Bakken taking a chance in Vanderbilt Handicap
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bakken may be short on experience, but he’s definitely long on talent, and trainer Chad Brown believes that’s enough to beat a solid field of sprinters in Saturday’s $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap. The Grade 1 Vanderbilt will be decided at six furlongs and drew a solid field that includes likely favorite Happy My Way, 2013 runner-up Bahamian Squall, and last year’s King’s Bishop winner, Capo Bastone. Also entered are multiple graded winners Palace and Falling Sky.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Falling Sky. Trainer George Weaver is 9 for 21 (and 81 percent in the money) with a $4.68 ROI over the past five years in dirt sprints at Saratoga with horses that hit the board in their previous start.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Bakken has made just four career starts and only one this season, when finishing a game second behind Palace in the Grade 2 True North Handicap at Belmont Park. Brown opted to freshen Bakken over the winter after he suffered his first career setback, finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita in his 3-year-old finale. Bakken forced the pace before being outfinished by Palace in the True North on June 6.
“The horse is doing great, and he’s got a great post,” Brown said. “I thought he turned in a big effort in his return, and he got a big number, so I decided to give him a little extra time between races. He’s training really well. It’s a solid field, but I think he belongs in there.”
Palace added the Grade 2 True North to his victory last fall in the Grade 3 Fall Highweight. He is coming off a distant second-place finish behind Clearly Now when stretching to seven furlongs in the Grade 3 Belmont Sprint Championship.
Happy My Way has won his last three starts and four of his last five since trainer Joe Orseno switched him back to dirt this winter at Gulfstream Park. The speedy son of Wilko earned his first graded stakes win when leading throughout to register a popular 5 3/4-length triumph in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 5 Happy My Way. Trainer Joe Orseno is 1 for 17 over the past five years at Saratoga in races with a purse of $60,000 or more.Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
KEY CONTENDERS
Bakken (Last 3 Beyers 100-94-96)
** Owns the second-highest last-race Beyer Speed Figure in the field and figures to improve on that mark, which came in his first start in more than five months.
** Has enough speed to sit a perfect stalking trip breaking outside the likely pacesetter Happy My Way and the pace-presser Falling Sky.
Happy My Way (Last 3 Beyers: 104-105-101)
** Far and away the fastest horse in the field and with a pace advantage if able to repeat his last three performances.
** Proved he was not just a Gulfstream Park “horse for the course” by winning the Maryland Sprint, but he has never run over the Saratoga main track and missed a legitimate prep over the track when heavy rains forced his rider to open gallop him instead of let him breeze Sunday.
Palace (Last 3 Beyers: 98-102-90)
** Consistent New York-bred turns back to his most effective distance, having finished first or second in 9 of 10 starts at six furlongs.
** He has won each of his last two starts when breaking from the rail.
Falling Sky (Last 3 Beyers: 95-72-75)
** Using this race as a prep for the Forego, which is run at his most effective distance of seven furlongs.
** Trainer George Weaver said “I hope Happy My Way has an Achilles heel because on paper, he looks to be very tough to beat in his current form.”