SARATOGA LIVINGThe City. The Culture. The Life.

Gary Contessa sent out a pair of boxcar 2-year-old debut winners this summer. Maiden Beauty returned $47.60 while scoring by 3 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park in July. Bustin to Be Loved paid $40.20 after winning by 2 3/4 lengths in early August at Saratoga. Both will be generous prices again in their respective stakes on Friday’s New York Showcase Day program.

Bustin to Be Loved will face six other statebred colts and geldings in the $200,000 Funny Cide, including his stablemate Red Zinger. Favoritism in the 6 1/2-furlong race will likely fall to either two-time winner La Fuerza, who is conditioned by Todd Pletcher, or the Steve Asmussen-trained Bankit.

Maiden Beauty, who won the Lynnbrook Stakes over a sloppy track in her first start, will take on seven filly rivals in the $200,000 Seeking the Ante, also at 6 1/2 furlongs. Collegeville Girl will take money off her big 73 Beyer Speed Figure for Parx Racing-based trainer Richie Vega, as will She’s Trouble, an easy last-out maiden winner for Linda Rice.

Contessa purchased Bustin to Be Loved and Maiden Beauty at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales in April for $80,000 and $40,000, respectively.

Bustin to Be Loved’s strategy is easy to figure out. He will break running and not look back. Red Zinger, who was third in Bustin to Be Loved’s maiden score, will be running late.

“Red Zinger ran his usual green kind of race, but he was coming every step,” Contessa said. “Bustin to Be Loved rockets to the front, he is incredibly fast.”

“He might get more pressure in this race, but I don’t think anything in there is as fast as this colt. We get an extra half a furlong on Friday, and that could be what Red Zinger needs to get up.”

Red Zinger, in his debut, finished third to La Fuerza in the Rockville Centre at Belmont Park. Red Zinger made a nice middle move to the lead on the far turn before flattening out in the stretch.

“The following day I had Maiden Beauty in, and she was his workmate,” Contessa said. “She wasn’t worse than him, they were equals, and he’d run a big race.

“She is much more focused than him. He’s still a big, dumb, green baby, and she has always been like a 4-year-old. She has a great mind.”

Contessa realizes the waters get deeper Friday.

“All three of them are coming into these races at their best, and we’re going to find out if that’s good enough,” he said.

La Fuerza has rallied from off the pace in both of his starts, a 7 1/2-length maiden win and the Rockville Centre, a six-furlong race in which he had some early traffic problems before drawing off by 4 1/2 lengths.

La Fuerza will break from the outside post.

“He drew a favorable post, so we don’t have to worry too much about how he breaks this time,” Pletcher said. “We’re not going to rush him away from there. We’ll just let him find his rhythm. I think 6 1/2 will be better for him but that he ultimately will want to run further.”

Bankit, a $260,000 March purchase at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales, earned a 70 Beyer for his 6 3/4-length Saratoga maiden win.

Dugout, who is trained by Larry Rivelli, won his debut by 7 1/4 lengths on July 23. His 72 Beyer is tops in the field.

The Seeking the Ante goes through She’s Trouble, who put it all together in her third-start maiden win.

The career of She’s Trouble got off to an auspicious beginning when she dwelt at the start of her debut as the 7-5 favorite. She trailed by a good 20 lengths early before closing ground to finish third.

Rice explained that when the assistant starter raised his arm to send She’s Trouble on her way when the gates opened, the filly startled and backed up instead of going forward.

“We have been breaking her with no head man in her last two races and will do that again Friday,” Rice said.

In her second start, She’s Trouble was squeezed back after the start but finished well to be fourth, beaten 3 1/2 lengths. In her five-length maiden score, she rallied from off the pace with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. sitting still on her in the final sixteenth.

“It’s been a learning curve for her, and she finally kind of put things together,” Rice said. “I was very happy with the last race.”

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

Visit DRF.com for additional news, notes, wagering information, and more.

Trainer Chad Brown has been bombarded all week long with questions regarding Good Magic and Gronkowski’s status for Saturday’s Travers. So, it was almost a welcome relief when he was given the opportunity to talk about something else for a change – his turf horses Offering Plan and Fifty Five, the likely favorites and ones to beat here Friday in the $150,000 West Point and Yaddo stakes.

The West Point, for 3-year-olds and up, and the Yaddo, for fillies and mares, are among the six stakes for New York-breds on Friday’s Showcase Day card. Both races will be decided at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Offering Plan has suffered frustrating losses in the last two editions of the West Point. He was beaten a neck by King Kreesa when third in 2016 before returning to finish a half-length behind Get Jets last summer. Both times, Offering Plan came flying down the stretch, only to fall short.

