Far Bridge, Charge It taking winning form to Saratoga
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ELMONT, N.Y. - For the winners of Saturday’s four graded stakes at Belmont Park, it’s on to Saratoga, where the races figure to be even more challenging.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Grade 1 Belmont Derby winner Far Bridge and Grade 2 Suburban winner Charge It were scheduled to van to Saratoga on Monday. Far Bridge, who defeated European invader The Foxes by one length in the $750,000 Belmont Derby, will be aimed at the Grade 1, $600,000 Saratoga Derby Invitational on Aug. 5.
Charge It, the handy 4 3/4-length winner of the Grade 2 Suburban, will be pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on Aug. 5 and a likely date with Cody’s Wish, who defeated Charge It in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 10.
Pletcher said a change to a more severe Hougton bit for the Belmont Derby helped Far Bridge run a more professional race than he had in his previous two starts, which were second-place finishes in the Pennine Ridge and American Turf.
“I think it helped,” Pletcher said. “He tends to have a little bit of an odd head carriage, but he was better with that bit, which is what we’ve been seeing in the mornings as well.”
Pletcher said he would like to keep Far Bridge racing against 3-year-olds as long as possible. The third leg of NYRA’s Triple Turf series is the Grade 3, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby, at 1 3/8 miles, at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet on Oct. 7.
“He’s versatile enough where any distance is fine, but ultimately he’s going to be a mile-and-a-half horse,” Pletcher said.
Far Bridge earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
Belmont Derby runner-up The Foxes is expected to ship back to trainer Andrew Balding’s yard at Kingsclere, England, assistant trainer Maddy O’Meara said Sunday morning.
The Foxes broke a little slow and may have found himself too far back under Oisin Murphy before launching a late bid that fell a length short.
“It’s disappointing, but he flew home so you can’t really be disappointed,” O’Meara said. “He was the best horse in the race. He came out good, ate up last night. We’re happy with him.”
Meanwhile, Charge It earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure for his 4 3/4 length victory in the Suburban. Pletcher knows it wasn’t the toughest Suburban field ever, but he was happy with the manner in which Charge It got the job done under John Velazquez.
“He did it pretty much in hand,” Pletcher said Sunday. “Watching the replay again this morning, Johnny gave him maybe one little reminder midstretch, but he won pretty handily, I thought.”
The Irish-based Aspen Grove, who won Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Oaks by three-quarters of a length, will stay in the U.S. and head to Saratoga in the coming week, trainer James Stack said Sunday morning.
Stack said the Grade 3, $400,000 Saratoga Oaks at 1 3/16 miles on Aug. 4 is likely to be her next start, though the Grade 3, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks going 1 1/8 miles on Aug. 19 will also be considered.
Stack said the fact she doesn’t have to ship cross country to Del Mar and that the Saratoga Oaks is at a longer distance makes that race more attractive than the Del Mar Oaks.
Before the name was changed to the Belmont Oaks, this race was known as the Garden City. Stack’s father, Tommy Stack, won the 2007 Garden City with Alexander Tango.
Aspen Grove earned an 86 Beyer for her victory.
Maple Leaf Mel was already back in the Saratoga barn of trainer Melanie Giddings by mid-morning Sunday, one day after her 2 1/2-length victory in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes.
That victory kept Maple Leaf Mel unbeaten in five starts and was the second straight open-company stakes win for the New York-bred daughter of Cross Traffic owned by Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells.
After winning both her starts at 2 in Saratoga, Maple Leaf Mel this year has won stakes at Aqueduct, Pimlico and Belmont.
“To me it’s incredible that she shows up every time, but she shows up at a different track every time, which not a lot of horses can do,” Giddings said Sunday morning. “These are places she hasn’t been training and she puts the same performance in every time you ask her to.”
Maple Leaf Mel beat a strong field in the Victory Ride including the previously unbeaten Dazzling Blue and the three-time stakes winner Red Carpet Ready. Maple Leaf Mel earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.
“She beat some quality horses,” Giddings said. “I was pretty proud of her, she really put on a show.”
Maple Leaf Mel will now point to the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 5 at Saratoga.
“That is a little bit of a comfort, just knowing she just loves it here,” Giddings said.
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