Cashier's Dream may be special
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y - Although they have already won three races at this meet, the primary reason trainer Steven Asmussen and jockey Donnie Meche came to Saratoga this summer was the unbeaten juvenile filly Cashier's Dream.
After passing the opening-day Schuylerville Stakes, Cashier's Dream makes her Saratoga debut in Monday's $150,000 Adirondack Stakes. The Grade 2 race, run at 6 1/2 furlongs, drew a field of seven.
After winning her first two starts for owner/trainer/breeder James Jackson, Cashier's Dream was privately purchased by a partnership of the Team Valor syndicate and Bill Heiligbrodt's Racing Stable. In her first start for those connections, Cashier's Dream won the Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs in a track-record time of 1:02.52.
"She broke the track record by three-fifths of a second and she did it as easy as she could do it," Irwin said. "She took our breath away."
Donnie Meche was aboard Cashier's Dream that day and was equally as impressed. After setting rapid fractions, Cashier's Dream was headed at the quarter pole but then drew clear without feeling the whip to win by 3 1/2 lengths.
"The fractions she set, how easily it felt like she was doing it, and the acceleration she had at the top of the lane even with those fast fractions," said Meche, when asked what impressed him most about the Debutante. "And she went on through the wire like she could've went a mile."
Meche has worked Cashier's Dream a couple of times over Saratoga's main track and doesn't believe the new surface will be a problem.
"She's been working very well over this track," Meche said. "Hopefully, everything works out. She doesn't know how to get beat. She set a track record the last time she ran. That should say everything right there."
Cashier's Dream will break from the rail and carry highweight of 122 pounds, a concession of five to seven pounds to her six opponents.
The filly with the best chance to upset is Smok'n Frolic. Smok'n Frolic overcame gate difficulties to win the Fashion Stakes, but could not overcome similar problems in the Astoria, when she finished second to Touch Love. Smok'n Frolic broke through the gate before the start of the Astoria.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said he has done extensive gate work with Smok'n Frolic. Jerry Bailey will ride from post 3.
"She's trained super since, seems to have settled down at the gate, and acts to me like she's going to appreciate the added distance," Pletcher said.
You, I Will Survive, Lost Expectations, Magic Storm, and Maresha complete the field.