Offering Plan entered the 2017 West Point off a fifth-place finish against open company in the Forbidden Apple six weeks earlier. He follows the same schedule this year, exiting an even stronger third-place effort behind the red-hot Voodoo Song in the one-mile Forbidden Apple. He also defeated many of his chief rivals on Friday earlier this spring when he rallied to win the Kingston going a mile at Belmont Park on May 28.

“He’s a really consistent horse, he’s coming off a very big effort, and we’ve been targeting this race for a while,” said Brown. “I would say he’s going into this race just as well if not better than last year. He’s really been training super. He’s definitely pace dependent – that and the trip is always key with him.”

The pace should be an honest one in the West Point, with the speedy Black Tide among the 10 likely to start should the race remain on the grass. Black Tide set the pace in this race last summer before finishing a tiring fourth, nearly two lengths behind Offering Plan, although his form has tailed off since he won the Mohawk last fall at Belmont.

The field for the West Point will be a familiar one, bringing back the first three finishers from the Kingston, including runner-up Rapt and the 9-year-old warhorse Kharafa, who was third in this race a year ago.

King Kreesa also is still going strong at 9. Trained by David Donk, King Kreesa is looking to snap an eight-race losing streak that dates to his narrow decision over Kharafa and Offering Plan in the 2017 West Point.

Rapt will need plenty of pace and a little racing luck to negotiate his way through the bulky lineup from his customary place near the rear of the field. Rapt has hit the board in his last four outings but is without a win to show for those good efforts, which date to the 2017 Mohawk.

Fifty Five goes into the Yaddo with a win and two seconds from three starts this year. She was a graded stakes winner last year as a 3-year-old and does her best running from off the pace.

“She got a little bit of a late start this year and had one of her scheduled races canceled due to the weather this summer,” said Brown. “Like Offering Plan, we’ve been pointing for this race for a while, and she’s training extremely well. She’s a bigger, stronger horse than she was last year, and I think she should have even better things in front of her this season.”

The Yaddo lured nine fillies and mares, including Feeling Bossy, who led throughout before outlasting Fifty Five by a neck to capture the one-mile Mount Vernon on May 28 at Belmont in her 2018 debut. Feeling Bossy has run once since, turning in an even effort to run fifth against open competition in the Perfect Sting.

La Moneda makes her stakes debut in the Yaddo while on a roll for trainer Tom Morley. She has won three in a row, the last two coming against opening company, including a high-level optional claimer over the local turf course earlier in the session. Among her victims during the recent streak are Lady Joan and War Canoe, both of whom also are key contenders in the Yaddo, with the latter exiting a seventh-place finish while beaten less than six lengths in the Grade 1 Diana.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

Visit DRF.com for additional news, notes, wagering information, and more.

The effects of a difficult winter led to an unproductive spring for Evaluator and English Soul. But even as summer heads into its twilight, there is still ample time and opportunity for these two New York-breds to make something of their 3-year-old seasons.

Evaluator, winless in four starts this year, looks well spotted by trainer Michael Dilger to end that drought in Friday’s $250,000 Albany Stakes for 3-year-olds, while trainer Ray Handal couldn’t be any more confident in the chances of English Soul in the $200,000 Fleet Indian Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Friday’s New York Showcase Day program at Saratoga.

The Albany and Fleet Indian are two of six stakes, totaling $1.15 million in purses, and 11 races overall restricted to New York-breds on Friday. The card also features the induction of two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert into Saratoga’s Walk of Fame. Baffert will be here for the ceremony, which takes place after race 5.

Evaluator, a son of Overanalyze owned by R and H Stable, won on turf here in his debut last summer. He concluded his four-race juvenile campaign with a win in the $250,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes going a mile on dirt last October at Belmont.

Evaluator had a promising 3-year-old debut, getting beat a nose in the Damon Runyon. It went sour thereafter.

In February, the Belmont Park barn Evaluator was stabled in was placed under quarantine and he was forced to miss the Gander Stakes. Evaluator went into the Grade 2 Wood Memorial off a three-month layoff and unsurprisingly finished seventh of nine. He returned to New York-bred company in May at Belmont, where he finished seventh of eight under Rajiv Maragh in a race run over a sloppy track.

“Sloppy track and the rail wasn’t very good that day and [Maragh] decided to go down there,” Dilger said.

Evaluator returned from a two-month layoff with a second-place finish to the older horse Calculated Risker in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race here on July 23. It’s the most promising effort at the Albany distance by the seven members in the field.

“We’re not concerned about the distance,” Dilger said. “The thing for us is if there’s enough speed up front, which it seems like there should be, he has something to run at at the end.”

Sea Foam, trained by Christophe Clement for Waterville Lake Stables, won the New York Derby by 3 1/4 lengths going 1 1/16 miles at Finger Lakes. He put away token pressure from Spectacular Kid that day, but on Friday may get some early heat from either Singapore Trader or Speke, both trained by Todd Pletcher for Barry Schwartz.

