Fireworks expected as robust field gathers for Suburban
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Stars and Stripes may be more than just a hunch play in the Grade 2, $500,000 Suburban Stakes on Saturday’s Fourth of July program at Saratoga.
Stars and Stripes may not be on the level of Sovereignty or Baeza in trainer Bill Mott’s roster of older dirt males, but his 4-for-4 record in races run at 1 1/8 miles or farther gives Mott confidence the horse fits in this 1 1/4-mile race, which drew a field of 11. Stars and Stripes, a son of Not This Time, comes off a win in the Grade 3 Ben Ali, a 1 3/16-mile race at Keeneland on April 18.
“That’s why I chose the Ben Ali, that’s why I chose this race, the distance, it seems like it suited him,” Mott said.
Luis Saez had ridden Stars and Stripes to those last two wins, but he is serving a suspension, so Junior Alvarado will ride on Saturday.
Mott also runs Parchment Party, who is a marathon specialist, having won his last two starts at 1 1/2 miles, as well as the Belmont Gold Cup at 1 3/4 miles. Mott said he is using this as a prep for the Birdstone at 1 3/4 miles on Aug. 13.
Both horses could fall into nice trips as there appears to be speed in the race with Phileas Fogg, last year’s Suburban winner, and Forged Steel, this year’s Hollywood Gold Cup winner at Santa Anita, in the lineup.
Phileas Fogg, trained by Gus Rodriguez, has won two of his last three starts at 1 1/4 miles, including the Excelsior and last year’s Suburban. After a couple of dull efforts in one-turn mile races, Phileas Fogg came back with a solid allowance win going 1 1/8 miles last time out at Aqueduct.
“I know the last race we beat nobody, but the way he won was very impressive,” Rodriguez said. “Turning for home, he took off.
Forged Steel won a weak version of the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita, but he controlled the pace all the way around under Flavien Prat, who rides him again on Saturday.
Antiquarian finished second to Phileas Fogg in last year’s Suburban and came back to win the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, a performance dismissed by some due to the bumping from others in the race that led to jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. being unseated on Mindframe.
Antiquarian has had two runs this year, both at one mile. He was a dominant winner of the Grade 3 Westchester before finishing fourth in the Metropolitan Handicap, a race in which he was surprisingly part of the early pace.
“We didn’t anticipate he would be as forward as he was,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We expected to ride him away from there and get behind the speed.”
One would expect Antiquarian to get a more reserved ride from John Velazquez in the Suburban.
Pletcher also runs Classicist, who is coming off an allowance win going nine furlongs at Aqueduct following a second-place finish to Yo Daddy in the 1 1/4-mile Excelsior. Yo Daddy is back in this field for Linda Rice.
Tiztastic, the 2025 Louisiana Derby winner, is coming off an allowance win going nine furlongs on dirt at Churchill Downs on May 9. That race followed four turf tries, none of which went very well. Trainer Steve Asmussen said there was a reason for running him on the turf for his seasonal debut in April.
“Physically, he’s always been a very sound horse, he just lost his ‘want-to’ for a little bit,” Asmussen said. “We gave him the turf race coming back because I didn’t want to work him so much that he’d quit trying to work. [Last out], he ran a solid number, back in the winner’s circle. With the number of horses in the race, the trip is going to matter.”
Asmussen called Tiztastic’s five-furlong workout in 1:00 over Saratoga’s main track on June 21 “as good a work as he’s ever put in.”
Jose Ortiz, who rode Magnitude to victory for Asmussen in last weekend’s Grade 1 Stephen Foster, rides Tiztastic.
Hit Show, the 2025 Dubai World Cup winner, is coming off a third-place finish in the Blame Stakes behind Original Sin, who is also in this field.
“I liked his last run in the Blame,” trainer Brad Cox said. “When they straightened up for home maybe he didn’t get as clear a run as he needed. It was a good run off of Dubai [fifth in the World Cup], he bounced out of it good. I like the timing of this race, I like the mile and a quarter.”
Trainer Brendan Walsh said he also liked the 1 1/4 miles for Original Sin, who comes in off an allowance win and the Blame victory, both at 1 1/8 miles.
Obstacle, a Brazilian-bred son of Hofburg, is scheduled to make his North American debut for trainer Paulo Lobo.
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