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Gunnevera worked Friday morning at his Gulfstream Park West base as he continues preparations for the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward next Saturday at Saratoga. He is scheduled to arrive in New York this Sunday, according to trainer Antonio Sano.

Gunnevera, a multiple Grade 2 winner who ran second in last year’s Travers at Saratoga, has a year-end goal of the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He returned from a layoff earlier this month at Gulfstream Park, rolling by 6 1/2 lengths in an allowance route Aug. 10. Gunnevera had been sidelined by an injury to his right front hoof sustained in his eighth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup March 31.

The work Friday was his second since the allowance win at Gulfstream. He was credited with a six-furlong move in 1:13.20 on a track rated fast. Edgard Zayas worked Gunnevera. Tito Fuentes, agent for Zayas, said the Sano barn had the horse going five-eighths in company in 1:00.60 and galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.20.

Zayas was aboard Gunnevera for his recent allowance win and has the mount in the Woodward.

Sano was pleased with the move Friday.

“He worked really good,” he said. “He’s got his mind on business.”
Gunnevera was scheduled to van out Friday night. He will have a layover to break up the trip before arriving Sunday morning at Saratoga.

Gunnevera was fifth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, one start after the Travers. His first stakes win came at Saratoga in 2016 in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special. An earner of $2.9 million, Gunnevera races for the Margoth stable of Salomon Del Valle.

Sano also had Bella Ciao out for a work Friday at Gulfstream Park West. She went five-eighths in 1:01.80. Bella Ciao is a candidate for the Grade 1, $350,000 Spinaway on Sept. 1 at Saratoga. Zayas was aboard and will have the mount if she makes the trip to New York as planned. Bella Ciao is a daughter of Flatter who won a July 26 maiden special weight sprint at Gulfstream.

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Strike Power’s summer hasn’t gone according to plan, and trainer Mark Hennig will set him on a new path Monday at Saratoga in the Better Talk Now, a restricted stakes that has attracted a field of nine, plus a main-track-only entrant.

The Better Talk Now is a one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds who have never won a stakes at a mile or longer. Strike Power, who will be making his turf debut, fits those conditions perfectly. He won the Grade 3 Swale at seven furlongs in February and finished second in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth in March.

In his last two starts, the son of Speightstown has finished eighth in the Woody Stephens at Belmont Park and fourth in the Amsterdam at Saratoga. Strike Power chased an extremely fast pace in the Woody Stephens and then vied on the lead with eventual winner Promises Fulfilled in the Amsterdam through fractions of 21.28 and 43.92 seconds.

Promises Fulfilled, who was scheduled to start in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday, defeated Strike Power in the Fountain of Youth.

“I think he’s going to be happy to look over and not see Promises Fulfilled in the gate Monday,” Hennig joked.

Hennig and owner Don Adam of Courtlandt Farms have long discussed trying Strike Power on turf.

“His female family is all turf or Poly, so we’ve wanted to try it, and this looks like a good opportunity,” Hennig said.

Strike Power’s dam, Gold d’Oro, was 4 for 17 on turf. Her dam, Gold Canyon, produced Adriano, who won the Grade 2 Lane’s End on Polytrack at Turfway Park and the Grade 3 Kent on turf at Delaware Park.

Strike Power worked a bullet half-mile on turf in 47.80 at Saratoga on Aug. 10. He has since breezed a half-mile over the main track in 48.20.

“He got over the turf really well,” Hennig said. “Then I worked him from off the pace against a horse on the dirt.”

Hennig said he doesn’t think Strike Power will go too fast early in the Better Talk Now. He will start from post 1 under John Velazquez.

“He’ll turn off,” Hennig said. “He’s never been a rank horse. We’ll just have him roll out of there and let Johnny make the decisions.”

Strike Power isn’t the only horse in the Better Talk Now who will be attempting to regain his form of last spring. Combatant, Ceevee, and Rose’s Vision are in the same boat.

Combatant finished second in the Southwest, third in the Rebel, and fourth in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park for Steve Asmussen. He has since finished off the board in the Kentucky Derby, the Matt Winn at Churchill Downs, and the Hall of Fame over yielding turf here.

