SARATOGA LIVINGThe City. The Culture. The Life.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has participated in 19 Travers over 30 years, winning three of them. The common denominator in those three? Toughness.

All three – Corporate Report (1991), Thunder Gulch (1995), and Will Take Charge (2013) – survived running in all three legs of the Triple Crown without winning one. They then had one race between the Belmont Stakes and the Travers.

“The ones I’ve had the best luck with is when I can really lean on them,” Lukas said.

Bravazo, who will represent Lukas’s 20th Travers starter in Saturday’s 149th renewal of the Midsummer Derby at Saratoga – certainly fits the profile. Bravazo ran in all three legs of the Triple Crown – the only other horse besides Triple Crown winner Justify to do so this year – and then finished second to Good Magic in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park four weeks ago.

Lukas sees no regression in the son of Awesome Again, who will be making his eighth start of the year in the Travers.

“He’s actually put on weight, he looks stronger, and his attitude is better,” Lukas said. “I think he’s going to run his best race so far, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he runs a better one the next time.”

In 2013, Will Take Charge finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby, seventh in the Preakness, and 10th in the Belmont. After finishing second in the Jim Dandy, Will Take Charge won the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby. He got beat a nose in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and won the Grade 1 Clark to earn an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old.

“If you like them, don’t give up on them,” Lukas said. “That’s what we get paid to do, not make a snap judgement.”

Thunder Gulch, in 1995, won the Derby and the Belmont while finishing third in the Preakness. He won the Swaps at Hollywood Park before winning the Travers. In his 3-year-old year, Thunder Gulch went 7 for 10.

Lukas, who has trained 25 individual champions over his Hall of Fame career, said “Thunder Gulch was probably the best horse I ever trained.”

Corporate Report didn’t make it to the races until March 3 of his 3-year-old year. He ended up running ninth in the Derby, second in the Preakness, and fourth in the Belmont. After running second in both the Swaps and Haskell, Corporate Report beat Preakness and Belmont winner Hansel in the Travers.

“He was a solid, blue-collar type horse,” Lukas said of Corporate Report. “He brought his ‘A’ game that day. When he showed up, he was okay.”

Bravazo has only 3 wins from 12 starts. His victory in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds in February basically earned Bravazo a spot in the Kentucky Derby. Bravazo finished eighth in the Louisiana Derby, a performance that might have deterred some from going on to Kentucky.

Not Lukas or his client Brad Kelley, the proprietor of Calumet Farm.
“Brad Kelley is very strong on the theory ‘they’re bred to run, run them,’ ” Lukas said. “Lead them over there. Now you can’t do it just because he feels that way, but if you get one that you can do it with, he’s all for it.”

Lukas felt confident he could get Bravazo ready for the Kentucky Derby, and the horse finished a respectable sixth, beaten eight lengths by Justify with a bit of a wide trip.

“He was trying to run at the end and a few of them weren’t,” Lukas said. “The Derby was better than it looked. The first time in world-class competition and I felt the spark was there and we could move forward from there.”

In the Preakness, Bravazo, who had been sitting off dueling leaders Good Magic and Justify, made a late surge at Justify but fell a half-length short.

“That was our best chance to beat him, and we knew it before we led him over there,” Lukas said. “He likes a bit of moisture in the track, and he was training well. Looking down the shed row at everybody else, I thought we had an excellent chance to beat Justify that day. But I was probably not realistic, in hindsight.”

In the Belmont, Bravazo was boxed in along the inside but even when he got running room he came up empty, finishing 8 1/2 lengths behind Justify who completed the 13th Triple Crown in history.

Lukas, as he is known to do, pressed on. He prepared Bravazo for the Haskell, and the horse responded with a decent second-place finish, three lengths behind Good Magic and six lengths in front of the rest of the field. Bravazo lost a hind shoe in the Haskell.

Lukas has liked the way Bravazo has trained toward the Travers. On Sunday, Bravazo worked five furlongs in 1:00.07, starting three lengths behind a stablemate and finishing a length in front at the wire.

“He likes to run at a target, so I gave him something to run at,” Lukas said. “I’m not worried about a target [Saturday]; they’ll be targets all over the place.”

Lukas turns 83 on Sept. 2. He is three years removed from having heart surgery. Lukas ranks as the third-winningest trainer all time in purse money won ($279,322,013) and eighth in wins (4,807).

