Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Woodward Stakes looking crowded
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y – Without a standout, next Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward at Saratoga is expected to draw close to a full field, and many of the major players put in workouts for the race on Friday morning.
At Gulfstream Park West, Gunnevera – the potential Woodward favorite – worked six furlongs in 1:13.20. He was expected to leave South Florida on Friday night by van and arrive in Saratoga early Sunday morning, according to trainer Antonio Sano.
“Very good,” Sano said by phone from Florida when asked about the work. “The horse is good, good, good. I am so happy with my horse.”
Gunnevera has run three times this year. He finished third to Gun Runner in the $16 million Pegasus at Gulfstream and then eighth in the $10 million Dubai World Cup. He came out of that race with a foot injury and was given plenty of time to recuperate.
Gunnevera returned from the layoff Aug. 10 with a 6 1/2-length win in an allowance race that Gulfstream Park put up to get him ready for the Woodward.
“He came back very well from that race, and his foot is very good now,” Sano said.
This will be the third straight summer Gunnevera will run at Saratoga. In 2016, he won the Saratoga Special. Last year, he finished second behind West Coast in the Travers.
Edgard Zayas will retain the mount on Gunnevera.
At Saratoga, Seeking the Soul worked a strong five furlongs in 59.28 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. Seeking the Soul went in fractions of 12.21, 23.78, and 35.56 and got his final quarter in 23.72 while being asked late. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.25.
“We wanted a good work just to be ready,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “He’s had several good works, but today I was really impressed with the way he cooled out back at the barn. He wasn’t blowing, wasn’t tired at all. Coming off a layoff, you need good works.”
Seeking the Soul, winner of last year’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill, is coming off a head loss to Pioneer Spirit in the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial at Indiana Grand July 14.
Stewart said Javier Castellano would ride Seeking the Soul in the Woodward.
Ron Paolucci is part owner of three horses who are under consideration for the Whitney. Dalmore, Imperative, and Uno Mas Modelo all put in workouts Friday. Dalmore, last in the Whitney last out, worked five furlongs in 1:00.71 over the main track. Imperative, fourth in the West Virginia Governor’s Stakes, worked six furlongs in 1:13.83 equipped with blinkers over the main track. Uno Mas Modelo, winner of a sevenfurlong allowance last out here, went an easy half-mile in 50.03 over the training track.
Trainer Anthony Quartarolo oversaw the works for all three. He noted that Imperative will likely wear blinkers in the Woodward. He has not worn them in his last seven starts. From 16 starts in blinkers, Imperative has won just once, the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic in 2014.
Trainer Todd Pletcher’s trio of potential Woodward runners worked Friday – Patch (five furlongs in 1:01.60; Rally Cry, five furlongs in 1:00.89; and Tapwrit, five furlongs in 1:01.12).
Others under consideration for the Woodward include Discreet Lover, Kurilov, Realm, Sunny Ridge, and Term of Art.
Mind Your Biscuits to Churchill
Chad Summers did not nominate Whitney runner-up Mind Your Biscuits to the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes. But when he sent the New York-bred Grade 1 winner out to work Friday morning at Saratoga, he left the door open to supplement him to the race if he really worked well.
Mind Your Biscuits went five furlongs in 1:02.19 and after the move Summers confirmed that Mind Your Biscuits would make his next start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lukas Classic going 1 1/8 miles on Sept. 29 at Churchill Downs.
“It was fine, but I needed to have my socks knocked off to go in the Woodward,” Summers said. “He’s a horse that if you don’t know him very well, you don’t know how fast or slow he’s going.”
Luis Saez worked Mind Your Biscuits on Friday. Joel Rosario is the regular rider of Mind Your Biscuits, but he is committed to ride Accelerate in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita on the same day. Summers said he has not made a commitment to Saez or anybody else for the Lukas Classic.
Summers wants to see how Mind Your Biscuits runs in the Lukas Classic while analyzing a bevy of other stakes before he decides whether to point Mind Your Biscuits to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Dirt Mile, or Classic.
Restless Rider posts easy work
Restless Rider, the 11 1/4length winner of the Debutante Stakes on June 30 at Churchill Downs, worked five furlongs in 1:02.87 over the Oklahoma training track Friday morning in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes.
Restless Rider went her first three furlongs in 37.85 seconds and got her last quarter in 25.02. Trainer Ken McPeek noted he wasn’t looking for much from Restless Rider a week after she went five furlongs in 59.04 in company with Road Tiger, who may run in Thursday’s P.G. Johnson.
“She worked really, really fast last weekend, faster than I really wanted her to, so today she just needed a nice maintenance work,” McPeek said. “It’s still early in the season. Certainly, this is an important race with the Alcibiades at Keeneland our next objective.”
Restless Rider, a daughter of Distorted Humor, is 2 for 2, with both of her victories coming within 22 days at Churchill Downs.
Others pointing to the Spinaway include Bella Ciao, Catherinethegreat, Guacamole, Liora, Love My Honey, Molto Bella, Nonna Madeline, Reflect, and Virginia Eloise. Sippican Harbor is possible.