Baliage, Mel Went Home square off again in P.G. Johnson
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Baliage and Mel Went Home finished a nose apart three weeks ago in a maiden race. The 2-year-old fillies will tee it up again with a little bit more on the line in Friday’s $200,000 P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga.
A field of seven was entered in the P.G. Johnson, run at 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course, but Up Before the Dawn is expected to scratch to run in Monday’s $750,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Turf, trainer Kelsey Danner said.
Baliage, trained by Chad Brown, and Mel Went Home, conditioned by Robbie Medina, each had wide trips in that Aug. 14 maiden race. Baliage, ridden by Manny Franco, went wide into the first turn, was able to save some ground around the second turn before tipping out four wide in upper stretch and outfinishing a stubborn Mel Went Home.
“She overcame a lot and I really wasn’t intending on wheeling her back,” said Brown, who has won this race four times. “The race was coming up a bit light, I gave her one little maintenance work, it went good, she was moving well, good energy. I’m not sure if it’s too quick back, I guess we’ll find out at the quarter pole.”
Mel Went Home, a daughter of Life Is Good, went 0 for 2 on dirt before Medina switched her to the grass. She was wide virtually throughout under Luis Saez and showed some grit when Baliage came to her in the stretch.
“I thought she was a little keen going to the first turn because she had the outside post,” Medina said. “Once she got down the backside she kind of settled. When that filly of Chad’s came up to her, it looked like she was going to blow by her. This filly dug in, even galloping out they were together, she more than held her own. Second time going two turns maybe she won’t be as keen.”
With Saez at Kentucky Downs, Jose Lezcano picks up the mount. Mel Went Home does have the outside post again.
Eight maidens have won the P.G. Johnson. Mel Went Home’s mother, the Irish-bred Yesterdayoncemore, won a stakes race at Del Mar for her lone career victory.
Pros and Cons, trained by Mark Casse, has the benefit of having made two starts with plenty of time in between those races. After getting beat in a turf sprint stakes at Gulfstream Park in May, Pros and Cons had two months between races before winning a one-mile maiden race here on July 10. The horse she beat that day, Golden Siren, won her next out.
The P.G. Johnson appears to lack speed. Boomesherang won a maiden sprint over the synthetic surface at Presque Isle Downs on July 21. Perhaps on the stretch out, and in her first start for trainer George Weaver, Boomesherang will make the pace in this race.
Glycogen, a second-out winner trained by John Servis, and Urgent Claire, an off-the-turf maiden winner at Delaware Park, complete the field.
The P.G. Johnson is named for the Hall of Fame trainer who died in 2004.
Seeking the Ante
Smart-looking debut winners Velora and B Yutiful Carly square off in Friday’s $200,000 Seeking the Ante Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies going six furlongs.
Velora, trained by Linda Rice, won her debut going this distance on Aug. 1, altering course under Jose Ortiz who went inside after trying to bully his way outside at the quarter pole.
“I thought it was a good race,” Rice said. “I don’t know how much she beat, but she did it very convincingly with kind of a troubled trip for a short field. I think Jose was trying to get out, there wasn’t enough room. She handled a little traffic quite well.”
Ortiz, who entered the final week as the leading rider at the meet with 64 wins, will be in for his lone day of the week to ride Velora, among others, on Friday.
B Yutiful Carly was a three-length winner at 18-1 when she debuted here on July 11. B Yutiful Carly was off slow and lost position after the horse to her inside impeded her out of the gate.
After taking plenty of dirt, B Yutiful Carly came with a wide run and won by three lengths.
“She’s a very hearty filly,” trainer Horacio De Paz said. “She ran green at the beginning, but the dirt didn’t seem to bother her, she just ran through it.”
De Paz said that since the July 11 race he worked B Yutiful Carly from the gate and she did well.
“Hopefully, with that start and the gate work, she won’t leave herself too much to do,” De Paz said.
Prime Aurora tries New York-bred company for the first time after winning her debut at Gulfstream and running third and then fifth in the Schuylerville and Grade 3 Adirondack, respectively.
Saint Dymphna is coming off a maiden win on turf. You Are My Suzie Q and Tiara both won slow-rated restricted maiden races.
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