Back at best distance, McKulick pulls away in Glens Falls
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SARATOGA SPRINGS - Stretched back out in distance over a course with some give in it and with a little assistance from a front-running stablemate, McKulick on Thursday won the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls Stakes at Saratoga for the second consecutive year.
Under Irad Ortiz Jr., McKulick sat next to last about nine lengths off the pace while her uncoupled stablemate Royalty Interest, under Eric Cancel, set realistic fractions of 23.89 seconds for the quarter, 48.17 for the half and 1:13.63 for six furlongs. Ortiz, able to save ground for two of the three turns, came wide for the stretch, made the lead above the eighth pole and cruised home a 2 1/4-length winner.
Parnac, last year’s Grade 2 Flower Bowl winner who was sent off the 21-1 longest shot on the board Thursday, finished second by a head over Chop Chop. Eternal Hope, the 9-5 favorite despite this being her first start in 10 months and first against older horses, finished fourth. She was followed by Atomic Blonde, Alpha Bella, and Royalty Interest.
The win was the seventh from 18 starts for McKulick, a 5-year-old daughter of Frankel owned by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables and trained by Chad Brown. McKulick, named for the late Mary McKulick, who was Brown’s first employee when he went out on his own 18 years ago, won this race last year, defeating War Like Goddess.
Brown said a race run around three turns and at 1 1/2 miles is best for McKulick, who was coming out of a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 New York, a 1 1/4-mile race run around two turns.
“She’s just adapted to the pace and when she wants to move and how she wants to do it,” Brown said. “There’s not enough real estate and such for her to show that final kick on the cutback, at least recently.”
Marathon races can sometimes be devoid of pace. But Royalty Interest, also owned by Klarman and trained by Brown, was in the race to ensure a realistic pace. Two starts back, Royalty Interest actually stole the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay - McKulick was fourth - by getting away with slow fractions
Brown said he told Cancel, the rider of Royalty Interest, to be on the lead, but said he didn’t tell him how fast to go.
“I told Eric, you get to the lead, if you can carve it out the way you want to give yourself a chance to win or get a piece, do it,” Brown said. “There’s no specific time to go, you just need to be on the lead, you figure the fractions out. I think that’s the fair way to do it.”
Following nearly an inch of rain that fell here Wednesday, the Glens Falls was the only one of five scheduled turf races Thursday that stayed on the grass. The course was labeled good.
“At her very best, she’s better with some moisture in the ground,” Brown said.
McKulick covered the 1 1/2-miles in 2:27.89 and returned $6.60 to win. Brown said she would likely be pointed to the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl here on Aug. 31.
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