“I love trying to develop a horse,” Lukas said. “Back in February, nobody knew this horse was alive.”

Lukas said everybody will know Bravazo is in the Travers.

“We’ll keep this race very honest, not saying we’ll win it, but we’ll keep it honest,” Lukas said. “Nobody will be stealing it on Saturday.”

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A $40,000 investment earlier this season has already blossomed into a nifty profit for owner Robert Amendola and trainer Patrick Reynolds, who plucked Kitten’s Covergirl out of the claiming ranks in May for a bargain price and have already been rewarded with a pair of wins.

Amendola and Reynolds will try to add another $55,000 to Kitten’s Covergirl’s steadily growing bankroll when she takes on nine rivals Thursday at Saratoga in the $100,000 Riskaverse. The Riskaverse is carded for 3-year-old fillies who have never won a stakes at a mile or longer and is scheduled to be decided at one mile on turf.

Kitten’s Covergirl set the pace and finished second, beaten a neck, when taken by her current connections for $40,000 on May 11 at Belmont Park. She has successfully stretched out in distance in her two starts since joining Reynolds stable, winning a $50,000 starter-allowance dash going seven furlongs June 15 before returning less than three weeks later to capture a second-level optional-claiming race at a mile.

“I have to give my owner the credit for picking her out,” Reynolds said. “He did the work-up on her with the numbers. I took a look, and she passed the test physically, so we took her. She got beat that day, but it seemed if she could learn some rating tactics we might be on to something. She was in great shape when we got her, we taught her to rate a little bit, and it’s turned out well so far.”

Reynolds said he discussed the options with his owner, and they decided to keep her with straight 3-year-olds in the Riskaverse.

“Obviously, the water gets a little deeper,” Reynolds said. “But we’re in against our own kind and she’s already been the distance successfully, albeit around one turn, although I don’t think two turns should be any problem for her.”

From a class standpoint, Goodthingstaketime is the one to beat in the Riskaverse. She has run well while also being a source of some frustration for her connections since coming to the United States from Ireland for her 3-year-old campaign, having been stakes placed in all four starts this year against some stellar competition but without a victory.

Trained by Jorge Abreu, Goodthingstaketime has chased home some of the top members of her division, including Rushing Fall when third in the Grade 2 Appalachian; Got Stormy in the Penn Oaks; and most recently Daddy Is a Legend while finishing third in the Grade 3 Lake George here.

As is the case in the majority of turf stakes here this summer, trainer Chad Brown will be well represented, with both Tapit Today and Punked among the key players.

Tapit Today brings a two-race winning streak into the Riskaverse, albeit against perhaps slightly lesser competition at Monmouth Park. She drew off to a pair of one-sided victories there in July. Punked finished second in the Wild Applause, also at a mile, earlier this summer at Belmont.

The red-hot Jimmy Jerkens barn will counter with the up-and-coming Sweet Sting, who was third in the Memories of Silver at Aqueduct in April and second against older allowance rivals June 30 at Belmont.

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Hofburg, the dominant winner of the Curlin Stakes here on July 27, will miss Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes due to a temperature, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday morning.

Mott said while he expects Hofburg to be fine by Travers Day, he missed a couple of days of training – including a planned final workout Sunday morning – that will keep him out of the Mid-Summer Derby.

“He has a fever, and his bloodwork was a little out of whack,” Mott said. “I suppose he’d be over it by Travers Day, but we’re going to miss the race.”

Mott said the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 22 “is a good possibility.”

Hofburg, a son of Tapit owned by Juddmonte Farms, finished second in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in his third career start. That earned him enough qualifying points to run in the Kentucky Derby, where he finished seventh, 8 3/4 lengths behind Justify.

After skipping the Preakness, he ran a creditable third in the Belmont Stakes behind Justify.

With the Travers the target since then, Mott wanted the easiest possible prep for Hofburg, which is why he ran him in the $100,000 Curlin Stakes as opposed to the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy the following day.

Hofburg won the Curlin by five lengths, earning a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Hofburg’s defection leaves an expected field of 12 for the Travers: Bravazo, Catholic Boy, Good Magic, Gronkowski, King Zachary, Meistermind, Mendelssohn, Seahenge, Trigger Warning, Vino Rosso, and Wonder Gadot.

