Harper's Corner heads Spinaway packed with runaway winners
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Harper’s Corner won her first two starts by a combined 13 lengths and to hear her trainer Cal Lynch tell it, she was hardly 100 percent fit for either one.
With those two races under her belt – including a 5 1/4-length score in the Schuylerville here on July 3 – and a series of stamina-building works in the nine weeks hence, Harper’s Corner should be cranked for Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga.
She’ll need to be, as the Spinaway appears to have come up a solid race and brings together seemingly all – save Libby Lloyd – of the most impressive maiden winners at the meet.
Lynch said Harper’s Corner may have only been 60 to 65 percent fit when she won a June 12 maiden race at Laurel Park by 7 3/4 lengths. He upgraded her to 80 to 85 percent fit when she won the Schuylerville. Lynch said the debut win was not surprising but he was impressed by her Schuylerville effort.
“Second race, I thought she outperformed a little bit,” Lynch said. “She ran great, but she had been training great from the first to second race. . . . We gave her the extra time, we got her here the way we wanted.”
Harper’s Corner, a daughter of Speaker’s Corner, has an interesting work tab with two one-mile works on the dirt, followed by a five-furlong dirt work, capped by a half-mile move over the Fair Hill turf course. Harper’s Corner had worked on the turf – which at Fair Hill is an uphill course – prior to her Schuylerville victory as well.
“You know us Irish guys, if I could have put a [steeplechase] fence up, I probably would have done that too,” Lynch joked.
Lynch also said that he worked Harper’s Corner behind horses a couple of times and despite her two front-running victories, he’s confident she can sit in behind horses.
“That’ll be up to Paco [Lopez],” Lynch said. “He did ask me last time, can she rate? The answer is yes, but all I told him was good luck.”
Harper’s Corner breaks from post 6 in the eight-horse field.
Summer Starlet, a daughter of City of Light, made an eye-catching run to rally from seventh while racing six wide in the stretch to win her debut her by 6 1/2 lengths on Aug. 8. Noting the size of the filly, trainer Steve Asmussen said he purposely waited for the 6 1/2-furlong distance to start Summer Starlet.
“When you look at her physically, stature-wise, it’s obvious why,” Asmussen said.
Asmussen, a three-time Spinaway winner, did note that being drawn in post 2 Saturday presents a different set of circumstances for Summer Starlet than she had when breaking from an outside post in her in debut.
“With the draw it appears to me we’re going to figure out how she likes dirt in her face,” Asmussen said. “There’s plenty of pace, especially to her outside; still expect her to run big.”
Ricardo Santana Jr. rides for Jose Ortiz, who is at Kentucky Downs.
Life Changing was an impressive seven-length debut winner here on Aug. 1. The fourth-place finisher from that race, Virabhadrasana, came back to win her next out.
Trainer Todd Pletcher, a seven-time Spinaway winner, said he believes Life Changing can sit off other horses and being drawn in post 8 on Saturday could give Flavien Prat the option to do just that.
“Big advantage. I would think going seven-eighths, any time you can draw outside, especially in a race like this with a lot of speed in it, gives Flavien some options to survey how things are unfolding.”
Angel of Kirk, a daughter of Yaupon, will look to keep trainer Brad Cox’s super meet going. He has 21 wins, seven with his 2-year-olds.
Stress Relief, a daughter of Not This Time trained by Kinnon LaRose, rated when she won the Grade 3 Adirondack on Aug. 2.
Girvy Girl was a 15-length winner of a maiden race at Gulfstream Park for Saffie Joseph Jr. Cha Cha Baby goes first out for Butch Reid following a private purchase after the filly won her maiden by nine lengths at Delaware Park. Bandmaster won her debut at Aqueduct before finishing fourth in the Adirondack.
The Spinaway, which provides the winner a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 30 at Keeneland, goes as race 11 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:05 p.m. and includes the $200,000 With Anticipation for 2-year-olds on turf.
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