Contessa looks to repeat in Birdstone Stakes with Tu Brutus
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A year ago, trainer Gary Contessa sent out Turco Bravo to win the 1 3/4-mile Birdstone Stakes. He’s confident he can duplicate that feat Aug. 3 with another long-winded Chilean-bred, the multiple graded stakes-placed Tu Brutus.
Tu Brutus was an instant sensation despite losing his U.S. debut at Aqueduct on April 8, earning a whopping 118 Beyer Speed Figure after finishing second, beaten a half-length by Send It In, in the Grade 3 Excelsior. Tu Brutus came back four weeks later with an easy victory in the 11-furlong Flat Out at Belmont Park but disappointed in his most recent appearance, finishing a tiring third as the 1-2 favorite in the Grade 2 Brooklyn.
“He came out of the Brooklyn sick, congested, with a guttural pouch infection. It absolutely cost him the race,” Contessa said shortly after working Tu Brutus a mile in 1:42.40 over the main track here Monday.
“But he’s doing great now. He worked fantastic this morning. I told the rider to break him off at the five-eighths pole and just sit, don’t even breathe, and he went a mile in 1:42 back to the three-quarter pole, just galloping in 12 and 3, 12 and 3, and 12 and 3 at the end. This is definitely a horse who will run all day.”
Contessa said there is also a chance that Turco Bravo will defend his title in the Birdstone even though the 8-year-old gelding has been off form ever since that victory, finishing off the board in all five subsequent starts.
“I’d rather not run them against each other,” Contessa said. “It is really a mismatch at this point between the two of them, so I’m hoping I can find an easier spot for Turco Bravo between now and then.”
Sweet Loretta breezes on turf
Trainer Todd Pletcher tried something a little different on Sunday with his 3-year-old filly Sweet Loretta, putting the Grade 1 winner on the Belmont Park turf, where she breezed four furlongs in company in 48.93 seconds, getting her final three-eighths in 35.69.
Sweet Loretta, who won the Grade 1 Spinaway and Grade 3 Schuylerville here last summer, is coming off a fourth-place finish, beaten eight lengths by Abel Tasman, going a mile in the Grade 1 Acorn.
“I’ll bring her up here and probably work her on the turf again,” Pletcher said. “I’m just trying to keep all our options open with her. Right now, I have nothing definite picked out for her next start, although we’ve pretty much ruled out the Test at this point.”
– additional reporting by David Grening