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Topped by Belmont Stakes runner-up Gronkowski, Preakness runner-up Bravazo, and Jim Dandy winner Tenfold, six of the expected 12 entrants for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes put in workouts Sunday morning at Saratoga.

Gronkowski, working with Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Instilled Regard, went five furlongs in 1:00.02, getting his last three furlongs in 35.81 seconds. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.71 while pulling away from Instilled Regard.

“His work this morning was the best I’ve seen,” said trainer Chad Brown, noting that he wanted another strong work from Gronkowski, who has not run since his second-place finish to Justify in the Belmont on June 9.

Brown said Instilled Regard, who has not run since the Derby, got a little tired in part because it was his first five-furlong work since Brown received the horse earlier this summer. Instilled Regard is pointing to the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 22.

About three hours earlier on the Oklahoma training track, Bravazo worked five furlongs in 1:00.07. He started three to four lengths behind stablemate Royal Edition and finished a length in front, getting his final quarter in 25.45.

“He likes to run at a target, so I gave him something to look at today,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.

Bravazo, who ran in all three Triple Crown races, is coming off a second-place finish behind Good Magic – the probable Travers favorite – in the Haskell.

“He’s actually put on weight, he looks stronger, and his attitude is better,” Lukas said. “I think he’s going to run his best race so far, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he runs a better one the next time.”

Tenfold, who despite his victory in the Jim Dandy Stakes on July 27 seems to be the forgotten horse in the Travers, worked shortly after Bravazo. Tenfold went a half-mile in 50.07 seconds over the Oklahoma training track, with a final quarter in 24.29 seconds. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.71.

“I thought he worked solid,” trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Tenfold could be getting overlooked because of the way he drifted out nearing the wire in the Jim Dandy, presumably from a gaggle of photographers and cameras positioned near the finish line.

“I’m worried to hell about it, very much so,” Asmussen said. “We’ve had him over there several times, but you can’t recreate that.”

Asmussen also will run Meistermind, the winner of a 1 1/4-mile maiden race at Churchill Downs on June 30, in the Travers. Meistermind, a son of Bodemeister, worked a half-mile in 50.08 seconds, getting his last quarter in 24.61.

“The further the better,” Asmussen said. “He ran the fastest mile and a quarter run at Churchill this meet.”

Catholic Boy, who will be returning to dirt after winning the Grade 1 Belmont Derby on turf last out, worked a half-mile in 49.18 seconds under Javier Castellano. Though he shaded 14 seconds from the five-furlong pole to the half-mile pole, the work officially began from the half. Catholic Boy went from there to the quarter pole in 24.07 seconds before cruising through the lane in 25.12.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas said he communicated with Castellano via two-way radio to see if Catholic Boy would pick it up on the gallop-out, and the horse responded by galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.89.

“He went so easy to the wire that I said, ‘Hey, test him, see what you got,’ and he gave him a little squeeze, and he jumped right into the bridle,” Thomas said.

King Zachary, the winner of the Matt Winn Stakes and the fourth-place finisher in the Indiana Derby, zipped five furlongs in 59.73 seconds by himself over the main track for trainer Dale Romans.

Good Magic, the Kentucky Derby runner-up and Haskell winner, likely will be the favorite in what is now shaping up to be a 12-horse Travers field with the announced defection Sunday morning of Hofburg due to a temperature.

According to the New York Racing Association, trainer Aiden O’Brien is still planning to ship Mendelssohn and Seahenge from Ireland on Tuesday for the Travers. Vino Rosso, the Wood Memorial winner and Jim Dandy third-place finisher; Wonder Gadot, the filly who beat the boys in the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown; and Trigger Warning, the runner-up to Axelrod in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby, also are expected to enter the Travers.

The draw will be held Tuesday at the Adelphi Hotel in downtown Saratoga Springs.

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A year ago, Diversify used his one-sided triumph in the $100,000 Evan Shipman Stakes at Saratoga as a stepping-stone to his victory in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup seven weeks later at Belmont Park.

Whether there is a future Grade 1 winner in the field for Monday’s Evan Shipman remains to be seen, although the cast for the 1 1/8-mile race is a good one and includes likely favorite Pat On the Back, who ran the now two-time Grade 1 winner Diversify to a nose decision in the Commentator this past spring.

A field of eight New York-breds was drawn for the Evan Shipman, although three of them – Papa Shot, Hit It Once More, and Winston’s Chance – also are entered the same day in the Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes at Finger Lakes.

