Blazing Sevens facing easier rivals in Curlin Stakes
?q=100)
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was nearly one year ago that Blazing Sevens won his debut here by 6 1/4 lengths, kicking off a 2-year-old campaign that would include a Grade 1 victory in the Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct.
Friday, Blazing Sevens returns to Saratoga to kick off the second half of his 3-year-old season when he heads a field of five in the $135,000 Curlin Stakes, a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers here on Aug. 26.
The Curlin, run at 1 1/8 miles, is open to 3-year-olds who have not won a graded stakes at a mile or longer this year. That condition plus the class relief this race provides and the pool of available riders were reasons trainer Chad Brown opted for this spot. Brown said he wanted either Flavien Prat or Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride Blazing Sevens, and both are booked – Prat on Angel of Empire, Ortiz on Forte – for the Jim Dandy. Prat rides Blazing Sevens in the Curlin.
Ortiz rode Blazing Sevens in the Preakness, where after a wide trip he was beaten a head by National Treasure.
“It wasn’t what I wanted, a big wide trip like that,” Brown said. “In the stretch, when he went to engage [National Treasure], in hindsight, it was probably an effort. If Irad had to do it over again, he probably would have stayed out in the track, away from Johnny [Velazquez]. That really emboldened the other horse.”
:: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more.
The one caveat for Blazing Sevens on Saturday is the prospect of an off track. He finished a well-beaten third behind Forte over a sloppy Saratoga surface in last year’s Hopeful before winning the Grade 1 Champagne over a sloppy track at Aqueduct.
Scotland is the only member of this field to have not competed in a stakes race. He is 2 for 3 and is coming off a head victory in a first-level allowance going a mile on June 3 at Churchill Downs. This will be Scotland’s first try at two turns and 1 1/8 miles.
Scotland, like Blazing Sevens and Perform in this field, and Kentucky Derby winner Mage, are sons of Good Magic.
“The Good Magics seem to be running on,” said Bill Mott, trainer of Scotland. “You got to find out.”
Lost Ark won his first two starts last year before finishing a troubled sixth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity and last of 10 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Trainer Todd Pletcher said Lost Ark had some “bone remodeling type-stuff” coming out of the Breeders’ Cup and didn’t return to the races until last month when he won a one-mile allowance by four lengths at Monmouth Park against older horses.
“I think it was important to get the race under his belt. He’s done well since the race. This will be a good test for him,” Pletcher said.
Perform won the Federico Tesio at Laurel Park before running sixth in the Preakness. Il Miracolo is 0 for 6 in stakes, including a seventh-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.
The Curlin is carded as the fourth on a 10-race card that includes the Grade 3, $175,000 Lake George Stakes for 3-year-old filles on turf.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.