Clement takes three shots at Smart N Fancy Stakes
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lady Edith and Miss J McKay finished third and fourth, respectively, behind upset winner Robin Sparkles in the Grade 3 Caress Stakes here July 23. It’s not a reach to think either could have won the race.
Saturday, Lady Edith and Miss J McKay get another opportunity for a Saratoga stakes score when they run in the $150,000 Smart N Fancy Stakes going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. Those two are part of a three-ply uncoupled entry from trainer Christophe Clement, who also sends out Too Sexy.
Miss J McKay bumped with Caravel out of the gate in the Caress and was then forced to steady entering the far turn. Miss J McKay was taken wide by Irad Ortiz Jr. for the stretch drive and fell three-quarters of a length short at the finish.
“I thought she was very unlucky,” Clement said. “She’s trained well. Running her back a little quick, but that’s the way it is. She looks good. Irad is riding, let’s go and try for the best.”
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Miss J McKay breaks from post 6 in the Smart N Fancy after having had post 2 in the Caress.
Clement said that Lady Edith hit her head on the starting gate just prior to the start of the Caress, and she was eighth of nine early. Under Trevor McCarthy, Lady Edith came with a run between horses and finished third, a neck in front of Miss J McKay.
“She tried to break through the gate right before the start and as they got her back, they started the race and she broke flat-footed,” Clement said.
In her previous start, Lady Edith finished a troubled fourth, 1 1/4 lengths behind Caravel, in the Grade 3 Intercontinental.
Caravel, who won the Caress here last year, got bumped and was out of position early in the Caress in which she faded to last as the favorite. Trainer Brad Cox said he wanted to take a look at the race before committing Caravel as a runner.
“She really didn’t get to do too much running last time, that’s one reason why we’re considering bringing her back in this,” Cox said. “She broke slow then was kind of eliminated around the turn. She didn’t get much out of that race. We’re going to enter her and see what it looks like and probably take a chance.”
Caravel, who had the rail in the Caress, has the outside draw in this nine-horse field.
Robin Sparkles used her speed to post a 21-1 upset in the Caress, her ninth victory from 16 starts. She is likely to face more early pressure here from the likes of Sarah Harper, Illegal Smile, and Fouette.
“She’s doing great, it’s just a matter of how things set up,” said Bruce Brown, trainer of Robin Sparkles. “I was thinking some horses that were in the [Caress] might skip it, but it’s generally just as tough as the first one if not a little tougher. She’ll run her race, it’s just a matter of what the other ones do.”
Trainer Michelle Lovell, who won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special last Saturday with Damon’s Mound, brings Change of Control up from her Virginia base. Change of Control has won 10 of 37 starts, including the Grade 3 Intercontinental at Belmont Park and the Autumn Days at Aqueduct in 2021.