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart said that considering his current form, Pat On the Back could be a prime candidate for more prestigious races later this season. The 4-year-old son of Congrats joined Englehart’s barn from the Ken McPeek stable this year following a second-place finish in the six-furlong Affirmed Success Stakes at Belmont and right before turning in the best performance of his career, when he was outgamed by Diversify in the one-mile Commentator.

Pat On the Back subsequently proved that effort was no fluke by overcoming a stumble at the start to win the 1 1/16-mile Saginaw by 1 3/4 lengths here on July 13.

“He shipped into our barn from Kenny a week or so before the Commentator in good shape, ran great, and we’ve just been trying to maintain that good form ever since,” said Englehart. “He’s been battling a little bit of a foot issue since the [Saginaw], but my blacksmith and assistant at Belmont have done a really nice job with his training program preparing him for Monday.”

The ability to stay 1 1/8 miles could also be key to Pat On the Back’s success in the Evan Shipman.

“His M.O. has been that he’s not as good around two turns as one,” said Englehart. “But I’m hoping this race will be a different story since he’s a little better horse right now than the last time he tried it. Every time I watch Diversify run, I begin to wonder if I’m not testing this horse enough. So, if all goes well, my main goal is to give him a shot in the Kelso when we get back to Belmont.”

The Evan Shipman has a familiar look to it as it reunites the first four finishers from the Saginaw.

Trainer George Weaver will take the blinkers off Wine Not, who earned a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure for his second-place effort behind Pat On the Back in the Saginaw.

Hit It Once More was able to control the pace before fading to third while returning to statebred competition in the Saginaw, but figures to have his hands full with Control Group during the early stages on Monday.

Twisted Tom finished a tiring fourth, beaten more than 10 lengths, as the 3-5 favorite while making his 2018 debut in the Saginaw. Twisted Tom won three consecutive statebred stakes to cap a 3-year-old campaign last year during which he captured six of seven starts, with his lone setback coming in the Belmont Stakes.

Control Group has won five of his last seven starts, all for trainer Rudy Rodriguez, but proved no match for Diversify and Pat On the Back when finishing far back in the Commentator.

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Good Magic beat Mother Nature on Friday and solidified his status as the horse to beat in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers next Saturday with a strong workout over Saratoga’s fast main track.

With unsettled weather in the forecast for Friday into Saturday, trainer Chad Brown moved a planned Saturday workout for Good Magic up a day. And before some showers fell late Friday morning, Good Magic got in a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.76 under exercise rider Walter Melasquez.

Good Magic picked up some company in the form of an Eric Guillot-trained horse who broke off at the half-mile pole, but Good Magic was not inhibited as he got his opening three furlongs in 36.17 seconds. Melasquez wasn’t asking for anything from Good Magic as he cruised through the lane in 24.59. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.02 and seven-eighths in 1:28.32.

Brown said the unexpected company “didn’t interfere in our work in any way.”

Good Magic, last year’s champion 2-year-old male, is coming off a three-length victory in the Grade 1 Haskell, which followed a runner-up finish to Justify in the Kentucky Derby and a fourth to him in the Preakness.

“I’m really happy that he’s emerged from the Haskell as well as he did,” Brown said. “As long as a campaign as he’s had, to step up and breeze very well again this morning, he’s just a really solid horse, very dependable.”

Good Magic was one of three Travers horses to breeze Friday morning.

Wonder Gadot, who will become the first filly in 39 years to run in the Travers, went a half-mile in 47.55 seconds at around 5:45 a.m. With exercise rider Chris Garraway up, Wonder Gadot went in quarter-mile splits of 23.76 seconds and 23.79 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.75.

Trainer Mark Casse said the work was a little quicker than he was expecting. It was still somewhat dark when she worked, and Casse said the glare from the infield board made it difficult for him to read his stopwatch as he watched the work.

Casse, who communicates with his riders via two-way radio, said that when he saw the first fraction, he told Garraway, “Whoa, whoa.”

“She would have went a little slower if we weren’t blinded by the light,” Casse said.

Casse said he still hasn’t finalized a rider for Wonder Gadot. John Velazquez has ridden her to victories in the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, but he seems committed to Vino Rosso in the Travers. Casse said that Mike Smith, Tyler Gaffalione, and Florent Geroux are the leading candidates to ride Wonder Gadot, though he likely won’t announce a decision until Monday.

