Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Lady Eli may train into BC
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lady Eli and Practical Joke, who each won a graded stakes on Saturday at Saratoga, may simply train up to their respective Breeders’ Cup races, their trainer, Chad Brown, said Sunday morning.
Lady Eli won the Grade 2 Ballston Spa by 1 1/2 lengths over Dickinson, her 10th victory from 13 career starts and third in four runs this year. Running in the Ballston Spa was a late decision by Brown, who thought there was too much time between the Grade 1 Diana, which Lady Eli won on July 22, and the Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont Park on Oct. 8. Brown was also concerned about the potential for soft turf at Belmont in October.
Sunday, Brown said that while he would consider still running Lady Eli in the Flower Bowl under the right circumstances, he would also feel comfortable just training her up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 4.
“I don’t feel the need to run her again before the Breeders’ Cup,” Brown said Sunday. “Going a mile and an eighth off two months and how good she is … I’m not saying I won’t, but I don’t feel I have to. If it rained, or the track wasn’t right for the Flower Bowl, or she had a hiccup somewhere, I feel like I’m in a good position to go to the Breeders’ Cup just training her.”
Brown is hoping to end the year with a Breeders’ Cup victory at Del Mar and an Eclipse Award for Lady Eli whom he calls “a horse of a lifetime.”
Lady Eli earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure for the victory in the Ballston Spa, her ninth stakes win.
Roca Rojo, third in the Ballston Spa, will be pointed to the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland on Oct 7.
Practical Joke won the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial by 1 1/4 lengths over Takaful for his third Grade 1 victory. The win kept Practical Joke unbeaten (5 for 5) in races run around one turn. Still, Brown is considering running him in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 3, a race run around two turns.
Drefong could race or wait
Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday that he will wait to see how Drefong trains following his victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego Stakes at Saratoga before deciding whether to train him up to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint or run him once more beforehand.
Last year, Drefong won the King’s Bishop on Aug. 27 at Saratoga and didn’t run until the BC Sprint, a race he won as part of a 4-for-4 campaign that culminated with an Eclipse Award as champion sprinter.
Drefong didn’t start again until the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar on July 29. He was bumped a few strides out of the gate, and jockey Mike Smith was unseated. Saturday’s frontrunning victory in the Forego was his sixth win from eight career starts.
If Baffert elected to run Drefong once more, the race would be the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 7.
Drefong, a 4-year-old son of Gio Ponti, ran seven furlongs in 1:21.12 and earned a career-best 107 Beyer Speed Figure in the Forego.
Mind Your Biscuits, the second choice in the Forego, finished sixth. Trainer Chad Summers said he could not find anything amiss with Mind Your Biscuits and will wait to decide where to run him again, if at all, before the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Hirsch next for Sadler’s Joy
Sadler’s Joy used an eyecatching burst of speed to make up for an awful start in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga on Saturday, running by all six of his rivals in the final furlong of the 1 1/2-mile turf race to win by a half-length under Julien Leparoux.
The victory was the first in a Grade 1 for owners Rene and Lauren Woolcott, who race as Woodslane Farm. Sadler’s Joy is the second Grade 1 winner bred by the Woolcotts. They had previously bred four-time Grade 1 winner Tonalist, a winner of $3.6 million.
The victory also was important for trainer Tom Albertrani, who is in the midst of a rebuilding year after splitting with owner West Point Thoroughbreds. Albertrani has won at least 30 races a year since 2005, but the Sword Dancer was only his 12th score of the season.
“Yesterday was a huge victory for everybody,” Albertrani said. “I’ve picked up a few new clients recently, but this is a reorganization year for our barn.”
The Sword Dancer was a Win and You’re In for the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 4, and Sadler’s Joy is guaranteed a fees-paid berth in the race. Albertrani is planning to use the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Sept. 30 as a Breeders’ Cup prep.
By the Moon turned a rare double Saturday at Saratoga by winning the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina. She is now a Grade 1 winner at ages 2 and 5.
By the Moon is 7 for 19 in her career with earnings of $1.5 million.
The Ballerina is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series, so By the Moon earned a feespaid berth in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 4 at Del Mar with her victory. She finished fifth in last year’s BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
Highway Star, second in the Ballerina, might return in the Grade 2 Presque Isle Masters, a 6 1/2-furlong race over Tapeta on Sept. 18, said trainer Rodrigo Ubillo.