Plenty of talent in Spinaway Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Grade 1 Spinaway may have come up short on numbers when it was drawn Wednesday, but certainly won’t be lacking for quality when it is run on Saturday. Not with a quartet of undefeated 2-year-old fillies in the lineup, led by Pure Silver, runaway winner of the Grade 2 Adirondack here earlier this summer, and a trio of impressive debut winners, Separation of powers, Lady Ivanka, and Maryland invader Maya Malibu.

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez will be looking for a torrid pace scenario for Lady Ivanka, who rallied from mid-pack to capture her only start by eight lengths here on Aug. 9. Lady Ivanka has trained well, and she got a little extra schooling during her work on Monday, breaking off behind and running up on another team of workers in early stretch.

“I saw the other horses in front of me, so I let her sit behind them for a bit to take some dirt,” said Rodriguez, who was aboard Lady Ivanka in her work.

Rodriguez was able to slip Lady Ivanka inside her inadvertent company near midstretch, and the pair drew away to complete a sharp halfmile drill in 47.04.

“We’ve been trying to take her back in the morning anyway, and she’s been doing really well,” said Rodriguez. “She did it very comfortably in her work the other day.”

Rodriguez also thinks the stretch from 5 1/2 furlongs in her first start to seven furlongs for the Spinaway will work to Lady Ivanka’s advantage.

“I don’t think the extra distance will be any problem for her at all,” said Rodriguez.

Lady Ivanka will break from post 3 under Irad Ortiz Jr. Separationofpowers drew the rail, with Pure Silver in post 4. Maya Malibu is in post 5 with Javier Castellano aboard for the first time. Obvious Two completes the lineup and breaks from post 2.

The Spinaway tops a Woodward Day undercard that also includes a pair of Grade 3 races on the turf, the $300,000 Saranac for 3-year-olds and the $200,000 Glens Falls at 1 3/8 miles for fillies and mares.

The Saranac lured a field of nine topped by the undefeated Bricks and Mortar, who’ll seek his fifth win in as many starts. The lineup, in post position order, consists of Mr Havercamp, Yoshida, Master Plan, Bricks and Mortar, Voodoo Song, Caviar Czar, Mo Maverick, Makarios, and Rocketry.

The Glens Falls also drew nine entries topped by Grade 1 winner Harmonize. California invader Estrechada, upset winner of the Grade 3 Waya earlier in the meet, has shipped east once again trying to pull off a graded stakes double here this summer for trainer Mike Puype. The remainder of the field comprises Waya runnerup Lottie, Summersault, Happyness, War Flag, Grateful, Sarandia, and Sweet Sandy.

New York-bred Lubash retired

Lubash, the popular 10-yearold New York-bred gelding who has won 12 stakes and earned more than $1.5 million in his career, has been retired from racing, trainer Christophe Clement said Wednesday.

Clement said the gelding is sound and training well “but not with the enthusiasm he used to.”

Clement said Leonard Pivnick, owner and breeder of Lubash, will look for a place for Lubash to spend retirement, potentially at Old Friends.

Lubash, by Freud, won 18 races from 54 starts with 9 seconds and 7 thirds. He won 12 stakes including two runnings of the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap at Gulfstream Park West and the Grade 3 Fort Marcy at Belmont Park. He won two runnings of the Ashley T. Cole and West Point and one running each of the Kingston and Mohawk, the four New York-bred turf route stakes on the New York Racing Association calendar.

“I’m very proud of the career he had,” said Clement, who trained Lubash for 36 of those 54 starts. “He’s 10, and he’s retiring physically sound, which is the way it should be.”

Jim Ryerson trained Lubash for his first 18 races.

Sporting Chance tunes up

Sporting Chance, a solid maiden winner here on July 22, worked four furlongs in 48.68 seconds Wednesday morning over the Oklahoma track in preparation for a start in Monday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Hopeful Stakes.

Under exercise rider Arielle Witkowski, Sporting Chance went his first quarter in 24.48 seconds and his second quarter in 24.20 as he drew five lengths clear of workmate Nanoosh.

“We let him run from the three-sixteenths pole, just close, which he did really well,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a seven-time Hopeful winner. “She just chirped to him to see if he’d finish, and he really quickened and he really finished.”

Sporting Chance, a son of Tiznow, finished second to Dak Attack in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race at Churchill Downs on June 15. Sporting Chance came back to win a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race here by 2 1/4 lengths on July 22, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 84. Dak Attack came back to win the Ellis Park Juvenile on Aug. 20.

Others expected for the Hopeful are Firenze Fire, Free Drop Billy, Givemeaminit, Mojovation, National Flag, Oskar Blues, and Psychoanalyze.

◗ The stewards suspended jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. five days for careless riding aboard Significant Form in the 10th race on Sunday’s card at Saratoga. Ortiz plans to appeal the suspension.

The stewards also fined jockeys Tyler Gaffalione and Eric Cancel $2,000 each for separate riding infractions over the weekend.