Ceevee posted front-running turf scores over maiden and optional-claiming company at Gulfstream Park last winter for Kelly Breen. This will be his first race since February.

Rose’s Vision scored back-to-back wins in maiden and allowance company at Gulfstream and Keeneland for Stuart Simon but is winless in four stakes starts since then at Woodbine.

Bill Mott will equip both of his entrants – Irish Territory and Westerland – with blinkers for the first time. Irish Territory will be dropping significantly in class after facing Catholic Boy and Analyze It in the Pennine Ridge.

Have At It has won two of his last four, all for Christophe Clement; Prioritize is 2 for his last 3, all for James Bond; and Corot moves to the barn of Tom Morley following a maiden win over Tapeta at Woodbine.

Roaming Union, who raced in the Haskell for Breen, will start only if the race is moved to the dirt.

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Tom Ludt remembers the phone conversation he had with Chad Brown to discuss sending him Gronkowski to train. Let’s just say it was met with muted enthusiasm.

Though Gronkowski qualified for the Kentucky Derby via the European Road to the Derby series, he was forced to miss that race due to a temperature. Despite Gronkowski having never raced beyond a mile or on dirt, his connections wanted to target the Belmont Stakes at 1 1/2 miles.

“I’ve known him forever and he said to me ‘Tom, if you want me to take the horse, I’ll take the horse,’” said Ludt, the equine manager for Aamer Abdulaziz’s Phoenix Thoroughbred III, which owns the majority of Gronkowski.

Now, to be fair, Brown was otherwise preoccupied. He was preparing Good Magic for the Kentucky Derby, where the horse would ultimately finish second. Brown hadn’t really spent much time thinking about Gronkowski, the horse named for the New England Patriots all-pro tight end Rob Gronkowski.

“I knew the horse had a reputation because of his name, and he had qualified for the Derby and got sick,” Brown said. “I didn’t put much thought into it until he actually arrived and I put my two eyes on him.”

Gronkowski arrived in Brown’s barn on the same day that Good Magic, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, shipped to Baltimore where he would run in the Preakness a few days later.

It was a week after the Preakness, on May 26, that Brown breezed Gronkowski for the first time. He worked a sharp half-mile in 47.99 seconds in company with Engage. Brown was intrigued. A week later, Brown worked Gronkowski again and gave him the green light to run in the Belmont with another good move.

Ludt remembers sitting in Brown’s Belmont Park office and the trainer telling him “‘I didn’t realize how good this horse is,’” Ludt recalled.

Still, Brown wasn’t sure what to think about his chances in the Belmont.

“As we approached the Belmont I started to really examine all these things he was going to have to do for the first time and it looked daunting,” Brown said. “But he gave us hope based on the way he was training, which was borderline exceptional.”

In the Belmont, Gronkowski broke slowly under Jose Ortiz and was last, 14 lengths off the uncontested pace established by Justify. Gronkowski launched a bid leaving the six-furlong marker, advanced adroitly along the inside, and moved into second turning for home. He couldn’t sustain his run through the final three-sixteenths, however, as Justify sped off into the history books as the 13th Triple Crown winner.

Brown said he thought: “What if he broke a little better? What if someone would had have went with Justify? What if I would have had a couple of extra weeks with the horse? Who knows? You just kind of turn the page and move on.”

Brown was hoping to move on with Gronkowski to the Jim Dandy on July 28. But after Gronkowski’s first work back following the Belmont Stakes, the horse “tweaked an ankle,” according to Ludt, and that kept Gronkowski off the work tab for a month.

“Welcome to the world of training top horses,” Brown said. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. He had a little issue and missed a prep. We had to go to Plan B and set up a totally different schedule. Fortunately, I believe this horse has enough foundation and ability to overcome it. His work [Sunday] morning was the best I’ve seen.”

Gronkowski has indeed trained terrific the last five weeks at Saratoga. Brown now has confidence that with a better break than in Belmont Gronkowski has a real shot to win the Travers, though his namesake is not expected to be in attendance after playing in an exhibition game Friday night in North Carolina.

