Another try for Vino Rosso
Disappointing third in Whitney has his jockey, trainer asking for more
Before the Whitney Stakes was run at Saratoga Race Course in early August, Vino Rosso was a horse that was climbing in the polls for best older horse in the nation.
And then they ran the Whitney Stakes.
Vino Rosso is still considered a contender in the division, but his shine has dulled since he finished a non-threatening third in the Whitney, which was won by Mckinzie on Aug. 3.
“He ran well,” his jockey John Velazquez said about Vino Rosso’s Whitney performance, “but not to his full potential. I don’t know why.”
“I thought it was a solid race,” trainer Todd Pletcher allowed, “without being his best.”
The best thing about days like that is that there are other days. And for Velazquez and Pletcher one of those days comes Saturday. Vino Rosso will get a chance to show off when he runs in the Grade I, $750,000 Woodward on the final Saturday of the Spa season.
Vino Rosso is one of three horses trained by Pletcher who will run in the nine-horse field. Vino Rosso is the 7-2 co-second choice in the Woodward along with Preservationist. The favorite in the 11/8-mile race is the Bill Mott-trained Yoshida, who was second in the Whitney. He is 5-2 on the morning line.
Vino Rosso turned heads ear
lier this year when Pletcher sent him to California and he won the Grade I Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27. In the process, he beat Gift Box, who was then regarded as one of the top older horses in the land.
For the season, Vino Rosso, who is owned by Mike Repole’s Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stable, has won two of four starts. Despite that, he still hasn’t reached the heights his connections know he can reach.
“I think he’s right on the cusp of being a divisional leader but he needs to win a couple more,” Pletcher said. “The thing that gives us optimism for the Breeders’ Cup is that he has a win over the track (Santa Anita) and (the Classic) is a mile and a quarter. But he has to step his game up.”
Velazquez has ridden Vino Rosso in all 13 of his career starts. He has five career wins and three third-place finishes on his resume. In his other two starts at Saratoga, he ran fifth in last year’s Travers and third in the Jim Dandy.
The Gold Cup at Santa Anita was his first Grade I win after five other tries.
Vino Rosso worked a bullet five furlongs in 58.3 seconds a week ago Friday, the fastest of 22 at the distance. That was his first work since the Whitney.
“He worked really well,” Velazquez said. “That is a sign that he is back to himself, and, hopefully, he can show that.”
Pletcher’s other runners both have double-figure odds on the morning line. Bal Harbour, who was beaten by a head in the Grade III Monmouth Cup on Haskell day at Monmouth, is 15-1 and Wooderson, beaten by a length by Woodward opponent Tom’s d’etat in the ungraded Alydar here on Aug. 2, is 12-1.
Wooderson will be ridden by the meet’s leading rider, Jose Ortiz, and Bal Harbour by Javier Castellano.
Pletcher is hoping to get some vindication for Vino Rosso. So too is trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who will send Preservationist to the Woodward. He finished fourth in the Whitney when sent off at odds of 2-1.
“He pulled up well from the Whitney and it looks like he is training well,” Jerkens said, “so, we’re taking another shot.”
The Woodward will be without Mckinzie, who is back at trainer Bob Baffert’s barn in California, and also Thunder Snow, who missed the Whitney because of a fever and has since returned to trainer Saeed bin Suroor’s base in England.
It was also a race that could have featured last year’s Travers winner, Catholic Boy, but his trainer, Jonathan Thomas, is skipping the Woodward.
It will feature newcomers like New York-bred Mr. Buff, who could be dangerous from the rail with his speed, and Tom’s d’etat, who is unbeaten in three career starts at Saratoga.