Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Happy Saver tries to earn Preakness berth in Tesio
Preakness Weekend preps in September?
You bet.
The unconventional racing calendar of 2020 continues Monday at Laurel Park, where the $100,000 Federico Tesio will award its winner a berth into the $1 million Preakness Stakes, which has been rescheduled for Oct. 3 at Pimlico.
This year, it’s the third leg of the Triple Crown.
The card Monday at Laurel has four other $100,000 stakes and they could produce starters for Preakness Weekend stakes. The races Monday include the $100,000 Weber City Miss, which offers its winner a berth into the Grade 2, $250,000 BlackEyed Susan on the same card as the Preakness.
Happy Saver puts a perfect 2-for-2 record on the line in the Tesio, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds that drew a field of seven. Others set to start include the supplemented Letmeno, who finished first in the Iowa Derby but was disqualified and placed second; Group 1 winner Mexican Wonder Boy; and local stakes winner Monday Morning Qb.
Happy Saver on Saturday morning was scratched from the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga, where his trainer, Todd Pletcher, planned to start probable favorite Dr Post. Happy Saver is the probable favorite for the Tesio, and there were a couple of different reasons to target the race with the son of Super Saver, according to Pletcher.
“Gives me an opportunity to split them up,” he said. “It also gives him some stakes experience, and should he do well there, it gives him an automatic berth into the Preakness and that’s what we’re hoping for.”
Happy Saver launched his career June 20 with a 5 1/2-length maiden special weight win over seven furlongs at Belmont. Prominent throughout, Happy Saver earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 89. One start later he trumped himself when he put up a Beyer of 96 for winning a first-level allowance at 1 1/8 miles July 26 at Saratoga.
“They were both impressive wins,” Pletcher said. “Seveneighths is a tough distance to win your debut and he did that impressively. It’s also difficult to step up against winners and stretch out to a mile and an eighth in your second start and he was able to do that.
“He came from a little bit off the pace in the route race and got a little dirt in his face, a little experience and education after pretty much being in the clear his first trip. You don’t see too many horses do that. He’s held good company in the morning, trained head and head with Dr Post. We’ve had high expectations for him and so far he’s delivered.”
Happy Saver is from the female family of A.P. Indy. He races for his breeders, the Wertheimer brothers. Trevor McCarthy has the mount on the horse, who is racing in the straight 3-year-old ranks for the first time Monday after having faced 3-year-olds and up in his first two starts. He will break from post 4.
Letmeno is making his first start since he led throughout to finish first by a neck in the Iowa Derby on July 5. Mexican Wonder Boy on July 25 won a first-level allowance at a mile at Gulfstream. Monday Morning Qb is making his first start since a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Withers in February at Aqueduct.
The Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles drew Grade 1 winner Perfect Alibi and the undefeated Grand Cru Classe. There were 13 entered, with three on the also-eligible list. Others set to start include Project Whiskey, winner of the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks, and Princess Cadey, a stakes winner coming off a close third in the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks.
Perfect Alibi exits a fourthplace finish to Gamine in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga. Earlier in her career, Perfect Alibi won the Grade 1 Spinaway and the Grade 2 Adirondack, both at Saratoga. Victor Carrasco has the mount from post 2 for trainer Mark Casse.
Grand Cru Classe is making her stakes debut after winning a maiden special weight over six furlongs in May at Gulfstream and a first-level allowance at a mile in July at Belmont. The Beyer of 87 she earned in the allowance is the best last-race number in the Weber City Miss. Julian Pimentel has the mount from the rail for trainer Bill Mott.
The stakes action starts in the fifth with the $100,000 All Along, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares that could produce starters for the Grade 3 Gallorette at Pimlico. The field of nine is led by a pair of runners coming off graded stakes wins, Theodora B. and Nay Lady Nay.
The $100,000 Henry S. Clark at 1 1/16 miles on turf drew a field of 10, including the promising Serve the King, a winner of 3 of 4 starts, all for Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown.
Wet Your Whistle looks like a chief player in the $100,000 Laurel Dash.