Atigun works in blinkers, but might not add them for Travers

Atigun works in blinkers, but might not add them for
Travers

Atigun might be rank in blinkers, according to connections (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com) Shortleaf Stable’s Atigun was among the Grade 1 Travers contenders that worked out Sunday morning at Saratoga, breezing five furlongs in :59 3/5 over the main track after the renovation break. “He worked super,” trainer Ken McPeek said. “I was a little worried he went off a little fast, but for the most part it was a very good work. It looks like he’s cooling out happy.” Notable about the work was that the three-year-old son of Istan was wearing blinkers, a piece of equipment that he has not raced with. “(New jockey) Mike Smith and I were talking about it yesterday, and he is concerned that the blinkers might make him rank, and he might be right,” McPeek said. “I don’t know, we’ll see. If he has a blinker on, it will either be a small one or none at all.” Atigun was third to Union Rags and Paynter in the Belmont Stakes on June 9, and most recently checked in sixth, beaten seven lengths, in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy.

McPeek acknowledges that Atigun won’t be among the favorites for the 1
1/4-mile Travers but knows the distance won’t be a question mark.

“Our race has got to be well-timed, and he will have to run the race of his
life, but it is certainly a distance he can handle,” the trainer said.

Looking poised and relaxed, Stealcase turned in his final work for Saturday’s
$1 million Travers with a five-furlong breeze on the main track Sunday morning.

Under regular rider Shaun Bridgmohan, the chestnut son of Lawyer Ron was
timed in 1:00 3/5 by NYRA clockers.

“He looked really slow,” said Norm Casse, son and assistant to trainer Mark
Casse. “Then we saw the time and how well he went, and that’s usually a good
indication that they worked really well. He looked like he was just going easy,
and that was the plan.”

Sunday’s work came six days after a six-furlong breeze in 1:12 2/5, also on
Saratoga’s main track for Stealcase, who most recently ran third to Paynter in
the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

“Last week, we worked him really hard and made him gallop out real strong,”
Casse said. “It was a real strong work. We came back this weekend and we were
really shooting for 1:01 or 1:02, but he worked really well.”

Bridgmohan, aboard for five of Stealcase’s nine career starts, will have the
mount in the Travers. Stealcase is still seeking his first stakes victory,
having run second in the Grade 3 Matt Winn and third in the Grade 3 Derby Trial
this year, both at Churchill Downs.

“He’s definitely a lot more mature,” Casse said of Stealcase. “Shaun pointed
out today that he didn’t turn a hair. Shaun knows the horse as well as any of
us. He’s worked the horse his whole life, really. He said he’s maturing, so that
could be a really good sign.”

Nonios, pictured at Monmouth last month, worked at his Del Mar base Sunday (Bill Denver/Equi-Photo) Travers candidate Liaison also put in his final timed workout Sunday in preparation for the “Midsummer Derby.” Under exercise rider Simon Harris, Liaison clocked five furlongs in 1:00 on the Saratoga main track, the eighth-fastest of 29 works at the distance. “Out in :12 and change,” trainer Bob Baffert said, referring to the gallop-out time for the extra furlong. Liaison, who won the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity as a two-year-old, finished third in his most recent start, the Jim Dandy, behind Travers probables Alpha and Neck ‘n Neck. At Del Mar on Sunday, Nonios, most recently second to Paynter in the Haskell, covered four furlongs in :47 2/5 over the Polytrack in his final serious work for the Travers. The Pleasantly Perfect colt, owned by Green B. Smith, Jr., is scheduled to arrive at the Spa on Monday, said his Hall of Fame trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer.

“He had a nice blowout this morning,” Hollendorfer said by phone from San
Diego, where he returned Sunday morning after saddling Via Villaggio to a
third-place finish behind Questing in the Grade 1 Alabama.

“We have a colt we think is doing well. We try not to bring our horses
anywhere that we don’t think they have a good chance, and I don’t think we’re
being frivolous or foolish with him.”

Trainer Dale Romans revealed that Quick Wit is still a longshot possibility
for the Travers. Quick Wit upset the Grade 3 National Museum of Racing Hall of
Fame — a turf race that was moved to the main track — on August 10 last time
out.

Quick Wit has won on turf and dirt, and Romans doesn’t appear compelled to
make an early commitment. 

“We’ll probably run back here on the turf, but we’ll keep the Travers option
open until entry day to see how the field shapes up,” he said. “It looks like it
could be a big field. If that’s the case, we won’t run.”

A more likely spot for Quick Wit is the Grade 3 Saranac, a 1 1/8-mile grass
race for three-year-olds on September 2.

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