Golden Tempo leads Travers workers; Sea Strike impresses
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When the fog that enveloped the two tracks here Saturday morning lifted, it became clear the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 29 has the makings of an interesting race.
While Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo put in another routine workout over the main track, several of his would-be rivals put in some eye-catching drills between the main and Oklahoma training tracks.
Sea Strike, who won the Curlin Stakes by 8 1/4 lengths on Aug. 2, worked a half-mile in 47.63 seconds by himself over the main track and that was after a 13.10-second opening eighth. He continued out five furlongs in 1:00.55 and six furlongs in 1:13.31.
“He’s an incredible work horse, has got a lot of talent, seems to be in great form,” trainer Chad Brown said. “He’s a freaky good horse. We’ll give it a shot. He’s got to get an extra eighth of a mile.”
Curlin Stakes winners have not fared well in the Travers. Since V. E. Day pulled off the double in 2014, Curlin winners are 0 for 7 in the Travers, no horse having finished better than sixth. That includes a quartet of Brown trainees − Connect, Highest Honors, Artorius, and Unmatched Wisdom, the latter finishing seventh.
Brown’s other Travers contender, Emerging Market, worked a half-mile in 48.75 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. While Emerging Market was intended to go solo, he wound up following a Steve Asmussen trainee who broke off right in front of him. At first Brown was concerned about the company, but it actually made for a stronger work.
“My rider just tucked behind him and sat there for a little while and he came up on him pretty easy, in hand, and kind of went around him,” Brown said. “They hooked up through the wire and he was able to gallop-out slightly ahead of the other horse; it worked out pretty good. Normally, that’s a trainer’s nightmare when you have a solo work lined up and somebody breaks off right next to you, it actually worked out pretty well. I liked the work very much.”
Emerging Market won the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby in just his second start. He finished 10th in the Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Belmont − losing a front shoe in both races. He then finished second in an allowance race against older horses but Brown, upon further review, though it was a good effort.
“He was three wide in the rear off a slow pace, it’s the worst trip in horse racing, but he was able to run a good number when running second,” Brown said. “He actually [equaled] his number from the Fair Grounds race. The reason I’m going to run the horse is if he can just inch forward from that number he can be competitive with these horses.”
Brown said Flavien Prat would ride Sea Strike. He has not yet finalized a rider for Emerging Market.
Ocelli, the maiden who finished third in the Kentucky Derby, also put in a strong half-mile workout Saturday over the main track, going a half-mile in 48.80 seconds. Working in company with the stakes-winning sprinter Bring the Smoke, the pair galloped out six furlongs in 1:14, seven furlongs in 1:27.20 and were not able to be pulled up until they traveled all the way up the backside.
“They broke off a little quick and my instructions down the lane were to sit, I didn’t want them to go in 46 [seconds] which they would have gone if they continued on that pace,” said trainer Whit Beckman, who communicated to the riders by way of two-way radio. “The work was fantastic and the gallop-out was incredible.”
Ocelli is coming off a last-place finish in the Haskell on July 18. Beckman attributes the poor performance to the sloppy track. Beckman said all signs he’s seen from Ocelli out of the race are positive for him to still consider running in the Travers.
“We still have eight days til we enter, we’ll see how thing go, see how he pops out of this,” Beckman said. “Provided he looks as good [then] as he looked going into this work, we’ll continue to prepare like we’re going to go.”
Meanwhile, Golden Tempo had his fourth workout since coming to Saratoga, working a half-mile in 47.44 seconds, under Jose Ortiz, going in company with Paige Turner. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.25.
Trainer Cherie DeVaux typically works Golden Tempo at 7 a.m. but she pushed the work back to 8:45 a.m. due to fog that made it nearly impossible to see earlier in the morning. Ortiz maintained a good hold of Golden Tempo who went his opening quarter in 23.68 seconds.
“He worked really well, jumped right in the bridle, settled in nicely and had a nice gallop out,” DeVaux said. “We didn’t have him gallop-out the way we did his last couple of works, just kind of eased him down because he’s been doing a lot.”
Also Saturday, Leading Change, winner of the Indiana Derby, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 at Churchill Downs while Baby Vino, winner of the Haskell, worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 at Monmouth Park.
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