Following the postponement of a pair of grass stakes from the rain-affected Aug. 3 card, Saratoga’s 12-race program Saturday has been beefed up considerably.
Perhaps the shortest-price favorite among the four graded stakes will be Cogburn, in his title defense of the $300,000 Troy (G2). The Steve Asmussen trainee has evolved into a turf sprinter of universal class over the past two seasons, making his first mark on the national stage a year ago when winning the Troy, then a Grade 3, over past and future Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winners Caravel and Nobals.
Cogburn has been even more sensational this term, comfortably winning both the Twin Spires Turf Sprint (G2) and Jaipur (G1), the latter over the Troy course and 5 1/2-furlong distance in North American record time of :59.80.
“Last year when we moved him to the turf, it brought him to a new level,” Asmussen said.
Cogburn hasn’t scared too much competition away, as he could face as many as 10 rivals, but none appear quite in his league at the moment. Logical threats to hit the frame include Grooms All Bizness and Witty.
The redrawn $600,000 Saratoga Derby (G1) lost its one morsel of foreign intrigue when Coolmore representative Diego Velazquez was not reentered. Also, the 1 3/16-mile grass test for three-year-olds has several horses cross-entered to the Secretariat (G2) over a mile at Colonial Downs.
Legend of Time, based in England and Dubai earlier in his career, is a veteran of three U.S. starts already. Victorious in the Pennine Ridge (G2) two back over White Palomino and Royal Majesty, he followed up with a third in the Belmont Derby (G1) after the former, the eventual runner-up, set a dawdling pace.
Winner by a head in the Belmont Derby was Trikari, who also landed the American Turf (G2) as a 47-1 outsider. He, along with dual Grade 3 winner First World War and multiple stakes victor Fulmineo, are among those cross-entered to Saturday’s Secretariat.
Also lining up in the Saratoga Derby are Summer (G1) winner Carson’s Run, recently victorious in the Tale of the Cat S. at Monmouth Park, and the Gotham (G3) winner Deterministic, second in the Manila (G3) last out in his turf debut.
The program concludes with the $150,000 Galway S., a 5 1/2-furlong grass sprint for three-year-old fillies in which Star of Mystery looms as a prohibitive favorite.
The Godolphin homebred, who has been facing some of the world’s best male sprinters all season, rebounded from her third to Cogburn in the Jaipur with a 1 1/2-length score in the Quick Call (G3) last month. Most bettors are likely to consider her a “free square” in multirace exotics ending with the Galway.