Sea Foam must carry high weight of 124 pounds, spotting seven pounds to all but Analyze the Odds, the Mike Lee winner at seven furlongs, who gets in with 119.

Clement said Sea Foam “always showed quite a bit of speed in the mornings.”

“I always thought he was more of a seven-eighths to a miler,” Clement said. “We’ll stretch him and see what happens. I thought he was impressive at Finger Lakes.”

The Albany will be run as race 3.

After beginning her 3-year-old season with a victory in the East View Stakes at Aqueduct in January, English Soul was away from the races for 4 1/2 months owing to a neck abscess.

After running second in the Bouwerie and third in the New York Oaks, English Soul, in the estimation of trainer Ray Handal, is ready to run her best race in the Fleet Indian at 1 1/8 miles.

Handal felt there were a couple of issues in the New York Oaks that may have worked against English Soul. First, it was the first time she had shipped that far the day of a race. Second, he had upped her dosage of Lasix owing to a bad endoscopic examination a few weeks before the race.

In the Oaks, English Soul set the pace, took some pressure, and was run down by Split Time while losing a nose decision to Crashing Connie for second. English Soul did gallop out past the field.

Handal thinks English Soul has moved forward since the Oaks and, despite her having to break from post 11, he is confident in her chances.

“If she’s the horse that I think she is, she’s going to win the race,” Handal said. “She’s as good as I’ve ever had her right now. She’s training super, and this is the best I’ve seen her look weight- and health-wise before she had that abscess in her neck in the winter.”

Split Time, trained by Linda Rice for Tic Stables, is 5 for 7 and shouldn’t have a problem with the added distance coming off her two-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile New York Oaks.

“It was her first time around two turns,” Rice said. “We wanted to get her around two turns, and I was pleased with the way she handled it.”

A live longshot could be Our Super Nova, who was checked out of the New York Oaks at the three-eighths pole and was not persevered with thereafter.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

Visit DRF.com for additional news, notes, wagering information, and more.

A full field of seemingly evenly matched horses, a seldom-used marathon distance, and an unsettled forecast make Wednesday’s $100,000 John’s Call Stakes one of the more difficult handicapping puzzles of the Saratoga summer.

The John’s Call is scheduled for 1 5/8 miles over the Mellon turf course and a full field of 12 was entered for the turf. There are thunderstorms forecast for Tuesday night into part of Wednesday, and there are four horses entered for the main track. The race would be run at 1 1/4 miles if it’s transferred to dirt.

On turf, the race looks extremely wide open, with three of the top four finishers from a 1 3/8-mile allowance race here July 21 looking like the top contenders.

Call Provision won the race and Rocketry was third, with perhaps with a bit of a more difficult trip when he tried to rally from last.

“He got carried out right when he was putting in a big run,” Jimmy Jerkens, the trainer of Rocketry said. “It looked like he was going to hang, and he came on again.”

Jerkens is a little concerned should it rain.

“I don’t think he wants it too soft,” Jerkens said. “He’s a big, lanky, light-framed horse. I do think he’ll get over the top of it pretty good.”

Trainer Chad Brown sends out the uncoupled entry of Call Provision and Focus Group. Call Provision won that aforementioned allowance race by a neck over Hello Don Julio for his third win from five races over the Saratoga turf.

A New York-bred, Call Provision finished fourth in the Grade 1 Man o’ War at Belmont on May 12.

“He wasn’t beat too far, he just couldn’t quite stay with the class of those horses,” Brown said. “This seems like more of a reasonable spot, though the distance is unknown.”

Brown is excited to give Focus Group a shot in his first stakes. Brown said he sees Focus Group, a second-level allowance winner here on July 30, on an upward trajectory and that “I think he’ll get the distance.”

If the race is moved to dirt, Exulting and You’re to Blame look like the ones to beat.

KEY CONTENDERS

Rocketry, by Hard Spun
Last 3 Beyers: 99-98-96
◗ Was beaten only two lengths in the Belmont Gold Cup going two miles.
◗ Won a 1 3/8-mile allowance race here last summer.
◗ Shows two solid works since his half-length loss here on July 21.

Call Provision, by Lemon Drop Kid
Last 3 Beyers: 100-103-101
◗ Has to overcome post 10.

Focus Group, by Kitten’s Joy
Last 3 Beyers: 96-89-88
◗ He is 2 for 4 over this turf course with both wins coming at 1 3/8 miles, and he won both with something left in the tank.
◗ Has gone 2 for 4 since Brown added blinkers to the colt’s equipment.

Patterson Cross, by Arch
Last 3 Beyers: 99-91-88
◗ Perhaps had the better of the trips of those who come out of the July 21 allowance race, where he was beaten a length.

This story originally appeared on DRF.com. 

Visit DRF.com for additional news, notes, wagering information, and more.