Alpha working toward Spa start
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Alpha, whose two shining moments came at Saratoga with his victories in the 2012 Travers and 2013 Woodward, inched closer to making a return appearance at the Spa by working a half mile in 47.54 seconds over the main track here Saturday morning.
Alpha has started just once since his fourth-place finish last November in the Hawthorne Gold Cup and not at all since running fifth making his turf debut in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Mac Diarmida on Feb. 15. Alpha breezed in company with stablemate Long River on Saturday, the pair galloping out five-eighths in 1:00.39.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Alpha had no serious issues coming out of the Mac Diarmida. He just wanted to give him some time to freshen and get ready for Saratoga.
“He’s been working really well. He’s always loved this track. He worked great this morning,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve nominated him to the Whitney, but it appears it’s going to be a very tough race so we might try to find something lesser to get him going again and then look at the Woodward at the end of the meet.”
McLaughlin also sent out his Grade 1-placed filly Antipathy to breeze an easy half-mile in 49.19 seconds earlier on Saturday. Antipathy is coming off a game effort in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps when third, beaten a head and a neck, by Close Hatches and Princess of Sylmar. Antipathy will make her next start in the Grade 1 Shuvee here next Sunday.
“She’s doing very well coming off that great race and luckily those two aren’t running in this race, so we should have a very good chance,” said McLaughlin.
Honor Code prepares for fall campaign
Honor Code was one of the leaders of the 3-year-old division early this year before being sidelined due to a slight tear in the upper suspensory ligament in his right leg. He galloped seven furlongs at the Fair Hill Training Center on Saturday as he continues to prepare for his return later this season.
“He’s been at Fair Hill. He’s been jogging. He galloped seven-eighths of a mile this morning, and he’s doing really well,” said trainer Shug McGaughey. “He won’t make it here this summer, but if all goes well, hopefully he’ll be ready to run again sometime during the fall.”
Top Billing, another of McGaughey’s leading Kentucky Derby prospects who was injured last winter in Florida, is also on the comeback trail. Top Billing suffered a crack in his right front cannon bone during a routine workout at Gulfstream in early March. Top Billing third in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and was targeting the Grade 1 Florida at the time of his injury.
“He’s turned out and I think he’s about ready to come back to training now,” said McGaughey. “We’ll also send him to Fair Hill and perhaps he can be ready in late fall.”