Abel Tasman’s return up in air

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Abel Tasman, the winner of Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks, shipped back to Southern California on Monday. Whether she returns to Saratoga for the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama here on Aug. 19 will be determined at a later date.

Abel Tasman has already shipped three times this year and posted Grade 1 victories in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, the Acorn at Belmont, and the Coaching Club, which she won by a head over Elate.

“We’ll play it by ear, see how she is,” Bob Baffert, the trainer of Abel Tasman, said Sunday from California. “I want to have a fresh horse for the Breeders’ Cup. If she’s doing really well, I’ll do it. These horses, you run them when they’re doing well.”

It was not Baffert’s initial intention to run Abel Tasman in the Coaching Club, but she was doing so well following the Acorn that he called an audible and shipped her across the country. In the race, jockey Mike Smith called an audible when he sensed a slow early pace and sent Abel Tasman to the lead with 5 1/2 furlongs to go in the 1 1/8-mile race. She put away the pace-prompting Summer Luck and then held off a determined Elate.

Smith tightened things up on Elate and jockey Jose Ortiz in the stretch, prompting Ortiz to lodge an objection and the stewards to light the inquiry sign. After several reviews of the replay, the stewards made no change in the order of finish.

Abel Tasman, the clear leader of the 3-year-old filly division, earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

Abel Tasman resided in John Terranova’s barn while at Saratoga, and Terranova said the filly appeared to come out of the race in good shape.

“She looks great,” Terranova said Monday. “She was bouncing and playing this morning.”

Bill Mott, the trainer of Elate, felt the stewards could have gone either way in their decision. Regardless, he was happy with his filly’s performance and said he’s looking forward to the Alabama, whether or not Abel Tasman is in the starting gate.

Small Bear sharp for Curlin

This week, the 3-year-old males will be in the spotlight, with the highlight being Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming facing Preakness winner Cloud Computing in Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy.

On Friday, seven lesseraccomplished 3-year-olds will try to earn a shot in the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 26 when they run in the $100,000 Curlin Stakes, for those who have not won a graded stakes at longer than a mile in 2017.

You’re to Blame, the runnerup to West Coast in the Easy Goer Stakes, likely will be favored in the Curlin, run at 1 1/8 miles.

One horse who is improving ahead of the Curlin is Small Bear, a gelding by Macho Uno owned by Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells and trained by Gary Sciacca. Small Bear is coming off his most impressive race to date, a 6 3/4-length victory in a second-level allowance race at Belmont Park on June 24.

After breaking poorly, Small Bear was last early. He split horses leaving the threefurlong pole, maneuvered three wide at the quarter pole, and drew clear under Dylan Davis.

“I was really impressed with his last race,” Sciacca said. “That’s why I decided to put him in there.”

In the Curlin, Small Bear will break from post 3 under Davis. The remainder of the field comprises Everybodyluvsrudy, Outplay, Hemsworth, Thirst for Victory, and Perfect Partner.

Brown gives two a break

Graded stakes winners Wake Forest and Long Haul Bay were pointing to stakes at Saratoga on Saturday but instead are getting a break, trainer Chad Brown said.

Brown was not pleased with the last couple of workouts by either horse and opted to skip Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Amsterdam with Long Haul Bay and the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green with Wake Forest.

Long Haul Bay won his first two starts, including the Grade 3 Bay Shore. He finished fifth in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at Belmont.

“He’s not the same horse that won the Bay Shore,” Brown said. “Nothing serious. If they’re not themselves, they’re going to get checked out.”

Brown said that Wake Forest, the winner of the Grade 1 Man o’ War in 2016, is being evaluated for a potential physical issue.

Wake Forest won the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream in March, but he has finished last in both the Man o’ War and Grade 1 Manhattan in his two most recent starts.

Seymourdini to wait

Trainer Linda Rice said Monday that she does not plan to run the red-hot Seymourdini here this summer and will point the son of Bernardini to the Kelso at Belmont Park on Sept. 23. Seymourdini has won his last three starts by an average margin of 12 lengths, with the first two of those victories coming at Laurel Park and the most recent a 10 1/2-length triumph in an overnight stakes at Belmont Park for which he received a 113 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He’s not even here right now,” Rice said of Seymourdini. “I couldn’t find the right race for him at this meet. Seven furlongs is too short, and I don’t want to go two turns with him. The ultimate goal right now is the Cigar Mile, not the Breeders’ Cup. I prefer to keep him on the East Coast.”