To Honor and Serve, Cease limber up for Woodward

To Honor and Serve aims to put his recent disappointments behind him (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) The Bill Mott-trained To Honor and Serve completed his major preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward, breezing four furlongs in :49 4/5 over the fast Oklahoma training track at Saratoga on Monday. After reeling off four wins in his five prior starts, including the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby and Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap, To Honor and Serve finished third to Shackleford in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap and fourth to Mucho Macho Man in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap, both times as the beaten favorite. “He worked easy over a fairly deep track,” said Mott after the four-year-old son of Bernardini posted the 10th fastest of 23 works at the distance. “That seemed to be an OK time. “We’re disappointed in his race in the Suburban, but given my excuse of the heat (and) the weather, I think he’ll run better if we get a decent day.” Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez will take over the mount on To Honor and Serve for the 1 1/8-mile Woodward.

Grade 2-placed stakes winner Cease worked a moderate half-mile on the fast
main track in :49 in preparation for the Woodward.

The work was overseen by trainer Al Stall Jr., who had one eye on
soon-to-be-Hurricane Isaac,
which was bearing down on his hometown of New Orleans.

“He went an easy half-mile by himself — 49 flat, last eighth in :11
4/5,” said Stall, who has had a strong Saratoga meet (six wins and 15
in-the-money finishes from 21 starters). “We didn’t need to do much with him. He
had a hard work over the track last week in company.”

Cease, a five-year-old gelded son of War Chant, has never competed in a Grade 1
race, but his credentials on dirt are strong. He has hit the board in six of his
seven most recent dirt starts, with the only time out of the money being a fifth
in the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Marathon last November at Churchill Downs.

In April, he ran into the beastly Wise Dan in the Grade 3 Ben Ali on the
Polytrack at Keeneland and then finished fifth in the Grade 3 Louisville
Handicap on turf in May at Churchill Downs. When Stall switched Cease back to
dirt the first week of the Saratoga meet, he scored smartly at 1 1/8 miles,
earning a 98 BRIS Speed rating.

“If you draw a line through the turf and Polytrack, and the 1 3/4 miles in the
Breeders’ Cup Marathon, he’s been pretty solid,” Stall said. “He broke his
maiden on Polytrack and our home course is Keeneland; Claiborne has a barn
there. It made sense to try that and Wise Dan freaked that day.

“(Jockey) Miguel Mena came back and said he strode better on dirt than Poly.
We knew the (third-level allowance) would be a huge purse up here (at Saratoga), so we kept that in
mind.”

That success led Stall to take a shot at the Woodward.

“We know we’re stepping up, but he acts like it’s his home track,” Stall said
of Cease, a perfect three-for-three at the Spa.
“This is where his best numbers and races are.”

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