McCraken beats the rush, drills half-mile for Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – McCraken, beaten a nose when second in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational last out, worked four furlongs in 48.97 seconds Thursday over the Oklahoma dirt course as preparations for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 26 are beginning to pick up.

Working at 6:20 a.m. under exercise rider Yoni Orantes, McCraken went his first quarter in 24.54 seconds and his second quarter in 24.43 while doing it mostly on his own. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.22.

“The horse was jumping out of his skin yesterday,” trainer Ian Wilkes said Thursday. “He needed to do something today. He would have hurt himself if I didn’t do something.”

During the meet, Wilkes rarely works horses on the Oklahoma training track, which is about as far away from his barn as possible. But Wilkes has had several horses get hurt training over the main track.

“I’ve had some injuries here on the main track,” Wilkes said. “I’ll probably move most of my works to Oklahoma now. I can’t keep staying in a rut and doing the same thing after the same things keep happening.”

There is time for McCraken to get in two more workouts before the Travers. Wilkes said Brian Hernandez Jr., the only jockey to have ridden McCraken, will retain the mount for the Travers.

“I’ve got the right jock, I’ve got the right horse, I’ll be okay,” Wilkes said.

Most of the other 3-year-olds under consideration for the Travers are expected to work from Friday through Sunday. Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit were expected to work Friday at Saratoga. Irap, the winner of the Ohio Derby and Indiana Derby, was expected to work Friday at Del Mar.

On Saturday, Haskell winner Girvin, Jim Dandy winner Good Samaritan, and Preakness winner Cloud Computing are scheduled to breeze. Others under consideration for the race are Game Over, Lookin At Lee, Giuseppe the Great, Fayeq, and Outplay.

West Coast, the winner of the Los Alamitos Derby, worked six furlongs in 1:12.60 at Del Mar on Tuesday.

Abel Tasman staying home

Abel Tasman, the leading 3-year-old filly in the country, will not run in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama on Aug. 19, trainer Bob Baffert said Thursday.

“I just want to freshen her up a little bit,” Baffert said from Southern California. “I want to try to save a little bit. I’ve been squeezing on her pretty good.”

Abel Tasman has shipped from California to win the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in May, the Acorn at Belmont in June, and the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga in July. Baffert did not rule out running her in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 26. That race is at 1 1/8 miles, and the Alabama is run at 1 1/4 miles.

Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez will ride Holy Helena in the Alabama, replacing Luis Contreras, who rode the 3-year-old filly to victories in the Woodbine Oaks and against the boys in the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine.

Velazquez is the all-time leader in wins at Saratoga with more than 800, including three in the Alabama. Contreras is 1 for 4 in his career at Saratoga, the win coming aboard Dream It Is in the Schuylerville Stakes here on opening day.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said the decision to change riders wasn’t his, but, “I’m not going to argue with it.”

“I mean, who’s better than Johnny?” he said.

A field of eight is shaping up for the Alabama: Actress, Elate, Holy Helena, It Tiz Well, Lockdown, New Money Honey, Salty, and Unchained Melody.

Sunset Ridge runs off screen

Sunset Ridge kept her record perfect and turned a few heads in winning a second-level New York-bred allowance by 16 3/4 lengths here Wednesday. Sent off at 1-5, she received a careerbest 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

The victory was the third in as many starts for the 3-yearold homebred daughter of Algorithms, owned by Alpha Delta Stables and trained by Chad Brown. As a result, Sunset Ridge is likely to wheel back on short rest in the 1 1/8-mile Fleet Indian Stakes on New York Showcase Day, Aug. 25.

“She’s improving, she does everything right, and I was glad to see her win as easily as she did so I can bring her back in the stakes coming up in about 16 days,” said Brown. “She’ll have no problem getting a mile and one-eighth.”

Brown said “little baby issues” kept Sunset Ridge from getting to the races until her 3-year-old season. She debuted with a one-length victory going six furlongs at Belmont Park on April 29 and five weeks later stretched to a mile to win again by 8 1/4 lengths at Belmont.

Shaman Ghost’s drill hits bump

Shaman Ghost worked five furlongs in 1:01.51 on Thursday over the Saratoga main track, but afterward, Jimmy Jerkens wasn’t uttering the familiar trainers’ refrain of “It was just what I wanted.”

Instead, a refreshingly candid Jerkens said, “It was disappointing.”

The work, done after the 8:45 a.m. renovation break, did not go smoothly. Shaman Ghost is preparing for the Grade 1 Woodward on Sept. 2.

First, as Shaman Ghost was galloping through the stretch, another horse got loose on the backside. The lights that alert the exercise riders of an incident on the track came on, and exercise rider Kelvin Pahal had to pull up Shaman Ghost. The loose horse was quickly corralled, but Shaman Ghost appeared to get a little agitated as he waited for the commotion to quell.

Shortly thereafter, Pahal got Shaman Ghost on the move again. Shaman Ghost broke off at the five-furlong pole, but he wasn’t far behind a Chad Brown team of workers. Pahal decided to put Shaman Ghost three to four paths wide so he wouldn’t take dirt from the team and would go by the horses in the stretch if he wanted.

Instead, Shaman Ghost, with his tail swishing, finished the move evenly and didn’t get to the Brown pair while finishing his last three furlongs in 36.97 seconds.

“He ended up being really wide to go around,” Jerkens said. “He probably should have just kept him behind them. It got messed up.”

Jerkens said that having the start of Shaman Ghost’s work interrupted due to the loose horse “might have got him all cranky.”

“Who knows?” he said. “I really don’t know what to make of it.”

There is still plenty of time to get more workouts into Shaman Ghost for the Woodward. Shaman Ghost, who won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in March, has not run since finishing second to Keen Ice in the Suburban at Belmont Park on July 8.