Mundane Sunday

Real Writing on Racing 💯

Nest gallops to victory in the Alabama

🏆 Nest was clearly the top three year old filly in North America coming into yesterday’s Alabama Stakes (Gr I) off of her romp in the CCA Oaks (Gr I) earlier in the meet. Any doubt that was not still the case was erased about 5:37 eastern as the field rounded the far turn in the ancient stakes race, first run in 1872. She’s Keen, a hopeless longshot who had set the early pace, was beginning to retreat and Nest, who had bobbled leaving the gate, yet still managed to wind up in perfect stalking position, was gearing up while drifting out to meet the potential challenge of Secret Oath who was making her bid outside of her. For a sliver of a second it appeared as though we might be getting ready to see a heavyweight slugfest in the stretch. Could Secret Oath, trained by the wisened old master, D. Wayne Lukas, the early season leader and Kentucky Oaks (Gr I) victor in round one of their trilogy, make a fight of it versus the up and coming challenger, Nest, trained by the greatest protégé of the old master, Todd Pletcher, who had KO’ed her in the last bout? As jockey Irad Ortiz got Nest to switch leads, accelerating away down the lane, it was the equivalent of a six punch combination on Secret Oath and the rest of the overmatched field, and we had our answer. The queen of the three year old distaff set undoubtedly remains Nest (99 Beyer and 121 TimeformUS fig) and the biggest question coming out of this latest destruction was where does she go from here? The $1,000,000 Cotillion (Gr I) on September 24th at Parx is often the next major step for three year old fillies in early Fall but that’s a cutback to 1 1/16 which is certainly within Nest’s scope (she is 2 for 2 at the distance) but depending on her connections Breeders Cup aspirations (Classic at 1 1/4 anyone?) they may want to keep her at longer distances. Regardless, she has a firm stranglehold on the three year old filly Eclipse at this point and outside any late season madness, she will be tough to catch. Secret Oath ran on to be a clear second and Goddess of Fire did well to be third. Gerrymander, who was a close third choice, had a good trip inside of Nest but faltered.

🏇🏻 Two weeks ago today, William Buick aboard With the Moonlight (Ire) gave a lesson on how to ride the difficult filly to perfection when capturing the Saratoga Oaks Inv (Gr III). That masterful ride was enhanced even more by yesterdays proceedings where the Frankel filly lunged coming out of the gate, bumping expected pacesetter Sail By hard, losing precious early position and put herself in an almost impossible spot. It wasn’t that Luis Saez rode poorly though. Once the chips fell where they did the opening furlong, he did the best he could, getting her to settle down the backside behind slowish fractions and winding her up for a late run that just fell a bit short. It was just that Buick gave her the perfect trip to take advantage of her large tank of talent that sometimes is not easy to extract. The winner, Haughty (Beyer of 93 and 117 TimeformUS US fig), was the beneficiary of the early issues of the inside two as she was able to shoot right to the lead, set pokey fractions, throw a 22.4 quarter at them turning for home and had just enough left to hold off With the Moonlight(Ire) late. She was ridden by Jose Ortiz for the Brown conglomerate whose Consumer Spending, who went off as the second choice, didn’t fire.

🍦 Caravel always fired against fillies, always. Then came the Caress (Gr III) earlier in the meet when she was last in the field of nine as the favorite at 2-1. Yes she didn’t break all that sharp from post one that day and was steadied down the backside but afterwards, in that same race that she had won in 2021, offered nothing. Yesterday in the $150,000 Smart N Fancy stakes, breaking from the outside with new rider Luis Saez, subbing for Tyler Gafflione who was at Del Mar, she broke sharp and set up shop third while three wide, stalking early leader and 2022 Caress winner Robin Sparkles. As they turned for home, Saez asked her to accelerate and she did, grabbing a narrow lead from the tiring early leader and grimly holding that advantage over the hard closing Change of Control and Illegal Smile who checked in second and third. Michelle Lovell was shooting for consecutive Saturday’s at Saratoga with stakes wins in her first two tries (Damon’s Mound) and with a slightly cleaner trip she likely would have accomplished that with Change of Control. Shipping up from Colonial Downs after winning the Andy Guest stakes there on July 18, the six year old Fed biz mare encountered trouble several times under regular rider Colby Hernandez and was surging as they hit the wire. Caravel’s win was her 10th in 17 lifetime starts, her third for trainer Brad Cox in five starts, and increased her earnings to over $650,000. She received a 94 Beyer speed figure and 119 TimeformUS fig for her effort.

