Then We Came to the End
So another Saratoga season ends. Trainer Bill Mott ran away with the training title (DRF), capping his fine meet with a win in the Hopeful Stakes by Majestic Warrior (Blood-Horse), who went off as the 6-1 third choice in the field of four. The Hopeful was expected to be a match race between trainer Todd Pletcher’s talented Ready’s Image and Bob Baffert’s speedy Maimonides, and it was — at the quarter pole, before Maimonides began to fade under Ready’s Image’s pressure after running the first quarter in :22.60 and the half in :45, and Majestic Warrior ran by both on the outside with seeming ease. It actually wasn’t that shocking an upset in hindsight — by A.P. Indy, out of classy Ballerina and Test Stakes winner Dream Supreme, Majestic Warrior was making only his second start after winning his debut last month, and while the colt might have been third in the win pool, he was tops in the exacta pool. Final time for the race was 1:23.04, Majestic Warrior’s Beyer figure a 95. Ready’s Image was second, Maimonides third.
Neither Pletcher nor Baffert professed any disappointment with their Hopeful runners (NYRA): “The winner had a nice setup,” said Pletcher. “We were involved in the pace and he was way off it. He ran by us and we didn’t have time to regroup.” Of Maimonides, Baffert said: “There is a big jump going to seven furlongs. I was hoping things would be easier on the front end. Once Ready’s Image stayed with us, I knew it would be tough.”
Rider Kent Desormeaux was aboard Maimonides in place of Rafael Bejarano, who was injured when Marital Asset broke through the gate and reared up just before the start of the fourth race (NY Post). Starting the meet’s final day tied at 43 wins with Cornelio Velasquez, Desormeaux was shut out in all 10 races, leaving Velasquez to secure the riding title with a win in the the fourth race (Times Union).
Final impressions: With his record-setting Whitney win and dominating Woodward performance, Lawyer Ron established himself as the leading older horse. Only the top three-year-olds have any hope against him in the Breeders’ Cup Classic … Trainer Bob Baffert won 7-of-9 in his first bicoastal summer, including the Forego with his massive sprinter Midnight Lute. As commenter J.S. points out, Midnight Lute’s 124 Beyer is one of the year’s best … lots of good babies unveiled, right up to the meet’s final day, when Rollers romped in his debut, adding to trainer Barclay Tagg’s fine list of up and coming talents, and 14-1 Big Brown blew away his competition on the turf, coming wide off the turn to win by more than 11 lengths in his first race for trainer Pat Reynolds. He might be one for the new Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf …
Our Friend in Saratoga reports the meet’s closing like so: “Tom Durkin’s voice, explaining that there will be no New York racing until Friday, because they need to pack up and get back to Belmont, then quietly, quietly wishing all of us ‘good night.'”
On to Belmont!
