10-furlong journey, building on his advantage en route to a 4 3/4-length score while garnering a 106 Beyer.
Grade 1 winner Zandon will attempt to turn the tables on Cody's Wish after finishing a late-closing second in the Met Mile for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown. The son of Upstart, who finished third in the 2016 Whitney, seeks his first trip to the winner's circle since capturing the Grade 1 Blue Grass last April at Keeneland, but has finished on the board in 6-of-7 starts since that effort.
Trainer Dale Romans will send out Giant Game [post 3, Luis Saez, 20-1]. The 4-year-old dark bay showed newfound frontrunning dimensions in a victory two starts back in a 1 3/16-mile allowance on May 11 at Churchill Downs and parlayed that style into a three-quarter length triumph in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Cornhusker on July 8 at Prairie Meadows.
White Abarrio [post 5, Irad Ortiz, Jr. 6-1] ran a career-high 106 Beyer when third to Cody's Wish in the Met Mile in his first start for trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr.
Legendary Hall of Fame horseman D. Wayne Lukas will send out Last Samurai [post 4, Flavien Prat, 15-1]. The 5-year-old Malibu Moon chestnut won last year's Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap while being trained by Dallas Stewart and captured this year's Grade 3 Razorback in February and Grade 3 Essex in March, both at Oaklawn Park, for Lukas. He enters from a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on July 1 at Ellis Park.
9:30 p.m. – Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar
The Hirsch is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” challenge race that guarantees the winner an admission free berth in the $2-million Breeders' Cup Distaff, which will be run this year at Santa Anita in November. It drew a field of five distaffers.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who won the Hirsch in 2020 with Fighting Mad, will send out a pair of solid candidates in the Saturday headliner in Adare Manor and Fun to Dream.
Adare Manor, an Uncle Mo offspring who has five victories and four seconds in 11 careers starts, well could be the favorite in the crucible. The speedster comes into the race off a trio of scores, the last two coming in Grade 2 stakes at Santa Anita. She figures to be on or near the lead throughout and she'll have the saddle services of her regular rider, Juan Hernandez, for the test, which goes as Race 10 on an 11-race card.
The other Baffert filly, Fun to Dream, is a California homebred daughter of the trainer's Hall of Fame stallion Arrogate out of the Maria's Mon mare Lutess. She's won six of her eight outings and is the lone runner in the lineup with a Grade 1 tally already to her credit, that coming in the La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita last December. Hernandez had ridden the filly in all eight of her previous starts, but chose to go the other way for this affair. That left the door open for veteran Ramon Vazquez to pick up the mount.
Trainer Phil D'Amato, who'll be in quest of his first victory in the stakes, also will saddle two of the runners in Elm Drive along with Desert Dawn.
Elm Drive, who'll have Ricky Gonzalez in the tack, is a five-time winner who has gone two turns only once before with results that were not promising. She's by the Tapit sire Mohaymen out of an Indian Charlie mare
Desert Dawn, who is also by a Tapit stallion, this one named Cupid, has only won twice after 14 starts, but has a pair of seconds and five thirds that have built her earnings up to $696,525, tops among all the runners in the lineup. She'll have regular rider Umberto Rispoli aboard as she goes again in a race where she ran second last year to the top mare Blue Stripe.
Finally, trainer John Sadler, with five notches already on his belt in the Hirsch, will send out Keith Abrahams' Kirstenbosch. Kirstenbosch is a homebred by Midnight Lute with a trio of victories and six other placings to her credit. She'll be handled by Hector Berrios in the select field. In her most recent start, Kirstenbosch finished second to Adare Manor in Santa Anita's Santa Margarita Stakes on June 10.
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