“He’s training sharper in the morning,” Brown said. “Whether that leads to a better break out of the gate, we’ll see. He’s definitely more aggressive. Now that we’ve had more time with the horse, we’ve gotten to know him better. I just feel he’s in a nice rhythm right now.”

“Once he warmed up, he’s been really excited about this horse,” Ludt said of Brown. “We’re excited. All we can ask for is a good break, a good trip, and hope we come flying down the lane and get to the wire first.”

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The $1 million Sword Dancer on Saturday at Saratoga has drawn a wide-open field of 10 that includes Funtastic, longshot winner of the Grade 1 United Nations; Grade 1 Manhattan winner Spring Quality; and the top six finishers from the Grade 2 Bowling Green, a race in which the top four crossed the wire within a length of each other.

The 1 1/2-mile turf race, which immediately precedes the Travers as race 10, is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. The winner will receive a fees-paid berth in that $4 million race.

The last four runnings of the Grade 1 Sword Dancer have been won by 2014 turf champion Main Sequence; Flintshire, who doubled up in 2015 and 2016 and was awarded an Eclipse Award after his second score; and Sadler’s Joy, who will be gunning for a repeat victory Saturday for trainer Tom Albertrani.

The Sword Dancer is a key leg in Saturday’s late pick four, NYRA Bets pick five, and the pick six. And, as if the race is not difficult enough, the form of top contenders Hi Happy and Spring Quality is clouded by recent events.

Hi Happy, who is trained by Todd Pletcher, went into the Bowling Green off a close third in the Manhattan, which Spring Quality won in a blanket finish with the first nine finishers were separated by only 1 3/4 lengths. Hi Happy had previously won the Grade 1 Man o’ War at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Pan American at Gulfstream Park.

Sent off as the 8-5 Bowling Green favorite, Hi Happy tracked pacesetting Glorious Empire to the stretch, but came up empty over the soft course and tired to finish sixth, beaten eight lengths.

Pletcher does not like making excuses for his horses, but termed the race “a total toss-out” because of the heavy going.

“He didn’t care for the ground at all,” Pletcher said earlier this week, “and if it’s not firm Saturday, we won’t run.”

Although there was rain in Saratoga on Wednesday morning, the forecast is for beautiful weather through race day and the footing should be fine. If you liked Hi Happy going into the Bowling Green, there is no reason to get off him now.

Spring Quality’s past performances show that in his last three starts he won the Manhattan, finished second to eventual Arlington Million winner Robert Bruce in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy at Belmont, and won the Grade 3 Red Smith last fall at Aqueduct. What they don’t show is that he shipped to Chicago for the Million, but became dehydrated and had an impaction, which kept him from passing manure properly.

Trainer Graham Motion scratched him from the Million, had him flown to Saratoga, and has worked him twice – an easy half-mile in 52 seconds over soft turf and five furlongs in company with Scholar Athlete, who is entered in race 5 Saturday. They were timed in 1:02.80 over firm turf.

Is he 100 percent recovered?

“It’s a little different for me at Saratoga,” Motion said. “I know how he trains at Fair Hill and it’s easy to judge how he’s doing. I will say he had a proper five-furlong work and galloped out a good seven-eighths.”

Funtastic and Glorious Empire, who lasted for a dead-heat win in the Bowling Green with Channel Maker, appear to have the best early speed in the Sword Dancer. Hi Happy and Spring Quality figure to take up stalking positions. The most dangerous deep closers include Sadler’s Joy, who was beaten only a half-length in the Bowling Green, and 7-year-old Bigger Picture, who was moving well at the finish of the Bowling Green and United Nations in his two most recent starts.

Lightly raced Funtastic is 2 for 2 since Chad Brown stretched him out to a marathon distance, taking a second-level optional-claiming race at 2-1 and the United Nations at 23-1. He raced on the lead in both races.

“This will be much tougher,” Brown admitted. “That said, the horse is improving and I love the way he’s training. If he breaks on top and nobody’s there, he’s very comfortable going to the lead. But I also don’t think he has to be on the lead.”

