Fort Washington to face stout Brown trio in Bernard Baruch
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Fort Washington, whose last dozen starts have come in graded stakes, four of those at the Grade 1 level, will get a little class relief when returning to listed company Thursday at Saratoga in the $200,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes.
Fort Washington is one of two Grade 1 winners in a well-matched and graded stakes-caliber field of eight, along with Salamis, one of three horses trainer Chad Brown has entered in the 1 1/16-mile turf race. Brown’s other starters are Running Bee and Risk Tolerance.
Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, the well-traveled Fort Washington will be making only his second start at his longtime summer home of Saratoga, the first coming two years ago when he finished third in the Bernard Baruch. He has already competed at four different racetracks in five outings this season, including Gulfstream Park, where he opened his campaign by running sixth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and Colonial Downs, where he finished fifth after stumbling at the break in defense of his title in the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Aug. 1.
“He was kind of unfortunate in the Arlington Million, stumbling at the start and getting out of position like he did, although I can’t really say whether it made any difference in the final result,” said McGaughey. “I can actually make excuses for his last two races. The previous one came at Churchill Downs, where the course probably had a little more give in it than he likes.”
On Sunday, McGaughey worked Fort Washington over the Oklahoma turf course. He went an easy half-mile in 49.40 seconds with a strong six-furlong gallop-out of 1:14.18, per Daily Racing Form.
“I wanted to see him breeze a little bit before I ran him. I thought he went well and I’m looking forward to running him Thursday after seeing that,” McGaughey said. “I think he certainly belongs in this field if he comes over and runs his race.”
McGaughey’s two biggest concerns for the stretch-running Fort Washington are the pace and the weather, with rain in the forecast here the next several days.
“There’s nothing we can do about a lack of pace. We’re not going to change his style at this stage,” McGaughey offered. “Junior [Alvarado] knows him. Hopefully, he’ll break well, he can get him in position, he comes running, and his class will carry him. There’s not much we can do about the weather either, but he does like the course firm, so I really don’t want to see any rain.”
Salamis appears to be rounding back to the form that carried him to a neck victory in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby in his 3-year-old finale last November at Del Mar. Salamis was sidelined more than six months coming out of that race before returning to finish fourth in the Grade 3 Poker here June 7. He followed that effort with a hard-fought neck victory in a high-priced allowance here six weeks later, posting a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
Running Bee is another Grade 1-experienced member of Brown’s potent stable, and he too appears to be rounding back to his peak form following an even longer layoff. His break spanned 15 months prior to a second-place finish in the Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth Park on Aug. 8.
Running Bee defeated Fort Washington by two lengths when capturing the 2024 renewal of the Bernard Baruch and also came out on top when the pair met again two months later at Aqueduct in the Artie Schiller Stakes.
Risk Tolerance is the least experienced member of the Brown trio. He’ll be making his stakes debut Thursday off a high-priced allowance victory here earlier this summer.
Like Fort Washington, Pass the Hat will get a little class relief coming off two big local efforts – a game nose victory in the Grade 3 Poker followed by a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Kelso four weeks later. He is another major player in a lineup that also includes Uncle’s Gold, Kupuna, and Talking Candy, each of whom were graded stakes-placed in their most recent starts.
Stakes winners Yo Daddy and Bank Frenzy have been entered for the main track only.