Minit to Stardom set for Test

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After winning her first three starts by a combined 18 3/4 lengths, Minit to Stardom will literally be “put to the test” when she makes her stakes debut here Saturday in the Grade 1 Test Stakes.

Minit to Stardom, a homebred daughter of Star Guitar, launched her career for trainer Al Stall Jr. with a pair of one-sided victories at the Fair Grounds, but had her 3-year-old campaign delayed after developing a fever while prepping for a stakes at Delta Downs this winter. She finally returned on May 27 at Churchill Downs, where she proved dominant once again while racing outside of Louisiana-bred company for the first time, cruising to a 6 1/4-length victory in an optional claimer under jockey Corey Lanerie and earning a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She’s a big, lanky, solidly built filly who showed us all kind of good stuff right off the bat,” said Stall, who trains Minit to Stardom for Brittlyn Stables Inc. “She really just jogged around there in her two starts in Louisiana, and Corey barely let her run when she beat a really solid field in the race at Churchill. I mean, Corey was like a parachute on her down the backside and never really dropped her head except for the last part.”

Stall said winning a prestigious race like the Test with Minit to Stardom would be the culmination of a great story for the entire team.

“First of all, it’s the Test, and I have close ties to Star Guitar,” said Stall, who trained Minit to Stardom’s sire to win 24 of 30 career starts for earnings of more than $1.7 million for Brittlyn Stables. “And then there’s the Corey factor, too. One thing for certain, we’ll find out where she stacks up on Saturday.”

Mott gets hot at Spa

Trainer Bill Mott won six races over five days at Saratoga to move into second in the trainer standings following Sunday’s card.

And his meet should only get better.

Mott, who had won seven races from 28 starters at the meet entering Monday’s card, celebrated his 65th birthday Sunday with two wins, naturally. He has now won a race at Saratoga on his birthday in 17 of the last 24 years. More impressively, Mott has won at least one race at Saratoga for 32 straight meets, or since 1987. He has won the Saratoga training title nine times.

As part of his five-win week, Mott won the Curlin with Hofburg, who is now headed to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, and shared the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green when Channel Maker dead-heated with Glorious Empire. Channel Maker will likely be pointed to the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on Aug. 25.

In the morning, three of Mott’s top horses put in workouts for upcoming engagements.

Good Samaritan, last year’s Jim Dandy winner, worked a half-mile in 50.42 seconds, getting his final quarter in 23.94 seconds in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.08, six furlongs in 1:15.57, and pulled up seven furlongs in 1:30.08.

“He was off slow in his first quarter of a mile, but he finished nicely and galloped out strong,” Mott said.

Right after Good Samaritan worked, Elate went a half-mile in 50.27 seconds in her first work since winning the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap. She is pointing to the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign here on Aug. 25.

“She was just galloping,” Mott said. “He had a handful of horse and she went in 50 and we didn’t make her gallop out. It was her first breeze; we didn’t want any more than that.”

Yoshida, who won the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs two starts back, worked five furlongs in 1:02.13 over the Oklahoma turf course.

Yoshida is pointing to the Grade 1 Fourstardave here on Aug. 11.

Yoshida worked in company with the Neil Drysdale-trained mare La Sardane, a winner of two stakes at Belmont who is pointing to the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa here on Aug. 25.

Lynch duo works on turf

Trainer Brian Lynch was all smiles after watching his two top turf horses, Heart to Heart and Oscar Performance, work over the grass at the Oklahoma training track on Monday morning.

Lynch said the Grade 1 Fourstardave on Aug. 11 would be next for Heart to Heart, who worked five furlongs inside the dogs, or cones, in 1:00.81 with Julien Leparoux aboard, a clocking second only to Oscar Performance’s 1:00.66 final time on Monday’s tab. Heart to Heart continues to maintain top form at the age of 7. He’s already posted a pair of Grade 1 wins this season before narrowly missing a third when outfinished a neck by Hunt in the Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.

“I thought it was a really solid work and we’ll come back with just an easy half-mile next week,” said Lynch. “In fact, I got the right breezes I needed from both horses this morning heading into their next starts. Julien told me after that, as many times as he’s worked this horse he didn’t think he’s ever worked as good as he did today.”

Another potential Fourstardave starter, Delta Prince, also worked over the Oklahoma turf on Monday, completing five furlongs in 1:03. Delta Prince is coming off a 1 3/4-length victory in Woodbine’s King Edward Stakes in his 2018 debut.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said he intends to enter Delta Prince in the Fourstardave.

“If he were to draw some bad post we could wait and go back for the Woodbine Mile, but that’s a ways off,” he said.

The news wasn’t as good for Jerkens’s rising turf star American Guru, who suffered a condylar fracture working here Sunday and was to undergo surgery on Monday. Jerkens said American Guru sustained a condylar fracture to another leg at 2, and that “the odds are probably against him making it back to race again.”

Shuvee rematch shaping up

Farrell and Wow Cat, separated by a neck in Sunday’s Grade 3 Shuvee Stakes, will both point to the Grade 1 Personal Ensign here on Aug. 25, their trainers said Monday.

Farrell went gate to wire in the Shuvee, holding off Wow Cat late to win her fifth graded stakes and surpass the $1 million mark in career earnings. The only thing she hasn’t done is win a Grade 1 race.

“That’s what we’re looking for, a Grade 1,” trainer Wayne Catalano said.

Farrell earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the Shuvee.

Wow Cat, making her North American debut, suffered her first loss after having won all eight of her starts in Chile. She was making her first start since December.

“I don’t have any excuses other than she had to overcome that layoff,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Maybe just she needed the race – it was quite a long time since she’s run and going a mile and an eighth on the dirt is a tall order. I thought she ran really well. I’m hopeful that she got the race she needed and she’s going to move forward and we’ll point to the Personal Ensign.”