Lucullan may get ideal setup

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When he brought Lucullan back from a 14-month layoff in an allowance race last month at Belmont Park, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin thought his horse would be compromised by a seeming lack of pace.

Lucullan overcame that plus the layoff to win the 1 1/16-mile race by 1 1/4 lengths.

Saturday, when Lucullan steps back into stakes company in the $100,000 Lure Stakes, McLaughlin sees plenty of early pace with the likes of Voodoo Song and Gidu in the eighthorse field.

“I was worried about lack of pace in that race last time, so we had to have him a little closer, but it’s the opposite this time,” McLaughlin said. “It looks like four horses want to go to the lead. Maybe it’ll set up well for us to come from off of it.”

Lucullan, a 5-year-old son of Hard Spun, was twice placed in stakes, including a secondplace finish in the Grade 3 Hill Prince in fall 2018. He was beaten a neck by Yoshida and finished a half-length in front of Bricks and Mortar. Both of those horses have since won Grade 1 stakes.

In May 2018, Lucullan finished third to Robert Bruce in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy at Belmont. Lucullan had two subsequent workouts and was later diagnosed with hind leg condylar fracture.

“He’s a really nice horse. We were happy to get him back and get him back into the starting gate,” McLaughlin said. “He looks fabulous from time off.”

Lucullan will have to take on a trio of horses from the barn of Chad Brown. The most intriguing of Brown’s trio is Sacred Life, a 4-year-old French-bred colt making his U.S. debut. Last raced in a Group 3 at SaintCloud in March, he shows a strong work tab and was working with Mascha, a 4-year-old filly who won a first-level allowance race here Wednesday.

Sacred Life had made his last three starts at 1 1/4 miles.

“I think a cutback’s in order, at least to get started,” Brown said.

Brown also sends out Projected, second in this race last year but who has not won since September 2017, and Ticonderoga, who did win an allowance race here last summer.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has both Noble Indy and Gidu entered. Pletcher said Noble Indy has shown renewed interest since being moved to the turf. Gidu, Pletcher said, could run here or scratch and point to next Saturday’s Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap.

– David Grening

De La Rose a wide-open race

Got Stormy, coming off the best two races of her career and the highest last-out Beyer Speed Figure in the field, looms the tepid choice in a wide-open renewal of the $100,000 De La Rose carded at a mile on the turf for fillies and mares who have not won a graded stakes this year.

Got Stormy launched her 2019 campaign with a popular victory against a modest field under high-level optionalclaiming conditions March 7 at Gulfstream Park. She continued to move forward in her next two starts, finishing third behind Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley and second in the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs on May 4, for which she received a careerbest 100 Beyer.

Got Stormy has trained extremely well since arriving locally in early July.

“She’s doing great. She’s just gotten better and better, although it’s not an easy race, not for the money,” trainer Mark Casse said. “I think her best distance is a mile.”

A field of 14 was entered for the De La Rose, although three of those – Dawn the Destroyer, Alberobello, and Free Kitty – are listed for main track only.

Got Stormy will face a trio of fillies from the barn of trainer Chad Brown, who entered Zonza, Stella di Camelot, and Pacific Wind.

Zonza, a Group 3 winner sprinting in her native France early in her career, has finished off the board in two U.S. appearances since joining Brown’s barn this season.

Stella di Camelot won the Pebbles Stakes last fall in her U.S. debut but has started just twice since and only once this season, checking in a fast-closing third in the Grade 3 Intercontinental at seven furlongs.

Pacific Wind will return to the turf for the first time since a ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks during the summer of 2017. Capla Temptress, a Grade 1 winner at 2 on turf, wheels back in just three weeks for trainer Bill Mott off a popular victory in Delaware Park’s 1 1/16-mile Just a Kiss.

– Mike Welsch