Velazquez on Friday morning was aboard Vino Rosso, who worked a half-mile in 48.57 seconds in company with Tapwrit, the 2017 Belmont Stakes winner.

Vino Rosso got his last quarter in 24.00 seconds alongside Tapwrit but then proceeded to gallop out five furlongs in 1:01.11 and six furlongs in 1:13.94. Pletcher took Vino Rosso out seven furlongs in 1:28.40. Toward the end of the work, the sirens went off, indicating a loose horse on the track.

“We wanted to make sure he galloped out well, and I thought he actually galloped out really well, and Johnny had to rein him in before the seven-eighths when the siren went off,” Pletcher said. “Had the siren not went off, I thought he would have gone even quicker. I thought he showed good energy.”

A field of 10 is shaping up for the Travers. Post positions will be drawn Tuesday evening at a ceremony at the refurbished Adelphi Hotel.

Those expected to enter, with riders, are: Bravazo (Luis Saez), Catholic Boy (Javier Castellano), Good Magic (Jose Ortiz), Gronkowski (Joel Rosario), Hofburg (Irad Ortiz Jr.), King Zachary (Robby Albarado), Meistermind (Manny Franco), Tenfold (Ricardo Santana Jr.), Vino Rosso (Velazquez), Wonder Gadot.

Mr Freeze, the West Virginia Derby winner, will skip the Travers and train up to the Pennsylvania Derby. No decision has been made on where Axelrod, the Indiana Derby winner, will make his next start.

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This has been a good summer for trainer Christopher Davis, who has won 10 races from 40 starters at Arlington Park. The second-year trainer looks to transfer that success to Saratoga – and hopes to win his first career stakes – when he sends out Moonlit Garden in Sunday’s $100,000 Summer Colony Stakes.

The Summer Colony, at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares who have not won a graded stakes in 2018, drew only a field of five and not all are certain to run. Nomorerichblondes, winner of the 2017 UAE Oaks in Dubai, hasn’t run in nearly 17 months and could await an allowance race at Monmouth Park next weekend, according to trainer Arnaud Delacour.

Moonlit Garden, a daughter of Malibu Moon, has two wins and a second in her last three dirt starts, all around two turns. Most recently, she was beaten three-quarters of a length by Divine Miss Grey in the Lady’s Secret Stakes at Monmouth. Moonlit Garden made the lead in midstretch but got outfinished.

“I think those horses got heads up, they were kind of leaning on each other,” said Davis, a former assistant to Phil D’Amato. “They ran hard. It was just a good horse race.”

Davis is encouraged by the fact Moonlit Garden finished 9 1/2 lengths ahead of the third-place finisher.

Awestruck looks like the major threat to Moonlit Garden. A 4-year-old daughter of Tapit, Awestruck is coming off a second-place finish to Pinch Hit in the Mari Hulman George Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Indiana Grand on July 14. Awestruck got away with an easy lead, then battled back when Pinch Hit came to her in the stretch. She gave way grudgingly, losing by three-quarters of a length while finishing 3 1/4 lengths clear of the rest of the field.

“There’s a question of whether she wants the mile and an eighth,” trainer Rusty Arnold said. “It was either go seven-eighths in a Grade 1″ — in the Ballerina Aug. 25 — “or a mile and an eighth in an ungraded race with a small field.”

Awestruck figures to be on the lead breaking from the rail under Irad Ortiz Jr.
A Place to Shine, second in the Serena’s Song Stakes on May 12 in her only start of this year, and Forever Liesl, a recent allowance winner at Laurel, complete the field.

KEY CONTENDERS

Moonlit Garden, by Malibu Moon
Last 3 Beyers: 93-72-85
◗ After losing her first 11 starts, she is 2-1-0 in her last four starts, with the only off-the-board performance a seventh in the Grade 3 Matron, run over Arlington’s synthetic surface.
“She’s been a later-maturing filly mentally,” Davis said. “She’s learning how to be a racehorse. You see that in her form. She’s gotten significantly better.”
◗ Jose Ortiz, aboard Moonlit Garden for an allowance win in April at Keeneland, is back aboard on Sunday.

Awestruck, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 84-83-89
◗ Began the year with a pair of allowance wins going one turn in Kentucky.
◗ She stretched out and finished fourth behind winner Blue Prize in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs on June 16.

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