Hopeful, Spinaway disappointments look to rebound in
Futurity, Matron
In the Futurity, Pletcher is double-handed with Corfu and Sound of Freedom.
Corfu aims to rebound Sunday — just like his now-retired stablemate
“I think (the wet track) did have a little something to do with it, which was
“(Strong Mandate) ran an unbelievable race that day, and the rest of the
Twin Creeks Racing Stables’ Sound of Freedom, by the red-hot sire War Front,
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“He actually ran well over the wet track, and his first start was good even
though he didn’t win,” Pletcher said. “He’s come back and trained well, so it’s
a logical step for him. At this stage, you have pretty limited options. There
aren’t many allowance races around, so you’re kind of giving up a little bit of
experience to some horses, but having two races under his belt should help.”
Corfu is joined by another Hopeful disappointment in Big Sugar Soda. The Steve Asmussen trainee showed high speed en
route to his 8 1/4-length maiden conquest at Saratoga on July 22, but was taken
right out of his game when he was bumped at the start of the Hopeful. The
Ready’s Image colt found himself last through the opening half-mile, and did
well in the circumstances to get up for fourth. Big Sugar Soda is entitled to do
much better with a decent break this time for new rider Jose Lezcano.
“I think you have to draw a line through (the Hopeful),” said Toby Sheets,
Asmussen’s Belmont-based assistant. “He has trained exceptionally here. They
were high on him right from the beginning, from the way he performs and the way
he runs. I think he’s going to run a good race.”
Wired Bryan, an uncharacteristic fifth in the Hopeful, also had solid
rebound claims. But Wired Bryan was cross-entered to Saturday’s New York Breeders’ Futurity
at Finger Lakes, and trainer Michael Dilger told Daily Racing Form Friday that he’d opt
for that spot rather than Belmont. The son of Stormy
Atlantic was the only Futurity entrant with experience at Belmont, having crushed New
York-breds by 7 1/4 lengths in his June 19 debut, and he turned in a similarly
dominating display in the July 21 Sanford at the Spa. He lost his unbeaten
record by inches after a titanic tussle with Corfu in the Saratoga Special two
back, and would have gotten a rider switch to Luis Saez for the Futurity.
In Trouble has been pegged as the 5-2 morning-line favorite. By the win-early sire Tiz Wonderful,
he made a
winning premiere at Saratoga on August 10, rallying to defeat Futurity rival
Sound of Freedom. The Tony Dutrow runner was flattered when both Sound of
Freedom and third-placer Tiznowforamerica came back to win. In Trouble projects
a stalking trip from the rail with Joe Rocco Jr.
“He was really good the first time,” Dutrow said. “I felt good about taking
him to Saratoga and running him. I named him In Trouble because I had worked him
with a three-year-old and he went really, really good. Walking back to the barn,
I said to myself, ‘I don’t know who’s in there, but whoever it is, they’re going
to be in trouble that day.’
“(In Trouble) surprised me, because he was so professional that day he ran.
He walked through all those people to the paddock, let me saddle him, went onto
the track, loaded in the gate, broke well, sat behind horses and responded when
asked. He never turned a hair and acted like he’d been doing it his whole life.”
Trainer Rick Violette sends out
Financial Mogul. Fourth to Big Sugar Soda in his first try, the son of Street
Boss subsequently dismissed maiden foes at the Spa on August 31.
“I was disappointed in his first start, but that’s come up a super race if
you look at the horses that have come out of there,” Violette said. “He probably
ran a little green, and he was better off for it in his next start. We hope he
moves up another notch in here. I think he’ll be pretty effective in this spot.”
“Johnny seemed to think she didn’t handle the sloppy track very
The well-bred Art of the Game likewise flopped in the Spinaway, backing up to
In contrast, the undefeated Miss Behaviour enters in razor-sharp form as she
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“She’s just a lovely, classy filly,” Schoenthal said. “She had come to us
early in the year and pulled a muscle behind. We gave her a couple of months
off, and by her final workout before her first race we felt we had a nice horse.
There was a lot of buzz about Gracer (in the Parx maiden), and we went off at
13-1, but I was confident in her.”
The Dutrow-trained Gracer, who dueled early with Miss Behaviour in their mutual debut before
settling for second, roared back to dust open company in an August 25 maiden at
Saratoga. The runner-up that day, Potosi’s Silver, just aired at Belmont last
Sunday.
“What are the chances two horses like that would show up in the same race at
Parx,” Dutrow said of Gracer hooking Miss Behaviour. “I knew my filly was
promising, and being a Pennsylvania-bred, I wanted to take advantage of the
purse structure and start her off there, thinking it was a pretty easy deal.
“I had her about 75 or 80 percent for the race, which I thought was good
enough to win it,” he added. “No excuses; the other filly was really, really
good. I felt good about taking her up to Saratoga next, and she was very
professional and very impressive. I have to say I’m excited about her going
forward.”
Gracer, an Exchange Rate filly, is another likely
pace factor along with Court Dancer and Miss Narcissist. They also went
wire-to-wire when routing New York-bred maidens at the Spa for George Weaver and
Linda Rice, respectively.
The lone confirmed closer in the speed-heavy group is Ocean Boulevard. By
Fusaichi Pegasus, the Ian Wilkes juvenile took three tries to break her maiden,
but the improving type uncorked a last-to-first move to win convincingly at
Saratoga on August 26.
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