Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
SECOND CHANCE
MCKINZIE AIMS TO MAKE AMENDS FOR MET MILE LOSS,
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mike Smith left Belmont Park following his second-place finish on McKinzie in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap wishing he had a do-over.
Twice in the stretch, Smith tried to advance McKinzie only to find Thunder Snow in his path. When Smith found running room late, he was able to rally McKinzie past Thunder Snow, but had to settle for second, three-quarters of a length behind Mitole.
“Not taking anything away from Mitole, I think he’s an amazing horse, but I left the Met Mile thinking if I just had a clear trip I’d have had a heck of a shot at it,” Smith said Thursday.
Smith gets his do-over of sorts Saturday at Saratoga when he rides McKinzie in the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes, the centerpiece of an 11-race card that includes the Grade 1 Test featuring Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress; the Grade 3 Troy featuring top turf sprinter World of Trouble; and two other ungraded turf stakes.
The afternoon will also feature a celebration of the life of Marylou Whitney, the Queen of Saratoga, who died on July 19 at the age of 93.
McKinzie, trained by Bob Baffert for Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, will face seven rivals, including Grade 1 winners Thunder Snow, Vino Rosso, and Yoshida, as well as the Grade 2 Suburban winner Preservationist. The Whitney offers a fees-paid berth into the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.
Though he was next to last early in the Met Mile, McKinzie has shown tactical speed in his two-turn races, which include a Grade 1 victory in last fall’s Pennsylvania Derby. In the Alysheba, on May 3 at Churchill Downs, McKinzie was actually on the lead, then dropped back while staying inside before going outside of Tom’s d’Etat at the quarter pole. He drew off by 4 3/4 lengths.
“He just wasn’t comfortable down inside there in the Alysheba,” said Smith, who won the 1993 Whitney on Brunswick. “I let him back out of it and see what he would do. Once I did he collected himself, got up underneath himself, then I was like, ‘Whoa, now I hope I can get out of here.’ ”
There is no confirmed front-runner among the eight horses entered in the Whitney, contested at 1 1/8 miles. Smith said that depending how McKinzie breaks from post 6, he could find himself on the lead.
“He’s training really well. He might leave there running,” Smith said. “If he does that I don’t ever take away anything that comes easy for him. I know when he’s happy and comfortable he’s going to run well. If they go quick early he’ll sit off them a little bit. If they don’t he’ll be up there.”
Preservationist was never more than a length off the pace in the Suburban, and drew off to a dominant 4 1/4-length victory over Catholic Boy. Saturday, Preservationist breaks from the outside post and trainer Jimmy Jerkens said he wouldn’t mind if Junior Alvarado has him close up early.
“It’d be nice if he breaks and he can cross over and lay second or third in a nice, easy way. There’s nothing wrong with that, I don’t think,” Jerkens said.
Preservationist blew out three furlongs in 37.13 seconds over the Oklahoma training track on Thursday.
Vino Rosso is coming off a victory in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita where he was close to solid fractions. The first quarter of a mile of that race, however, is run down a straightaway. John Velazquez will ride Vino Rosso.
“On paper, we’re going to have to leave there and establish some forward position going into the first turn, then it’s going to be up to Johnny to sort it out from there,” said Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Vino Rosso.
Thunder Snow has the tactical speed to be a stalking presence. He ran a solid third in the Met Mile at a distance that is far short of his best. He is a twotime winner of the 10-furlong Dubai World Cup.
Trainer Saeed bin Suroor was in Saratoga in time to watch Thunder Snow blow out three furlongs in 40.79 seconds over Saratoga’s main track Thursday morning.
Suroor believes the nine furlongs of the Whitney “will be better for him.”
“I want to see him running at the end of the race,” he said.
Christophe Soumillon rides Thunder Snow from post 4.
The connections of Yoshida are hoping for some reasonable fractions as he does his best running from off the pace, as evidenced by his victory in last year’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes here. He ended his 4-year-old season with a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but has gone off form this year with a trio of sixth-place finishes, most recently in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs.
The Whitney field swelled to eight with the likes of longshots Imperative, Forewarned, and Monongahela, who is coming off a four-length victory in the Grade 3 Iselin at Monmouth Park on June 22.