While Saturday’s Woodward S. (G1) featuring Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro)
is drawing much attention, the day’s exceptional card at Saratoga also includes
a fierce 30th renewal of the $300,000
Forego S.
(G1) at seven furlongs. A three-time Horse of the Year (1974-1976), Forego
won four consecutive editions of the Woodward (1974-1977) himself in a career
that found him in the money 50 of the 57 times he took to the track.
Twelve older colts and geldings will contest the race named in Forego’s
honor, with four-year-old PYRO (Pulpit) eyeing the completion of a comeback that
started earlier this summer when he ran second in the James Marvin S. on July
29. A three-time graded winner at three, including the Louisiana Derby (G2), the
millionaire had been off since a sixth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt
Mile at Santa Anita, after which he was purchased by Godolphin and transferred
to the care of trainer Saeed bin Suroor.
“It was either this or the Woodward,” said Rick Mettee, assistant to bin
Suroor. “We feel that seven furlongs might be a better trip for him than nine
furlongs. Nine furlongs at Saratoga is pretty demanding right now. They get
pretty tired coming down the lane.”
It will be Pyro’s second start at seven furlongs over a track he’s shown an
affinity for, recording a second in the Jim Dandy S. (G2) and third in the
Travers S. (G1) last year, and Godolphin has already sent out five graded
winners this meet. Listed as the 4-1 second choice on the morning line, the colt
will break from post 1 with John Velazquez aboard.
Grade 1 winner KODIAK KOWBOY (Posse) is the 5-2 choice on NYRA oddsmaker Eric
Donovan’s morning line. The four-year-old enters the Forego off a
non-threatening third in the six-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G2) on August 9,
but Larry Jones said before that race that he knew six furlongs was not his
colt’s best distance. The trainer used it to set him up for a run in the Forego
at a distance he prefers.
“He’s doing great, we just hope he’s ready for another big effort,” Jones
said after Kodiak Kowboy arrived at Saratoga by van on Wednesday. “I keep
telling him, ‘You won at Saratoga at two and at three, you have to win one here
at four.'”
Winner of the 2007 Saratoga Special (G2) and 2008 Amsterdam (G2) at the Spa,
Kodiak Kowboy will keep regular rider Gabriel Saez in the irons and break from
post 2.
Both DRIVEN BY SUCCESS (Precise End) and RILEY TUCKER (Harlan’s Holiday) have
shown a fondness for front-running in the past. Driven by Success comes off a
second-place finish Saturday in the John Morrissey earlier in the meet, and the
four-year-old gelding has placed in both the Metropolitan H. (G1) and Carter H.
(G1)
this season. The ultra-quick Riley Tucker, runner-up in the Tom Fool H. (G2) two
starts back for Bob Baffert, will try for the first stakes win of his career.
A fast pace to run at will be the key for READY’S ECHO (More Than Ready), who
is two-for-two at this distance. The Todd Pletcher-trained colt has also proven
himself competitive going longer and over different surfaces, finishing third in
the Jamaica H. (G2) going nine furlongs over Belmont Park’s turf course and in a
dead-heat for third in the 2008 Belmont S. at 1 1/2 miles.
“He’s always been a horse who needs the proper setup,” trainer Todd Pletcher
said. “We’re hoping that a fast pace could suit him well (in the Forego) and we
felt we could get a good setup here. Our other options were to ship, but that
gets complicated and he’s doing well here and ran well here (second) in the
first start of his career.”
Completing the field are James Marvin winner GOLD TRIPPI (Trippi), who will
enter in good form for Stanley Hough; Grade 2 hero MY PAL CHARLIE (Indian
Charlie), who followed a runner-up finish in the Churchill Downs S. (G2) with a
fourth, beaten only 1 1/2 lengths, in the Met Mile; Grade 2 victor TRUE QUALITY
(Elusive Quality), making his first start for new trainer Roy Sedlacek; New
York-bred LAW ENFORCEMENT (Posse), a winner of two straight overnight stakes at
Belmont and Saratoga; PEACE CHANT (War Chant), who will make his first
appearance since a victory in the Phoenix Gold Cup at Turf Paradise in February;
MULTIDUDE (Fusaichi Pegasus), who will make his stakes debut following three
straight wins over New York-bred rivals; and KEEP LAUGHING (Distorted Humor),
who was second in the slop in the Teddy Drone S. at Monmouth Park on August 2.