by Brisnet.com
Trainer Steve Asmussen expressed satisfaction with My Miss Aurelia’s
five-furlong breeze
on Sunday at Saratoga but said he’d like to give last year’s champion
two-year-old filly more time between her win in the Mandy’s Gold Stakes on August 8 and her next start,
making her doubtful for the Grade 1, $500,000 Test Stakes on Saturday back at
the Spa.
On Sunday, the sophomore daughter of Smart Strike breezed five furlongs over
Saratoga’s fast Oklahoma training track in 1:02 4/5.
“With the way the first race went, (we want) a couple of works before we make a
decision (on her next race),” Asmussen explained. “She ran impressively
(in the
Mandy’s Gold), but she didn’t go back to her right lead. I’m extremely pleased
with how she went this morning.”
My Miss Aurelia, who races for Stonestreet Stables and George Bolton, is
unbeaten in five starts. The Mandy’s Gold was her first start since capturing the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November.
Stonestreet’s Teen Pauline, who breezed six furlongs in 1:12 4/5 on
Saratoga’s fast main
track Sunday, is under consideration for the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway on September 2.
The Tapit juvenile filly has made one start, winning by 4 3/4 lengths on July 25.
“She worked very well today,” Asmussen remarked. “A very impressive filly. With her
work today, we asked something of her off of her maiden win, and it allows us an
opportunity with the Spinaway in mind.”
Stonestreet also owns unbeaten Grade 2 Adirondack heroine Kauai Katie and
impressive August 6 debut
winner Dreaming of Julia, both trained by Todd Pletcher. While those two
remained in the shedrow, their conditioner did send out
Repole Stable’s Stay Thirsty to clock five-eighths in 1:00 2/5 on the Saratoga
main track Sunday.
“It was a good strong work and an extra-strong gallop out,” Pletcher
said of Stay Thirsty, who most recently ran fifth in the Grade 2 Suburban on July 7
at Belmont Park. The four-year-old son of Bernardini is pointing for the Grade
1, $750,000 Woodward on September 1.
“I think he’s back to his old self. He’ll have one more work,
and we’re looking forward to the Woodward.”
Stay Thirsty was one of a trio of Woodward candidates
breezing Sunday morning.
Also working for the 1 1/8-mile contest were fourth-place Suburban finisher To
Honor and Serve, who breezed five furlongs in 1:00 4/5 over the Oklahoma training
track, and Suburban winner Mucho Macho Man, who covered the same distance on the
same track in 1:00 4/5 with stablemate Silver Menace.
“Mucho Macho Man is doing great,” owner Dean Reeves said. “It was a good, solid
work, and we’re excited about the Woodward.”
The Macho Uno four-year-old is three-for-four this season, having also taken
the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap and Florida Sunshine Millions Classic. His
only loss this year came when he finished third in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes
on Kentucky Oaks Day at Churchill Downs.
In other notable Sunday works at Saratoga, last out Grade 2 Amsterdam
runner-up Doctor Chit breezed four furlongs in :47 3/5 over the main track for the Grade 1,
$500,000 King’s Bishop on Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers undercard.
Trainer Bob Baffert sent out his three-year-old sprinter Gun Boat to put in
his final move for the King’s Bishop. The Congrats sophomore sped five furlongs
in :58 2/5, the second fastest of 29 works on the main track at that distance
for the day.
“He worked out of the gate,” Baffert noted. “I wanted to sharpen
him up because he didn’t work well last time.”
Grade 3-placed
Gun Boat remained in Saratoga at the barn of trainer John Terranova after his
troubled effort in the Amsterdam on July 29. On that day, he fell to his
face coming out of the gate and finished sixth.
Island Bound, queen of the Grade 3 Winning Colors and a neck second most
recently in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss Handicap, geared up for a possible run in
the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina on Friday with a half-mile move in :48. She
could be joined in that seven-furlong race by Grade 2 heroine and last-out Grade
1 Princess Rooney Handicap runner-up Nicole H, who drilled four panels in :47
4/5, also on the main track.
Grade 1 star Zagora went five furlongs in :59 1/5 on the firm Oklahoma turf training
course for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Ballston Spa Stakes.
Gypsy Robin and Book Review each turned five-eighths on the main track at
Saratoga, with the former clocking :59 and the latter recording a final time of 1:00
4/5. The duo are readying for the Test, with Book Review set to make her stakes
bow in that seven-furlong event and Gypsy Robin looking to get back on the
winning track after running sixth and last in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes on
July 7. Prior to that, the Daaher lass had captured the Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes
and Inaugural Stakes by easy margins.
Baffert will ship his Test candidate Contested to
Saratoga on Monday. The Ghostzapper filly blazed six furlongs in 1:09 2/5 over Del Mar’s
Polytrack on Sunday in preparation for the race.
Baffert assistant Jim Barnes will travel with Contested, whose four-race winning
streak was snapped when she finished last in the Grade 1 Mother Goose at 1 1/16
miles on June 23 at Belmont. Prior to that, the bay miss scored in the Grade 1
Acorn Stakes and Grade 3 Eight Belles Stakes.
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