Jockey Antonio Gallardo scored his first Grade 1 win aboard Funtastic in the U.N., but Jose Ortiz takes over Saturday.

Aidan O’Brien has shipped Seahenge in from Ireland along with Mendelssohn, who will run in the Travers. Seahenge’s last two starts have come on dirt – a fifth in the Dwyer at Belmont and a seventh in the slop in the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard. He will be stretching out a half-mile in distance off those races.

It is difficult to see how Seahenge fits in the Sword Dancer, but O’Brien doesn’t chase many empty wagons.The 3-year-old will carry 112 pounds and get considerable weight concessions from his older rivals. Irish jockey Wayne Lordan is named to ride.

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Aug. 25 is a date trainer Michael McCarthy will always remember as the day in 2002 he first went to work for trainer Todd Pletcher. McCarthy could have an even more notable anniversary to celebrate on that date in years to come – his first Grade 1 victory at Saratoga – if City of Light proves a prompt favorite in Saturday’s $600,000 Forego.

The Forego is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

City of Light tops a strong field of older sprinters in the seven-furlong Forego that includes Limousine Liberal and Whitmore, who finished a neck apart as the respective one-two finishers in the Grade 2 Belmont Sprint; Awesome Slew, second behind Drefong in the 2017 Forego; and Warrior’s Club, runner-up in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt earlier in the meet. C Z Rocket, No Dozing, and Heartwood complete the field.

City of Light is a two-time Grade 1 winner at the distance, having won the Malibu in his 3-year-old finale in December and the Triple Bend to launch his 4-year-old campaign, both at Santa Anita. City of Light successfully stretched his speed around two turns to upset the undisputed king of the handicap division Accelerate in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap at 1 1/8 miles in April, but has made only one start since, finishing third behind Accelerate in the Santa Anita Gold Cup on May 26.

McCarthy had originally considered the Whitney for City of Light’s return, but a minor setback forced him to alter those plans and await the Forego for both his and City of Light’s Saratoga debut.

“He had a little bit of a foot bruise when I got him down to Del Mar and I didn’t think it was the right thing to force the issue trying to make the Whitney,” said McCarthy, who trains City of Light for Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren. “Mr. Warren really wanted to bring this horse to New York and we felt this race was our best option. It’s a very large purse and a Grade 1.”

McCarthy was also delighted with the post position draw, with City of Light to break from the outside in post 8 under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.

“I was very happy getting the outside, it gives Irad a chance to see everything developing inside of him,” said McCarthy, who left Pletcher to go out on his own in 2014. “He certainly looks like the controlling speed in this spot, but he’s kind enough to rate if need be. He’s done everything I’ve asked of him to this point. And it’s nice to have come full circle and be able to return to Saratoga for the first time on the same day I started working for Todd.”

Limousine Liberal overcame a rough trip to run down Whitmore in the final strides of the seven-furlong Belmont Sprint and win by a neck for his second Grade 2 win of the year. He also captured the Churchill Downs Sprint over a sloppy track in similar fashion on May 5. Limousine Liberal will return to Saratoga for the first time since finishing a well-beaten third behind El Deal here last summer in the six-furlong Vanderbilt.

Whitmore suffered his second straight narrow setback in the Belmont Sprint. He was also beaten a neck four weeks earlier by the odds-on Imperial Hint in the Grade 2 True North. The Forego will mark his Saratoga debut.

Awesome Slew rallied belatedly to finish four lengths behind the front-running Drefong in the 2017 Forego, and won the Grade 3 Ack Ack five weeks later at Churchill Downs before closing out the season rallying to be third in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He is winless in four starts this season while coming off a third-place finish as the heavy favorite against high-level optional-claiming opposition here earlier in the session.

C Z Rocket returns to the scene of his impressive debut a year ago, the first of three straight victories to open his career for trainer Al Stall Jr. That streak came to an end when C Z Rocket finished a tiring third behind City of Light in the Malibu. Stall has brought C Z Rocket along slowly this season. The Forego will be just his third start of the year and first since drawing off to a convincing four-length victory in the seven-furlong Kelly’s Landing at Churchill Downs on June 30.