🥵 It was hot yesterday, not crazy hot but the 39,127 in attendance including vacationing racing timing guru, Craig Milkowski and his wife Elsie, definitely knew Summer was still in full effect. Similar temps are expected today and thankfully no rain is in the forecast though it looks like another wet dark day on Monday.

🎪 First race report 😕 (which is an improvement from 😳 on the weak first race scale)

🎪 In race two, 3rd place finisher Gagliano was lugging out as bad as you’d see for a horse that hit the board. Jockey Jacky Davis earned her money there.

🎪 Peaceful Waters crushed entry allowance level foes in the third by a dozen lengths for trainer Al Stall and Luis Saez. The chestnut three year old ridgling by Dialed In, broke alertly from the gate, set strong fractions (22.25 + 45.05) and drew off in the stretch, covering the six furlongs in 1:09.64 and earning a 96 Beyer and 119 TimeformUS fig.

🎪 The 5th was a MSW for two year olds going 1 1/16 on the inner turf that featured a trio of runners that exited the roughly run first race on July 23rd when Wideright went that way, badly interfering with Activist Investing (GB) in the first turn, with the untroubled Coach Petro finishing second that day. Sent off as the prohibitive 6/5 favorite yesterday, Activist Investing (GB) found less trouble than last out but still came up short winding up in a dead heat for third with Coach Petro, behind perfect trip winner, Rarefied Flair and not so perfect trip runner up, first time starter Conversing. The winner, making start number three for trainer Ken McPeek and new rider Julian Leparoux, is an Honor Code that tracked the pace in second and just lasted. Conversing, an Into Mischief colt trained by Shug and ridden by Johnny V, had to alter course twice and got bumped several times yet only got beat by a head.

⭐️ The late, great Harvey Pack drolly would call a highly touted two year old “The fastest horse in the world” and surely he would have enjoyed yesterdays performance by Echo Again who dominated the 7th. Yet another impressive Gun Runner, this homebred colt is owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and trained by Steve Asmussen just as his sire was. Echo Again was no secret, sent off at 3/5 for his unveiling, he quickly led from the gate, maintained a clear lead while setting big boy fractions (22.39 + 45.66) and drew away when roused by substitute jockey Ricardo Santana who took over for ailing Joel Rosario. He covered the 6.5 furlongs in a sharp 1:15.89 which was good for a 94 Beyer and 109 TimeformUS fig. The Gun Runner cross with Tapit mares has been 🔥

🏖 Under a perfect trip from Tyler Gafflione, Spendarella returned from Royal Ascot no worse for wear, annihilating a large group of three year old fillies in the Del Mar Oaks yesterday. The NYB filly by Karokontie (Jpn) likely heads to Keeneland for the $600,000 QEII stakes (Gr I) on October 15.

🤕 Exciting recent debut winner and half sister to 2022 Belmont champ Mo Donegal, Prank has been sidelined for the rest of the year because of a fractured pattern which necessitated two surgery.

🏴‍☠️ Blackbeard won the Prix Mony (Gr I) at Deauville this morning for Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore. That is a “win and your in” race for the Breeders Cup Juvy turf sprint at Keeneland this November.

2️⃣ John Velazquez is two wins away from 1000 at Saratoga. He is only listed on three mounts today.

🦶🏽Charge It will NOT be running in next Saturday’s Travers due to issues with a foot. The next potential spot on his dance card if his issue clears up would be the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on September 24.

Day 29 (11 racing days to go)

We won’t try to handicap todays feature the Bolton Landing for 2 year old filly sprinters going 5.5f on the grass. Love Reigns (Ire) is the likely fav shipping back from Ascot after a good effort there but she has had some gate issues so beware of taking too short of a price on her.

🎙In case you missed it last week, check out the Big Monday podcast. Click here for a link to that show. Tomorrow nights episode should be wild too!

💰 Check out our first monthly Going in Circles Gold 7 divisional rankings HERE