Saratoga Daily Notebook

SARATOGA NOTEBOOK

AUGUST 1, 2005

by Dick Powell

Only four horses showed up to challenge ARTIE SCHILLER (El Prado [Ire]) in Monday's

Bernard Baruch H. (G2). Their only chance was try to steal the race and Jerry

Bailey, who is quietly riding very well in John Velazquez's shadow, was the one

that decided to try it. He sent Silver Tree (Hennessy), last year's winner, to

the front and got away with a first quarter in 25.99 and a half in 50.04.

Del Mar Show (Theatrical [Ire]) gave chase and Artie Schiller sat back in third.

The pace picked up noticeably with a 22.84 third quarter and Richard Migliore

had Artie Schiller in a long drive. Turning for home, Bailey opened up a clear

lead in the stretch and looked like he might pull off the upset. But Artie

Schiller's class was too much and he got up win to by a half-length, covering the 1

1/8 miles in 1:47.65.

After the race, trainer James Jerkens was almost speechless about Artie's

win. “At the top of the stretch, I thought Silver Tree had us," Jerkens said. “I

thought it was going to be real tough. I still can't believe he did it. This has

to be one of his best races. The turf wasn't the way he likes it and it is

discouraging to have a quality horse to keep edging away from you like that.

Only the real good ones keep coming."

A few Pick 6 players breathed a sigh of relief since most singled Artie

Schiller and four were alive even with STOCK TIP (Thunder Gulch) winning the 5TH race

at $110. The Pick 6 paid $69,465 when GEMMIE A SATELLITE (Satellite Sun)

won the finale as the favorite.

Carl Lizza's Flying Zee Stables won their fourth race of the meet when Stock

Tip, a cleverly-named daughter of Cookingwithmartha (Majestic Light), rallied

from far back to win the 5TH race at 54-1 odds and finished off a $219,508 Pick 4. She

was trained by Patrick Biancone, giving Flying Zee four wins using three

different trainers.

Stock Tip's win was also the second turf win in a row for Chantal Sutherland,

who negotiated the filly through traffic to get up in time. She won Sunday's finale

for Flying Zee utilizing similar tactics and is rider to watch.

Last night's rain didn't really affect the racing here too much. The main

track was listed as fast throughout the day and the outer turf course was rated

as firm and the inner turf course was rated as good. The main track desperately

needed the moisture and we actually saw some faster running times.

The turf courses were busy today with two races on each and the rain had no

real affect on them. They had been so hard the past five days that the rain gave

them some much-needed give.

Our main man Rick Violette came through for us in the 4TH race when WHAT'S YOUR

EDGE (Stormy Atlantic) went gate to wire with Migliore and paid a healthy $10. Violette now has

three wins on the meet and two first-out winners that both paid double-digit

prices. What's Your Edge ran about a full second faster than the other division

of juvenile New York breds and looks like a good one.

Todd Pletcher and Velazquez combined to win their eleventh race of the meet

but not in the way that most thought. In the 2ND race, Pletcher sent out Mr. Sam I

Am (Forest Wildcat) as the 2-5 favorite off a narrow loss in fast time on June

17. He broke poorly, rushed up and then faded to fifth, burning a lot of money

to set up a monster Pick 4 payoff later. The race was won by CURED (Take Me

Out).

Later in the day in the 7TH race, Pletcher sent out INDIAN VALE (A.P. Indy) who

is out of Test S. (G1) winner Marley Vale (Forty Niner). A winner of her career

debut at Monmouth Park going six furlongs in decent time, she stretched out to

two turns for the first time here.

Johnny Velazquez put her on the lead and never looked back. She led every

step of the way and drew off to a 13-length win going the 1 1/8 miles in

1:51.57. It will be interesting to see if she comes back in the Alabama S. (G1) in

three weeks.

The final tally for week one was 11 wins for Pletcher - well ahead of last

year's record pace of six wins per week. All 11 were ridden by Velazquez, who had

two other winners for a total of 13. Javier Castellano had eight wins and Bailey

and Edgar Prado have six each.

Behind Pletcher, Bill Mott, Juan Rodriguez, Biancone, Jerkens and Violette

have three winners each.

Horses to Watch

Race 4: STRUMMER (Phone Trick) chased the pace and closed relentlessly in his

career debut and should be much tougher next time out.

Race 5: ISABEL AWAY (Skip Away) wound up racing in between horses and then

was steadied on the far turn losing all chance.

Race 6: CROWD'S DELIGHT (Crowd Pleaser) rallied from far back and widest off

all to miss by a nose in a game effort with a sub-24 second last quarter.

Wednesday Preview

Race 3 is a five-furlong juvenile sprint and has a good mix of horses that

have a start and first-time starters. We'll go with a horse that has a race

under his belt -- POLITICAL FORCE (Unbridled's Song) -- that ran well at Belmont on

July 16 and has worked twice since then for Allen Jerkens. If the track comes up

wet, even better.

Race 9 is a six-furlong sprint for $50K claimers and look for UNBRIDLED

SUNSHINE (Untuttable) to speed pop the field and go gate to wire for John

Parisella.