Cy Fair's dazzling debut sticks out in Bolton Landing
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer George Weaver has compiled a nice roster of turf sprinters and judging by her debut performance here last month Cy Fair ranks near the top of the list, at least among his 2-year-olds.
Sunday, Cy Fair looks to validate her impressive debut victory when she heads a field of eight entered in the $150,000 Bolton Landing Stakes scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs over the Mellon turf course.
Cy Fair, a daughter of Not This Time, won her July 10 debut by 3 1/4 lengths, looking like a keg of dynamite waiting to explode until John Velazquez lit the fuse on the far turn.
“I knew she was handy, but she’s a small filly, she’s a little sassy and nervous,” said Weaver said, who has won a pair of turf sprint stakes already at this meet. “I never set her down in the morning and asked her for everything she’s got ’cause I had a good feeling that I knew what was under the hood, but I wasn’t for sure until you see it. She might have even shown me she had more in the hood than I even knew.”
It looked like Cy Fair could have gone to the lead in her debut, but found a target in Gracie’s Delight.
While that filly didn’t enter back in the Bolton Landing, Monmouth Park shipper Gerrards Cross and Churchill Downs debut winner My Sweetheart could have enough speed to provide a target for Velazquez and Cy Fair, who breaks from post 4.
“She’s got speed, she doesn’t need to be on the lead,” Weaver said. “We’re in a good position with that.”
Gerrards Cross is trained by Kathleen O’Connell, who last August won her 2,500th career race when she shipped Thirty Thou Kelvin to Saratoga, her lone starter at the 2024 meet. Gerrards Cross won her debut against Florida-breds on dirt by six lengths on June 6 before shipping to Monmouth to score a front-running victory in the July 27 Colleen Stakes going five furlongs on turf. Sonny Leon rides rides Gerrards Cross from post 5.
My Sweetheart, a daughter of Flameaway, was a front-running debut winner on turf at Churchill. She was sent off the 3-5 favorite in the Schuylerville Stakes, a six-furlong race on dirt here on July 4, and finished second after having the lead in the stretch.
Both trainer Mark Casse and My Sweetheart’s rider that day, Frankie Dettori, believe she is meant for the turf. Jose Ortiz rides My Sweetheart on Sunday.
Sacred Goddess, a New York-bred daughter of Kantharos, came from off the pace to beat statebred competition here on July 17. The horse Sacred Goddess beat by a neck, Trading Trouble, did come back to win a statebred maiden turf sprint by two lengths last Sunday.
Jeremiah Englehart, the trainer of Sacred Goddess, said his filly was a little green in her first start, but she has moved forward in her training since.
“Everything she’s done since the race seems like she’s doing right now, she’s ready to move forward and obviously she’s going to have to,” Englehart said. “Cy Fair is going to be the favorite. She’s a really nice filly and was visually impressive when she won first time, but I like our spot now.”
Snow Face Princess, a daughter of Midshipman trained by Todd Pletcher, is another who showed an ability to sit off the pace when she won her turf debut on July 30. Sunday, she gets the services of Flavien Prat.
Wesley Ward has won five runnings of the Bolton Landing. On Sunday, he sends out the first-time starter Should’ve, a daughter of Not This Time and a half-sister to multiple turf sprint stakes winner Daring Do.
Bramble Blast, who finished second at Monmouth on turf in her career debut, and Sapphire Beach, who was elevated to first after a disqualification in her debut, complete the field.
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