Heeere's Johnny, To a Flame win Saranac and a scary Wild Applause
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Heeere’s Johnny, the only maiden in the field, rallied from last just a furlong from the wire to upset a very contentious edition of the $150,000 Saranac Stakes on a hot and steamy Friday afternoon at Saratoga.
Heeere’s Johnny entered the 1 1/16-mile Saranac winless in seven career starts that included a pair of maiden races to launch his 3-year-old campaign. But the son of Oscar Performance had already proven his ability to compete with stakes horses when finishing second in the Grade 2 Pilgrim and fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf to close out his 2-year-old campaign.
With Jaime Rodriguez replacing Dylan Davis, who was involved in a four-horse spill about an hour earlier in the Wild Applause Stakes, Heeere’s Johnny immediately dropped to the rear of the 11-horse Saranac field. He could still see them all as the well-stacked group of 3-year-olds exited the final turn and made their way down the stretch.
Heeere’s Johnny was angled five-wide for clearance by Rodriguez leaving the bend and steadied briefly shortly after settling into the stretch before responding to vigorous urging to finish full of run down the center of the course. He ultimately overtook the leaders, Blinging It Back and Glavine, in the final strides to prevail by a neck.
Blinging It Back raced well-placed about five lengths off a lively pace set by Siyouincanada and prompted by Go Grey. Blinging It Back burst through from between horses to gain a brief advantage through midstretch but could not resist the winner. Glavine slipped along a narrow opening along the rail to loom boldly in deep stretch, only to hang a bit at the end and finish another half-length further back in third.
Trained by Ray Handal, Heeere’s Johnny completed the distance over the firm course in 1:40.45 and paid $32.22.
“He was running some solid races and was graded stakes-placed at 2, then ran a bang up second in his first start this year behind a horse [West End Lake] who has gone on to do some great things,” Handal said when explaining the thought process that went into entering Heeere’s Johnny back against stakes company in the Saranac. “We either had to run him back with older horses in a maiden race or go into this race, which was a restricted stakes for 3-year-olds. There really didn’t seem to be much difference, so we decided if you have to go out and run an 85 Beyer, why not just run in the stakes race?”
Handal said he was a little concerned watching his horse fall back to last shortly after the start – at least until he saw the opening split of 22.93 seconds for the opening quarter-mile go up on the board.
“We got a great setup and Jaime did a really great job,” Handal added. “Waiting as long as he could while a lot of other horses were making moves, saving ground, knowing he had horse, almost until they were halfway down the stretch.”
Wild Applause
To a Flame rallied to a 1 1/4-length victory over Pillar of Beauty to win the $150,000 Wild Applause Stakes in a result overshadowed by a horrific-looking spill at the top of the stretch that involved four horses and four jockeys. Miraculously, none of the 3-year-old fillies who fell or their riders appeared seriously injured in the aftermath of the incident.
I Love Giraffes appeared to precipitate the spill when clipping heels with Pillar of Beauty and falling as the field turned into the stretch. That triggered a chain reaction which led to Lovely Grey, Paris Carver, and Smexy all tumbling to the ground when unable to avoid their prone rival.
Fortunately, jockeys Paco Lopez (I Love Giraffes), Dylan Davis (Lovely Grey). and Tyler Gaffalione (Smexy) were all able to walk off under their own power. Javier Castellano, who rode Paris Carver, was taken to a Saratoga hospital for further evaluation but was reported to be alert and moving all extremities.
I Love Giraffes, Paris Carver, and Smexy walked back to their barns after being corralled by the outriders. Lovely Grey was taken off on the equine ambulance and given a ride to her barn for precautionary reasons, but she was reported to have suffered only minor lacerations.
Lopez bounced right back to win the following race, the Schuylerville Stakes, aboard Harper’s Corner.
To a Flame, under jockey Jose Ortiz, steadied briefly but managed to avoid all the trouble advancing near the inside leaving the final turn before finishing full of run to overtake Pillar of Beauty and win the one-mile race going away. Pillar of Beauty raced forwardly from the outset and overtook the tiring pacesetter Candy Moonshine to gain a short lead leaving the furlong grounds, but she proved no match for the winner, who covered the distance in 1:35.29. Code was along late to finish third.
To a Flame, who dropped into listed company after facing Grade 2 opposition in her previous two starts, is trained by George "Rusty" Arnold II for Bregman Family Racing LLC. She went postward a tepid 5-2 favorite in a field of 10 and paid $7.50.
“I hate that the race was marred and hope everyone is all right,” Arnold said after the race. “She [To a Flame] looked like she was pretty loaded the whole way. We felt like Jose had a lot of horse."