Saturday Evening Notes
– Thanks to Teresa at Brooklyn Backstretch for alerting me to the appearance of Sargent Seattle in the Sunday Belmont entries. The Stanley Hough-trained Vindication baby broke his maiden debuting at Saratoga opening day, finishing 6 1/2 lengths ahead of runner-up Bold Trust (who came back to run second in a Monmouth MSW a month later). His final time of 1:03.47 for the 5 1/2 furlongs was good for a Beyer of 93. Scratched from the August 16 Saratoga Special because of a fever, Sargent Seattle resurfaces in the Grand Slam Stakes where he’ll face only four others, including Barclay Tagg’s Rollers, who worked four furlongs in a quick :46.60 over the Belmont main track on Tuesday.
10/21 Results: Sargent Seattle finished fourth as the 3-5 favorite after dueling with Rollers for the lead in a first quarter of :21.96. Rollers lasted a little longer, hanging on for second, 6 3/4 lengths behind Smoke’n Coal, a Smoke Glacken colt trained by Tom Albertrani making his second start. Kept clear of the duel by Ramon Dominquez (who was contending with a slipped saddle), he drew away easily in the stretch to run the last eighth in :12.67. No excuse for Rollers; Sargent Seattle looked like he needed the race.
– Giant Moon and longshot Coastal Drive beat out undefeated 3-10 favorite Big Truck in a three-way photo in today’s third. “I was surprised about the whole thing, but you never know,” said Tagg of Big Truck’s finish. “He got beat. I didn’t think it would be this soon” (DRF). Only last month, Tagg was saying Big Truck might be “the best one” of his juveniles, a strong statement considering the trainer also has the well-bred G2 Futurity winner Tale of Ekati in his barn.
