Dornoch, Mage's little brother, has shot in Sapling
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A couple of hours before Mage tries to win his second Grade 1 over 1 1/4 miles, his 2-year-old full brother, Dornoch, tries to win for the first time while making his second career start in the $200,000 Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Dornoch is by Good Magic out of the Big Brown mare Puca, as is Mage, the Kentucky Derby winner in May and a major hope Saturday in the Travers Stakes. Dornoch debuted with a second-place finish sprinting over a sloppy Saratoga track July 29 and his connections, including trainer Danny Gargan, regard him highly enough to try the maiden in the two-turn, one-mile Sapling.
Dornoch got a 70 Beyer Speed Figure, second best among Sapling entrants, and did not have an ideal trip racing over 6 1/2 furlongs. Stuck down along the rail, Dornoch came under pressure from his jockey as far out as the five-sixteenths pole but stayed on decently while chasing pacesetting winner Seize the Grey and racing nearest the fence through the homestretch. Dornoch nearly was caught for second but galloped out like a horse with gas in his tank, and he posted a bullet 47.80-second half-mile drill – his only work between starts – breezing inside 2022 Remsen Stakes winner Dubyuhnell on Aug. 17. Kendrick Carmouche is named to ride and Dornoch is one of several entrants who should race forwardly.
The Sapling drew 10 entrants and has a bevy of plausible winners.
Trainer Todd Pletcher won this race in 2021 with Double Thunder and again last year with Lost Ark, and his entrant, Noted, merits consideration despite having made his first two starts on turf. Noted is by Cairo Prince, generally known as a grass sire but whose offspring have a higher strike rate in dirt routes than in turf routes, 14 percent to 13 percent. He’s the first foal to race out of Sea View Millie, a dirt-route horse, and Noted already has a two-turn win over Saratoga maidens.
The colt has worked three times since. He was going well inside 3-year-old turf allowance horse Fearless Soldier on Aug. 9, officially a half in 50.55 seconds but one of those stamina-building drills with a gallop-out well down the backstretch. And on Aug. 19, Noted worked inside 2-year-old maiden Be Well, who got an 88 Beyer in his debut.
Give It a Whirl is the Sapling’s only two-time winner, debuting with a blowout 4 1/2-furlong score over modest opposition at Delaware Park followed by another open-lengths victory, this in a first-level allowance over five furlongs at Laurel Park. Give It a Whirl, a burly colt, has made the lead in those sprints and might make it again breaking from the rail.
He’s by Hard Spun, who can be a source of stamina, and while his young dam, Chic Thrill, was a turf sprinter, his full brother Gas Me Up won a two-turn turf mile last summer at Del Mar. Trained by Cal Lynch, Give It a Whirl does not appear to be a runoff, though he does face the prospect of serious pace pressure, especially from Dewy’s Beast, a 12-length winner last out of a seven-furlong Colonial Downs dirt maiden.
Soze, trained by Joe Orseno, got only a 57 Beyer debuting with a 5 1/2-furlong maiden win Aug. 4 at Monmouth, but this is a massive colt with the body type and stride of a route horse. After swooping to the lead in his first start, the colt goofed around through the final furlong, tamping down his win margin to two lengths. He’s from the powerhouse first crop of sire Maximus Mischief, who’s only dirt-route starter won.
All this, yet Crazy Mason is the Sapling’s most likely winner. A closing second going five furlongs in his Monmouth career debut, Crazy Mason went to Saratoga and romped by 9 1/2 lengths in a 5 1/2-furlong restricted maiden race, earning a field-best 75 Beyer. Trained by Gregg Sacco, Crazy Mason crossed the finish and galloped out like a horse who will comfortably stay a mile, and he can get a good trip stalking the Sapling speed, perhaps at a fair price.
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