Grade 2-placed Giuseppe the Great pleased trainer Nick Zito by breezing four furlongs in :48.45 over Saratoga’s fast main track on Friday.
“He worked very nice. He was in hand and did everything right, so I was happy,” Zito said. “We’ll see what happens this week. I’ve made no plans. I need to talk to the owner about it and go from there, but we’ll see. If he’s good, who knows.”
Giuseppe the Great ran second in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2) and fourth in the Dwyer Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park in his past two efforts under jockey Tyler Gaffalione. Prior to that, the bay sophomore broke his maiden by three parts of a length at Keeneland on April 8.
“It was a funny race. He was real close that day and that wasn’t him. He was just sharp,” Zito said in regards to the Dwyer. “Gaffalione did a good job, and they left there flying. They kind of pressed the pace a little bit and the track was different that day. It wasn’t an ideal track for anybody. Don’t get me wrong, (winner) Practical Joke is a good horse and he obviously was very, very good that day.
“My horse runs with the best. He ran a good race in the Woody Stephens,” Zito added. “He never runs a bad race. He’s a good horse.”
The Lookin at Lucky colt could possibly target either the $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) going 1 1/8 miles or the $200,000 Amsterdam Stakes (G2) at 6 1/2 furlongs. Both races take place at Saratoga on July 29.
“We’ll let him have a good week and see what happens. One thing about us, if there’s a race and we’ve got a horse we’re going to be in it,” Zito said. “I’ve got a couple ideas but we’ll see what happens. Either race is good. I wouldn’t rule either one out.”
