Toasty

Real Writing on Racing 💯

🔥 In case you hadn’t heard yet… it was hot at the Spa on Wednesday afternoon. With highs reaching the mid-90’s and barely even a light cross breeze, both the participants and the patrons had to deal with a day that felt like being at notoriously sizzling summer tracks like Gulfstream, Delaware and Ellis Park rather than Saratoga. As a precaution, as is done on-track in the name of safety for both the writer and readers, this Digest Daily blog entry will be shortened like a post parade.

🏆 Grade I races are never run as the card opener except for steeplechase races at Saratoga. Due to years of incessant whining from a handful of vacuous, mostly deposed, NYC based tabloid turf writers, the jumpers were moved to the front of the card. It’s too bad that Wednesday’s AP Smithwick Memorial (Gr I) wasn’t seen by so many who hadn’t quite gotten settled in prior to the 1:05 first post because they missed a great race. Looking at the 2 1/16 mile Saratoga staple, it was a compelling handicapping puzzle without a standout favorite with top of the division stalwarts The Mean Queen and Snap Decision both absent. Into the void stepped an ‘as close to white as you can get’ 8 year old New York bred mare named Down Royal, by the late Alphabet Soup. Bred, owned, trained and ridden by the Dalton’s of South Carolina, the mare was entered in the Smithwick primarily as a prep for a fillies race at Colonial Downs at the end of August as told in a story about her by the ubiquitous Joe Clancy in Wednesday’s Saratoga Special.

Content to sit toward the back of the compact field early, Down Royal was 6th and last of the still competing runners (Pistol Whipped (IRE) had eased by that point and was found to have bled post race) as the field headed down the backside for the final time. Bernie Dalton angled her to the outside as they approached the final fence and the veteran mare completed that jump with momentum, moving towards the leaders on that final turn. Turning for home she was on leader Chief Justice’s outside as he was still a few lengths clear for the sprint home. Dalton angled her back inside of that one and Down Royal was all class in the final 100 yards, outgaming the tiring leader to score the mild upset at 6-1. With the win Down Royal’s jumping record is now 19-6-6-2, good for earnings of $276,000 plus the New York bred breeders awards!

1️⃣✖️2️⃣🥊 Trainer Jose Camejo had a real one-two punch in the third race, a filly NY bred maiden 40000 going 5.5f on the grass. His two runners hit the wire noses apart and when the dust settled, Aunt Virginia, a Delaware Park shipper nailed Izeamalibumoon, a Monmouth shipper, right on the wire. Both were claimed out of the race as the claim box 📦 continues to be filled by horse hungry connections.

😴 Veteran rider Jose Lezcano put the field to sleep in the 5th as Pure Bode set pedestrian fractions while unchallenged and had plenty left to win the one mile NYB filly allowance race on the grass. Jimmy Ryerson trains the five year old Bodemeister mare for Patrica Generazio

🥇 Leave No Trace took steady wagering action and it proved to be smart money as the daughter of Outwork dominated the field in a restricted maiden special weight race going 5.5f on the dirt. Trained by Phil Serpe for WellSpring Stable, she was ridden by Irad Ortiz.

🎪 The sixth race was a $40000 claiming race for older horses going 6 furlongs. Of the 7 runners leaving the starting gate, 5 of them were claimed.

🐟🦞🦐🦀 The 9th race was named the Suzi O’Cain stakes after the popular owner of Highcliff farm and a huge supporter of all things New York bred who recently passed away. Jose Lezcano got the money on Dream Central, for trainer Gary Sciacca and owner Eddie F’s racing, who owns a local seafood restaurant named Eddie F’s.

❓If you looked at the tote board in finale too long you might think that perhaps the heat was affecting your vision as Big Woo, who was shellacked in his only start last October at Keeneland, was a solid 2-1 favorite right from the outset. Tuned up by new trainer Wayne Catalano with a series of sharp works including a 46.4 bullet on the grass at Churchill, he was also racing as a first time gelding, adding lasix, dropped in class and attracted Jose Ortiz to ride. Nevertheless the steady influx of cash supporting him went up in smoke as he never even reached contention, finishing 7th, beaten 17 lengths. Big Whoops 🤦🏽‍♂️

Sometimes the best advice is no advice at all

That headline was written at the risk of sounding like Yankees legend and famous quote-smith Yogi Berra. With no graded stakes on tap for Thursday as well as a good chance for rain we decided not to preview the unremarkable NYB stakes, the Rick Violette. Rick, an excellent trainer, was a longtime friend who worked tirelessly on behalf of the horsemen of New York with a lengthy list of achievements that benefit the game to this day. However this seasons version of the stakes named for him is an inscrutable event and our best advice is to avoid those type of races if at all possible.

📋 We are still working on our 25 Saratoga area places to go to list! We have 25 plus some bonus sections but I’m not quite satisfied with the list yet and won’t publish till I am. (Probably Sunday)

🎙 If you missed this weeks BIG MONDAY show, it’s available Here! Check it out as there weren’t any time sensitive topics, the entire discussion is still very much relevant

🏝 Did a mini-pod (less than 20 minutes) with our friends at Tropical Racing about the benefits of owning horses in the current climate of rising purses and shrinking field size. Check that out Here

🚨Check out the free play of the day from Charting Horse Value! 💵