New York Showcase Special

The biggest day of the summer season for New York-breds – and easily one of the most anticipated of the year – unfolds Sunday with the annual New York Showcase Day at Saratoga Race Course.

Eleven races are on tap, including six stakes worth $1.25 million. Everything starts at 1:10 and the first stakes, the $200,000 Seeking the Ante for 2-year-old fillies, goes as the opener.

The team at The Saratoga Special and This Is Horse Racing wanted to preview all the action and present the New York Showcase Special to set the stage. We’ll be back with another edition for Empire Showcase Day this fall at Belmont Park.

Here’s wishing everyone in the New York Thoroughbred industry a safe Showcase Day and prosperous rest of the year.

By the Numbers
1.715 million: Dollars in purses for the Showcases Day card, including $1.25 million for the six stakes.

115: Entries for Sunday’s Saratoga Showcase Day card – 95 in the body of the day’s races and 20 on the also-eligible lists.

56: Trainers with entries on the card.

22: Entries whose names start with S, including Silver Skillet, Spirt of St Louis and Stonewall Star.

10: Entries for trainer Jorge Abreu.

8: Entries for trainer Mike Maker.

7: Runners on the card sired by McMahon of Saratoga’s Solomini, including Smilensaycheese in the Funny Cide, Trail of Gold in the Seeking the Ante, Doc Sullivan in the Albany and My Shea D Lady in the Fleet Indian.

5: Runners on the card bred or co-bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, including morning-line favorite Accelerating in the Seeking the Ante.

5: Entries bred or co-bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds on the program, including Dakota Gold in the $200,000 West Point Handicap.

3: Stakes entries bred by leading New York breeders Chester and Mary Broman – Aggelos the Great in the Albany, Sweet Brown Sugar in the Fleet Indian and Spirit of St Louis in the West Point.

Worth Repeating
“Saratoga New York Showcase Day is a celebration of New York’s horse racing and breeding industry during the annual prestigious Saratoga Race Course meet. The entire card, including six stakes races for New York-breds, shows the depth and quality of our program with competitive purses and incentives. The day highlights why it pays to breed, own and race in New York. Each entrant has a unique and compelling story to tell and it’s a great day for our state breeders and owners and racing fans to cheer and wager in celebration of the continued rise of New York-breds.”
New York Thoroughbred Breeders Executive Director Najja Thompson

As for the races …

Race 1. Seeking the Ante Stakes, $200,000, 2-year-olds, fillies, 6 furlongs. Post time 1:10 p.m. ET. The anticipated showdown between Bellacose, debut winner here July 17; and Accelerating, debut winner here July 26, won’t go with the former opting for next weekend’s Spinaway. Don’t overlook Carmen’s Candy Jar, fourth in the Schuylerville and back with New York-breds for Todd Pletcher.

Race 2. Maiden special weight, $90,000, 2-year-olds, 5 1/2 furlongs, turf. Post time 1:42. Full field of 10 juveniles here with a five also eligibles and a main track only. No problem at the entry box for this condition.

Race 3. Allowance-optional, $100,000, 3-year-olds and up, 7 furlongs. Post time 2:15. Multiple stakes winner Barese makes first start off the claim against solid field that includes Bourbon Chase, Dr. Kraft and others.

Race 4. West Point Handicap presented by Trustco Bank, $200,000, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles, turf. Post time 2:48. Back to stakes action and another short field unfortunately. Only five line up for one of longtime traditions at Saratoga, but it’s a solid group for sure with Spirit of St Louis on a win streak and City Man and Dakota Gold looking to get back on track.

Race 5. Albany Stakes, $250,000, 3-year-olds, 1 1/8 miles. Post time 3:21. The featured event of the day has the makings of a possible rerun of the New York Derby last month at Finger Lakes. Four of the first five are here, including the top three in Pandgate, Doc Sullivan and Skyler’s Starship.

Race 6. Maiden special weight, $90,000, 2-year-olds, fillies, 5 ½ furlongs, turf. Post time 3:53. Back to the grass and another overflow field – are we sending a trend? Ten line up and several others hope to get in. Charlotte’s Heart, a daughter of Authentic bred by 30 Year Farm, cost $725,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings. She makes her debut here for Mark Casse and Live Oak Plantation. Christophe Clement and Waterville Lake Stables bid for another win with homebred Tahlia.

Race 7. Allowance, $95,000, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 1/16 miles, turf. Post time 4:28. Big and balanced field that includes Lakeside Getaway, Island Fox, Midnight Concerto, Busy Morning and others.

Race 8. Fleet Indian Stakes, $200,000, 3-year-olds, fillies, 1 1/8 miles. Post time 5:05. Bouwerie winner Landed, NYSS Statue of Liberty winner My Shea D Lady, New York Oaks exacta Caldwell Luvs Gold and Sweet Brown Sugar and Grade 2 placed Dolomite look to make some noise with morning-line favorite My Man Squeeze out after running at Charles Town Friday night.

