Kentucky Derby (G1) hero Always Dreaming, Preakness Stakes (G1) victor Cloud Computing and Belmont Stakes (G1) conqueror Tapwrit all worked at Saratoga on Saturday in preparation for upcoming stakes at the Spa.
Always Dreaming, who is pointing for the $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) going nine furlongs on July 29, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.71 over the fast Oklahoma training track for trainer Todd Pletcher.
The Bodemeister colt had regular rider John Velazquez aboard and posted splits of :13.93, :25.86 and :37.52 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.79 and seven panels in 1:27.83.
“I thought Always Dreaming went real well, a good, steady five-eighths,” Pletcher said. “It’s the first time John Velazquez breezed him since the Derby. I thought he went well, he was relaxed. He started off easy, went :13 3/5 for the first eighth and gradually picked up from there. (He) went 1:01 and (change) and galloped out in 1:27 4/5, so it was what we wanted to do with him.
“We felt like he needed a good, solid breeze with a solid gallop out, and I’m happy with the way he did it.”
Velazquez was also pleased with Always Dreaming’s move.
“He went good, very good,” Velazquez said. “That’s all we have to hope for. At least he wasn’t too aggressive like he was in Kentucky. So that was good.”
Pletcher originally planned on sending his workers over Saratoga’s main track on Saturday, but called an audible in regards to the Oklahoma training track.
“Originally, we were going to go at 8:45 (a.m. ET) on the main track. As everyone can see, yesterday the track seemed to change a little bit,” he explained. “It was pretty slow yesterday morning, and it was slow during yesterday’s races. I worked a few horses on the main track early and was scheduled to go back over there. I guess there was a breakdown and the track was closed for a little while, so I took a set to the Oklahoma track while the main track was closed, and I thought those horses worked well. That surface was a little bit tighter.
“That’s why I made the adjustment,” he added. “I worked some other horses on the main track, and for whatever reason it’s on the slow side, but I wanted to get an accurate line on where I was with Always Dreaming, especially from a fitness standpoint. I wanted to do it on a track where I felt like I knew how it was playing, which I felt a little more comfortable on the Oklahoma track.”
Always Dreaming recorded his second move at Saratoga on Saturday, and just his fourth overall since finishing a well-beaten eighth in the Preakness Stakes (G1) on May 20.
“It’s always a delicate balance when you’re trying to freshen a horse up, and have him ready for a race like the Jim Dandy,” Pletcher noted. “You know you have to be fit and prepared for it, but you also want to hopefully have something to build on, and something left in the tank for the ($1.25 million) Travers (Stakes [G1] on August 26). I think we’ve been able to accomplish that in the time off after the Preakness.”
Always Dreaming will face off against Preakness winner Cloud Computing once again in the Jim Dandy. That Chad Brown-trained son of Maclean’s Music breezed a half-mile in :49.09 on Saratoga’s fast main track Saturday in his final major move for the contest.
“He looked really good today,” Brown said. “I thought the horse breezed great and, coming off this work, remains on target for the Jim Dandy.”
Cloud Computing had regular exercise rider Peter Roman aboard for the work, his first at Saratoga and sixth overall since his head upset of the second jewel of the Triple Crown. Brown said his dark bay pupil has acclimated well to the Spa after shipping from his Belmont Park base on Monday.
The Pletcher-trained Tapwrit breezed a half-mile on the Oklahoma training track in :48.88 in company with Maker’s 46 Mile (G1) winner American Patriot.
Regular rider Jose Ortiz was aboard Tapwrit for the move, which was his first since a two-length score in the Belmont Stakes last out on June 10. The Tapit colt is headed for the Travers Stakes.
“I was really pleased with Tapwrit,” Pletcher said. “I thought for his first work since the Belmont he was very good. I was surprised how easily he worked, and how strong he galloped out. He really maintained his fitness level well which makes me feel good about the Travers.”
“He went very easy and comfortable,” added Ortiz, who earned his first Triple Crown race win with Tapwrit.
“He was very happy all the way around. He always works well, but today I felt (he was) happier. He wanted to do it today. I didn’t even have to tap him on the shoulder. He just picked up really nicely. I was happy with the way he did it today.”
In addition to their Triple Crown race winners, Pletcher and Brown sent out other trainees to ready for upcoming Saratoga stakes.
Keen Ice, best known for upsetting 2015 Triple Crown king American Pharoah in that year’s Travers, turned four furlongs on the Oklahoma training track in :48.75. The Curlin five-year-old just earned his first win since the 2015 Travers when romping to a three-length victory in the Suburban Stakes (G2) at Belmont on July 8.
“I thought Keen Ice looked really good this morning,” Pletcher said. “Seems like he’s come out of the Suburban great. I thought he was training really well coming in to the Suburban. I think that race gave him some of his confidence back, and you can just tell around the barn he’s just full of himself. I thought his breeze was exceptional.”
Keen Ice, who earned a career-best 112 BRIS Speed rating in the Suburban, is headed to the $1.2 million Whitney Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on August 5 at the Spa.
Jamyson ‘n Ginger recently transferred to Brown and posted her first move for her new barn when going five furlongs in 1:01.76 on Saratoga’s main track. The Grade 2-placed daughter of Bernardini worked in company with unbeaten sophomore filly Your Love.
“I thought they worked great together,” Brown said. “Jamyson ‘n Ginger came to me in great shape from (former trainer) Rudy (Rodriguez) and really looks good; a really straight forward horse along with Your Love.”
The Brown shedrow also saw Grade 1 heroine Dacita, sixth in the New York Stakes (G2) last out, and Rainha Da Bateria, a dead-heat winner of the Dance Smartly Stakes (Can-G2) most recently, breezed four furlongs in :48.98 and :48.88, respectively, on the Oklahoma training track.
