SARATOGA DAILY NOTEBOOK
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2005
by Dick Powell
The photo finish camera was busy at the Spa today with numerous races that
could not be determined by the naked eye. In the 2ND race, LOVE TO TANGO (Not
For Love) went gate to wire and held off Lethimthinkhesboss’ (Demidoff) furious
late rally that fell a nose short. On the rock-hard inner turf course, Eibar Coa
was able to steal the race on the front end with a first quarter of :24.77 and a
first half in :49.26.
Later in the 7TH race, Maytown (Menifee) opened up a big lead in the stretch
and looked home free before being run down by TAINT SO (Silver Deputy) to lose
by a nose. Then in the 8TH race, CLOAKOF VAGUENESS (El Prado [Ire]) got up in
the last stride to win the second division of the De La Rose S. by a neck.
Turf courses remained rock hard today as rain has stayed away from the area
in over a week. Yet, we saw LOVE TO TANGO (Not for Love) go gate to wire to win
the 2ND race and then DINA (Dynaformer) come back in the next race and dominate
on the front end. Neither horse had much pace pressure and Coa showed why he is
such a crafty turf rider.
In the 5TH race, we saw Jerry Bailey press the pace in a turf sprint before
taking over in the stretch to win going away aboard WICKED FUNNY (Distorted
Humor), who was making her turf debut for trainer Richard Violette Jr. It was
Violette’s fourth winner of the meet and it paid $20 to win. When the turf gets
this hard, the ability to run over it becomes less important. If you can run on
the main track, you can run on rock hard turf; especially going short.
You would think after the first two-turn turf races went gate to wire with
soft pace scenarios, the 6TH race would have a bunch of horses gunning for the
lead. The gate opened and Johnny Velazquez put PATH OF THUNDER (Thunder Gulch)
on the lead. They waltzed through a first half of :51.03 and there was no way
she was coming back to the field. With Patience (With Approval) tried to press
the pace and held on well for second. Forget the rest.
The winner is a full sister to Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) winner Spain, who
earned more than $3.5 million and was trained by D. Wayne Lukas. After the race,
Velazquez confessed that he inherited the lead when no one else wanted it.
“I just wanted to get her in good position,” Velazquez said. “Once I saw no
one go for the lead, I decided to take it. She was really comfortable setting a
slow pace, and I knew coming for home that I had a lot of horse.”
In the last of five turf races on the day, Cloakof Vagueness got up in the
final stride to win a four-horse photo and take down the second division of the
De La Rose. She was the only one to come from off the pace in the four two-turn
turf races.
Rain hit the Chicago area today and Arlington Park’s turf course was rated as
yielding. Graham Motion looked to be calling an audible when he indicated that
John Velazquez will replace Ramon Dominguez on Better Talk Now (Talkin Man) for
Saturday’s 23rd running of the Arlington Million (G1). Last year’s Breeders’ Cup
Turf (G1) winner is entered in both the Million and the Sword Dancer
Invitational H. (G1), but with Arlington’s turf course being softened up and
Saratoga’s rock hard it looks like Better Talk Now is going to Chicago.
City Zip’s youngsters continue to impress. In today’s opener, they ran first
and third when ZIPPY MISSY went gate to wire to win by three lengths and All
About Allison rallied to be third.
Cornelio Velasquez, Edgar Prado and Coa each won two races. Velazquez had one
winner and Prado now trails by one in the rider standings. Todd Pletcher had one
winner and now has 14 for the meet; eight more than his nearest rival.
Nobody picked six today and there’s a $64,773 carryover into tomorrow’s card.
The late Pick 4 paid $12,237.
Horses to Watch
1ST – OPRAH WINNEY (Royal Academy) chased a runaway sprinter going five
furlongs and rallied for second in her career debut.
3RD – MOONSHINE GAL (Forest Wildcat) got no help up front when the winner was
loose on an easy lead and then wound up racing between horse when the pace
backed up into her.
8TH – BANYU DEWI (Ger) (Poliglote [GB]) rallied behind a dawdling pace to
just miss with a terrific last quarter.
Friday Preview
In the opener, Chuck Simon claimed HAYWORTH (Gold Fever) out of her last race
at Churchill and returns her for the same price today with Coa in the irons. She
has the best early speed of this group and could steal the race.
Chantal Sutherland gets the mount on ROLEX PRINCESS (Defrere) in the 4TH race
and the first time starter from John Kimmel looks like she has a big chance. The
pedigree is there, both top and bottom, and her workout pattern up here is very
good. A favorable middle post should also help.