Asmussen, Pletcher have top contenders in Schuylerville
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainers Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher have combined to win eight of the last 13 runnings of the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga, and there’s a good chance one will win Friday’s renewal of the Grade 3, $150,000 race for 2-year-old fillies.
Asmussen, a three-time winner of this race, sends out Made Me Shiver, who showed brilliant speed in winning her career debut going 4 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs on June 17. Despite taking an awkward step in midstretch and never changing leads, Made Me Shiver galloped home a 5 3/4-length winner.
“As advertised,” said Asmussen, who noted that the horse was educated on the farm of his father, Keith. “She came up from Dad fast, and I haven’t messed it up.”
Made Me Shiver is making the jump to six furlongs in the Schuylerville. Asmussen said he ran her at 4 1/2 furlongs because that was the distance of the maiden race offered at the time.
“We were not going to pass one to run her at a more appropriate distance,” said Asmussen, who trains Made Me Shiver for a partnership that is headed by John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings and includes Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville.
Though Ricardo Santana Jr. rode Made Me Shiver in her debut, Irad Ortiz Jr. rides her Friday.
Pletcher, a five-time Schuylerville winner, sends out Sweet Loretta, who won a five-furlong maiden race at Monmouth by seven lengths in hand “with much gas in the tank,” as track announcer Frank Mirahmadi called it. She came from off the pace under Paco Lopez. On Friday, she will be ridden by John Velazquez from post 4.
Completing the field are Olive Branch, Summer Sally, Platinum Spark – maiden winners at Belmont – and Fun, Lightning Dove, Summer Sally, and Harlands Thunder.
The Schuylerville goes as race 8 and is the supporting stakes on a 10-race card that features the Grade 2, $200,000 Lake George for 3-year-old fillies on turf. Both stakes are part of a pick-six wager with a guaranteed pool of $150,000.
KEY CONTENDERS
Made Me Shiver, by Maclean’s Music
Beyer: 83
◗ She showed the kind of speed that her father did when he won his only start by 7 1/4 lengths, running six furlongs in 1:07.44 at Santa Anita five years ago.
“She’s her daddy,” Asmussen said.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Made Me Shiver. Trainer Steve Asmussen is 15-2-2-4 with a $0.50 ROI over the past five years with juveniles in dirt sprint graded stakes in their second career start. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Sweet Loretta, by Tapit
Beyer: 62
◗ Took a little dirt, tipped to the outside, accelerated to the front in midstretch, and was taken in hand late in winning her debut at Monmouth.
◗ She brought $750,000 as a weanling.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 Sweet Loretta. Trainer Todd Pletcher is 20-7-3-1 with a $1.85 ROI over the past five years with John Velazquez aboard juveniles in dirt sprint graded stakes in their second career start. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Olive Branch, by Speightstown
Beyer: 65
◗ Showed professionalism in beating nine rivals in her debut May 18 at Belmont.
◗ She was scratched from the Astoria Stakes on June 9 after acting up in the paddock and dismantling a temporary rail.
“She’s been over to the paddock 30 times since,” trainer Rick Violette said. “It was a total surprise because she’s basically been a peach.”
◗ Violette said she has outworked Random Walk, a maiden winner who is entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Sanford.
“She does things easier,” Violette said.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Olive Branch. Trainer Rick Violette is 8-4-1-1 with a $2.35 ROI over the past five years in dirt sprints with juveniles in their second career start following a winning debut. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Lightning Dove. Trainer Wesley Ward is 21-0-8-1 over the past five years in graded stakes at Saratoga. Click for more details. - Mike Hogan