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The premature retirement of Unique Bella due to injury has created an opportunity for someone to usurp her over the final four months of the year and claim a championship in the older female division.

The most likely candidates to do that are Abel Tasman, the 3-year-old filly champion of 2017, and Elate, a two-time Grade 1 winner as a 3-year-old and Eclipse finalist.

On Saturday Abel Tasman and Elate renew acquaintances at Saratoga as they headline a field of six in the Grade 1 $700,000 Personal Ensign Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile race that offers a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Distaff to be run Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

Abel Tasman defeated Elate by a head here in last year’s Coaching Club American Oaks, a result that was not without controversy as Mike Smith, Abel Tasman’s rider, tightened things up on Jose Ortiz and Elate in deep stretch.

Elate came back to win the Grade 1 Alabama here by 5 1/2 lengths, while Abel Tasman went on to win the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing. In the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Abel Tasman was second, Elate was fourth.

Thus far, in 2018, Elate has run only once, Abel Tasman has run twice.

Elate’s 4-year-old campaign was delayed by a splint bone injury during the winter. She had the difficult task of returning from an eight-month layoff in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at 1 1/4 miles. No problem; Elate galloped to a 3 1/4-length victory.

Though trainer Bill Mott said Elate’s best distance is a mile and a quarter, “she sure doesn’t have any trouble getting a mile and an eighth,” he said.

Since the Delaware Handicap, Elate has been training incredibly well, including one breeze in which she was much stronger than her 3-year-old male workmate Hofburg.

Elate will break from post 6.

Abel Tasman began her campaign with a dud in the Grade 1 La Troienne, finishing fourth as the 3-5 favorite at Churchill Downs in May. She rebounded with a monster performance in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on the Belmont Stakes undercard, winning by 7 1/2 lengths.

Bob Baffert, Abel Tasman’s trainer, said he gave some thought to running in the Delaware Handicap, but said he wanted a fresh filly for the fall, with the Breeders’ Cup Distaff as the ultimate target.

“We’re trying to keep her fresh and run her in the big races,” Baffert said. “We’d like to get another championship.”

Abel Tasman will break from the rail under Smith.

Farrell recorded a front-running neck victory over Wow Cat in the Grade 3 Shuvee here July 29. She may not have as easy a time on the front end Saturday as owner Ron Paolucci has entered both She Takes Heart and Fuhriously Kissed in the Personal Ensign. She Takes Heart looks like she has enough speed to keep Farrell honest while potentially setting it up for the late-running Fuhriously Kissed.

Wow Cat is an intriguing player in this field. A perfect 8 for 8 in Chile, she was making her first start in eight months when she came up a neck short in the Shuvee.

“She got the race she needed, she came out of the race in impressive form. She’s been training sharp and strong and looks fitter,” trainer Chad Brown said. “She’s going to improve off that race. Whether it’s good enough to beat [Abel Tasman and Elate] remains to be seen, but I really like this horse.”

KEY CONTENDERS

Elate, by Medaglia d’Oro
Last 3 Beyers: 92-93-97
◗ Came off an eight-month layoff to win the Delaware Handicap, making an early move to compensate for a soft early pace.
◗ Her Aug. 12 breeze was done in company with Hofburg. Elate was waiting on her company and then galloped out well in front, eventually getting six furlongs in 1:13.99.

Abel Tasman, by Quality Road
Last 3 Beyers: 100-89-99
◗ Beat solid field in the Grade 1 Phipps, making an early move to the lead and continuing her run in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race.
◗ After that race, Baffert commented how Abel Tasman prefers the East Coast tracks. She has Grade 1 wins at Belmont, Saratoga, and Churchill.

Wow Cat, by Lookin At Lucky
Beyer: 89
◗ Was bumped at the break and carried out at the wire of the Shuvee when beaten a neck by Farrell.
◗ A move forward off that race puts her in the mix.

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