Race 9. Funny Cide Stakes presented by Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, $200,000, 2-year-olds, 6 furlongs. Post time 5:42. Jeremiah Englehart talked about running Mo Plex back in the New York-bred ranks before and after he won the Grade 3 Sanford. Son of Complexity returns with state-breds here from the outside post in field of 10.

Race 10. Yaddo Handicap, $200,000, 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 1 1/16 miles, turf. Post time 6:16. Nine line up for Saratoga tradition, including last year’s New York-bred champion turf female Silver Skillet. She takes on Whatlovelookslike, Moonage Daydream, Venti Valentine, Marvelous Maude and others.

Race 11. Maiden special weight, $90,000, 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/16 miles, turf. Post time 6:49. Finish the day – and the week – with another full field on the turf course.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2024/08/24/new-york-showcase-special-2/

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Englehart readies Mo Plex for Funny Cide

The Saratoga Special

Jeremiah Englehart debated whether to run both Bellacose and Mo Plex in 2-year-old stakes on Sunday’s New York Showcase Day program at Saratoga. He eventually opted to not run Bellacose, breezing the daughter of Audible Saturday morning instead of running in the $200,000 Seeking the Ante with eyes on the Grade 1 Spinaway on closing weekend. 

There was less debate – although some with the Grade 1 Hopeful on Closing Day still out there – for Mo Plex in the $200,000 Funny Cide Stakes. 

R and H Stable’s Mo Plex ran his record to 2-for-2 when he ventured out of New York-bred company and won the Grade 3 Sanford the first Saturday of the meet. Englehart said the 6-furlong Funny Cide was in the cards even before the son of Complexity won the Sanford, reiterated it after his front-running 1-length win and again Friday. 

“The plan was to come back in this race and it’s still the plan,” Englehart said. “There’s a good group of horses in there. He’s coming into the race very well. My biggest thing is, last time we asked him from start to finish. Probably for him we drew well again, being on the outside, which he’s been used to.”

Mo Plex drew the extreme outside posts in his 10-length maiden and Sanford, and again in the 10-member Funny Cide field. Irad Ortiz Jr. takes the return call on the 5-2 morning-line favorite. 

“I’m going to let Irad do what he wants to do from there,” Englehart said. “Hopefully he runs well, gallops out well and then we start trying to stretch him out for his next start.”

The Seeking The Ante leads off the Showcase Day card at 1:10 p.m.  Accelerating, a 4 1/2-length winner for Asmussen July 26 and the 8-5 morning-line pick before Bellacose breezed a half in :50.09 on the Saratoga main track Saturday, tops the Seeking the Ante field. She now takes on Schuylerville fourth Carmen’s Candy Jar, Saratoga maiden winner Trail Of Gold and Parx maiden winner Central To Success. 

The Funny Cide goes as the next-to-last of six stakes on the card and the ninth race with post time of 5:42 p.m. Trainer Mike Maker, who won last year’s Funny Cide with The Wine Steward, entered the duo of Smilensaycheese and Under Who’s Radar for Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher. Other major players in the Funny Cide include the Wesley Ward-trained Bostontonian, recent private purchase Mi Bago and Saratoga maiden winner In The Chase. 

The first three finishers from last year’s West Point Handicap – City Man, Spirit of St Louis and Jerry the Nipper – are back for this year’s $200,000 renewal. Spirit of St Louis finished 1 1/4 lengths behind City Man last year and hasn’t lose in five starts since. The 1-2 favorite on the morning line in the 1 1/16-mile stakes, Spirit of St Louis brings an 8-for-10 record for trainer Chad Brown. The West Point goes as the fourth race at 2:48 p.m.

Six New York-bred sophomores entered the featured $250,000 Albany Stakes, including the first three finishers in the New York Derby in 4-5 favorite Pandagate, Doc Sullivan and Skyler’s Starship. Pandagate returned from almost four months off to win the New York Derby by three-quarters of a length over Mike Lee winner Doc Sullivan. The Albany goes as the fifth race at 3:21 p.m.

The $200,000 Fleet Indian Stakes for 3-year-old fillies opened up with the connections of Grade 2 My Mane Squeeze opting to skip the 9-furlong stakes in favor of Friday night’s Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks. That leaves a field of eight led by Bouwerie Stakes winner Landed, Grade 2-placed Dolomite and last year’s Seeking The Ante winner and recent New York Oaks winner Caldwell Luvs Gold. The Fleet Indian goes as the eighth race at 5:05 p.m.

The $200,000 Yaddo Handicap closes the stakes portion of the Showcase Day card as the 10th race at 6:16 p.m. Silver Skillet, winner of the off-the-turf Mount Vernon and the Port Washington on the grass in her last two starts, looks to improve to 3-for-3 on the turf at Saratoga as the 8-5 morning-line favorite. The daughter of Liam’s Map meets eight others, including Barry Schwartz’s homebreds Whatlovelookslike and Stonewall Star, Moonage Daydream and Marvelous Maude.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2024/08/24/englehart-readies-mo-plex-for-funny-cide/

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