Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Wonder Gadot works half-mile
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wonder Gadot tuned up for what her connections hope will be an historic run in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 25 when she worked a half-mile in 48.07 seconds over the Saratoga main track early Friday morning.
It was her first work since she won the Prince of Wales Stakes on July 24 at Fort Erie and the first since trainer Mark Casse declared her a starter in the Travers.
“She skipped over it, I thought,” Casse said.
Going out at 5:45 a.m., Wonder Gadot, under exercise rider Chris Garraway, went off her first eighth in 13.00 seconds. Casse, via walkie-talkie, told Garraway to pick it up, and Wonder Gadot went a half-mile in 24.18. She got her final quarter in 23.89 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.91, six furlongs in 1:14.86, and seven furlongs in 1:29.39.
“I said pick it up, and you saw what she did, then I told him slow down,” Casse said. “She went ahead and galloped out really well, too. She looks fantastic. She’s gotten over every surface pretty good. The only surface we felt she struggled with was” Fair Grounds.
Wonder Gadot is seeking to become the first filly to win the Travers since Lady Rotha in 1915. She will be the first filly to run in the Travers since Davona Dale finished fourth as the favorite in 1979.
There is no confirmed rider for Wonder Gadot for the Travers. John Velazquez has ridden her in seven of her last nine starts, including the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales. Velazquez also is the regular rider of Vino Rosso, the Wood Memorial winner who finished third in the Jim Dandy. Vino Rosso is trained by Velazquez’s main client, trainer Todd Pletcher.
In other Travers news, Axelrod, winner of the Grade 3 Indiana Derby on July 14, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 at Del Mar in anticipation of an expected start in the Travers. Axelrod, a son of Warrior’s Reward, is trained by Michael McCarthy.
Meanwhile, trainer Chad Brown confirmed that Joel Rosario would ride Gronkowski in the Travers. Jose Ortiz had ridden Gronkowski to a second-place finish in the Belmont Stakes, but he is committed to ride multiple Grade 1 winner Good Magic in the Travers.
Strike Power will try turf
After a couple of disappointing efforts in graded stakes on dirt, Strike Power, winner of the Grade 3 Swale earlier this year, will get an opportunity to run on turf in the $100,000 Better Talk Now Stakes on Aug. 27.
On Friday, Strike Power had his first turf workout, going a half-mile in 47.82 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course. He went his first quarter in 23.84 and his second quarter in 23.98 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.29.
Trainer Mark Hennig said he had discussions for a long time with owner Don Adam about eventually trying Strike Power on the turf. Strike Power is a son of Speightstown out of the mare Gold d’Oro, a four-time winner on turf. Gold d’Oro is a half-sister to Adriano, who was a graded winner on turf.
“All along we’ve had discussions and said that turf might end up being his best surface because of his family, so we kept that in mind,” Hennig said. “We decided to give him a couple of breezes to see how he did, and it seemed like he was comfortable over it.”
Hennig said that My Miss Lilly, winner of the Grade 2 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct in April, will be sidelined the remainder of the year due to an ankle chip that has been surgically removed.
No time for wrong distance
There will be no official time or Beyer Speed Figure assigned to Wednesday’s fifth race, which was run at the wrong distance.
Somelikeithotbrown, trained by Mike Maker, won the maiden turf race for New York-bred juvenile males by eight lengths. The race was scheduled to be run at 1 1/16 miles, but was actually run at 1 1/8 miles because the gate was positioned at the incorrect pole.
Initially, the final time was recorded at 1:44.51 for 1 1/16 miles. When it was determined that the race actually had been run at 1 1/8 miles, the final time was recorded as 1:50.51, reached by adding six seconds to the final posted time.
Late Thursday, officials from Equibase opted to remove the internal fractions and readjusted the final time to 1:49.32 based on a hand time.
On Friday, Equibase officials said there would be no final time at all. As a result, there will be no Beyer Speed Figure for the race, according to Andrew Beyer.
“On Thursday, the race was reviewed and we decided to remove the fractions from the chart, and replaced the final time with a hand time derived from the video and update the chart with the appropriate commentary,” Tom Roentz, track and field manager for Equibase, wrote in an e-mail to Daily Racing Form. “After further review, we decided to remove the final time as well.”
Craig Milkowski, of TimeformUS, hand-timed the race off the video and came up with a final time of 1:50.78, with internal fractions of 24.79 for the quarter, 47.68 for a half-mile, and 1:13.11 for six furlongs.
As for how the race could have been run at the wrong distance, that remains under review, according to comments provided by the spokesmen for the New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission.
“NYRA, in conjunction with the NYSGC and stewards, is in the process of reviewing the exact circumstances to determine how this error occurred and how to prevent it from ever happening again,” NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna wrote in a text.
Brad Maione, director of communications for the NYSGC, wrote in an e-mail, “We are reviewing the incident and have yet to determine a course of action.”