Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
‘Setback’ forces Guarana to sit out Ballerina Stakes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Guarana, a three-time Grade 1winning filly, will not make a scheduled start in next Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga, trainer Chad Brown said Friday.
“She had a setback. She’s not going to be able to run,” Brown said. “We’re getting her looked at right now. We sent her to Rood and Riddle, but she didn’t come out of her last work well.”
On July 25, Guarana worked a half-mile in 50.03 seconds over the Saratoga main track.
Guarana, a 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper, would most likely have been the favorite in the Ballerina. She is 2 for 2 this year, including a gutsy half-length victory over Mia Mischief in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes on July 11 at Keeneland. In that race, Guarana had the lead, was passed by Mia Mischief, and came back on again to get the victory.
At 3, Guarana won the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont and the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks here.
Mia Mischief, meanwhile, is also not going to run in the Ballerina. Trainer Steve Asmussen said she will be pointed to the Grade 2, $150,000 Honorable Miss going six furlongs here on Sept. 6.
Among those expected for the Ballerina are Bellafina, Come Dancing, Cookie Dough, Letruska, Serengeti Empress, and Victim of Love. Pink Sands is possible.
Come Dancing, who won last year’s Ballerina, worked five furlongs in 1:00.81 Friday morning over Saratoga’s main track. With jockey Javier Castellano aboard, Come Dancing went her first quarter in 23.99 seconds, hit the wire in 47.96, and went out a furlong past the wire in 12.85.
It was a slower work than what had become typical for Come Dancing, who put in several fast works late last year and earlier this year.
“There’s just no need,” trainer Carlos Martin said. “She’s a 6-year-old mare. She knows her job. We slowed her down with the regular [exercise rider] the last two works and then I told Javier just trick her and get her off the inside and keep her in the middle of the track and then bring her in a little bit, and that’s what he did.”
Come Dancing is coming off a second-place finish to Victim of Love in the Grade 3 Vagrancy at Belmont on June 27.
Pure Sensation still going
Pure Sensation worked three furlongs in 37.23 seconds Friday morning over the Oklahoma turf course, and the 9-year-old gelding is being pointed to next Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Troy Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs.
“You’d never know he was 9 years old the way he worked today,” trainer Christophe Clement said.
Pure Sensation has won 11 stakes, including seven at Parx. His first stakes victory came in 2014 at Saratoga, where he won the Quick Call. He has run in the Troy twice, finishing third last year and sixth in 2017.
Pure Sensation came off a seven-month layoff and ran seventh of eight in the Grade 1 Jaipur June 20 at Belmont, a race in which he got caught up in a torrid speed duel.
Meanwhile, Clement worked a pair of 3-year-old turf stakes winners, Decorated Invader and Gufo, on Friday morning. Decorated Invader went a half-mile in 50.48, making up a length on Gufo, who went in 50.68. Both are being pointed to the $500,000 Saratoga Derby at 1 3/16 miles on Aug. 15.
“They looked good,” Clement said. “It’s exciting.”
The Clement-trained Momos, a 6 1/2-length debut winner here on July 18, worked three furlongs in 36 seconds Friday morning in preparation for next Friday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Saratoga Special. Clement said he prefers to run Momos in the six-furlong Special as opposed to waiting for the Grade 1 Hopeful at seven furlongs on Sept. 7.
“If he’s a sprinter why don’t we keep him sprinting?” Clement said. “He’s fast.”
Breaking the Rules sharp
Breaking the Rules made it 2 for 2 since his return from a year layoff with a strong one-length victory in a high-caliber allowance race here Wednesday.
Breaking the Rules, 13 lengths off the pace at one point, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.35 and earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. On June 20, Breaking the Rules won a 1 1/8-mile allowance race, his first race since he finished last in the Grade 3 Poker in 2019.
Trainer Shug McGaughey said that Breaking the Rules, who won the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park in 2018, developed bone bruising after the Poker and was turned out for the remainder of the year.
McGaughey said a race like the $85,000 Lure Stakes on Sept. 7 could be next for Breaking the Rules, a Phipps Stable homebred son of War Front.
“I’ve always thought he was a horse with a lot of ability, and even though he won a stakes and been placed in some others, I never thought he was giving me everything he had,” McGaughey said. “These last two races I thought maybe he had.”
◗ Among the turf workers on Friday at Saratoga were Rushing Fall (a half-mile in 48.98 seconds) for the Grade 1 Diana on Aug. 23 and the duo of Raging Bull and Without Parole (a half in 49.18 seconds), who are both pointing to the Grade 1 Fourstardave here on Aug. 22.