Itsallcomintogetha tries to continue momentum in Rick Violette Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The aptly named Itsallcomintogetha has continued to improve with every start this season. On Thursday, he’ll attempt to take another step forward when facing a familiar group of New York-bred rivals stretching out to 1 1/16 miles on the turf, weather permitting, in the $125,000 Rick Violette Stakes.

The Rick Violette is traditionally held in conjunction with New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day to highlight its namesake’s commitment to Thoroughbred retirement.

The Violette reunites the first four finishers from the one-mile Cab Calloway Stakes decided here four weeks earlier. Itsallcomintogetha won that race in wire-to-wire fashion by a neck over the odds-on Ramblin’ Wreck, with Vacation Dance and Willintoriskitall finishing third and fourth, respectively, while never a threat to the top pair at the end. The win was the second in the last three outings for Itsallcomintogetha, a son of Weekend Hideaway, who earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

“His dam throws winners who make it to the races at 2, like he did, but who get better as they get older,” trainer Phil Serpe said about Ladywell Court, whose progeny includes New York Stallion Stakes winners Goodbye Brockley and Lady Joan, both of whom he also trained. “He’s about 200 pounds heavier than he was as a 2-year-old, and we’ve seen a major transformation with him this year, especially running him longer versus sprint races.”

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Itsallcomintogetha led at every call in the Cab Calloway before holding off Ramblin’ Wreck, from whom he received six pounds. They are the co-highweights at 123 in the Violette. Weather also could play a key role in determining the outcome, with heavy rain in the forecast for the local area Tuesday.

“Four things we can’t control are death, taxes, the weather, and how much weight we carry in stakes,” Serpe said with a laugh. “Jose Gomez did a good job getting him to the lead. I thought Luis Saez’s horse [Willintoriskitall] would go to the front and we’d be laying right off. There’s more speed in this race. Mike Maker’s horse [King of Comedy] has some too, but I think he can sit off and rate if he needs to.

“Obviously, I’m a bit concerned about the weather, I probably won’t run him if it comes off the turf, as well as coming back in four weeks. But we’re here, this is the race that came up, and it would be a great honor to win it because there wasn’t a better guy, nor did anybody do more for the horsemen, than Rick.”

Ramblin’ Wreck overcame a slow start and eventful trip to win the opening leg of the series, the seven-furlong Spectacular Bid division, while returning from a six-month layoff on June 18 at Belmont Park. He got a much cleaner ground-saving run yet came up short when unable to overtake loose-on-the-lead Itsallcomintogetha as the 1-2 favorite in the Calloway.

A switch to the main track would likely play to Ramblin’ Wreck’s advantage as he’s the only member of this compact lineup to have had any previous success on dirt. He finished second over a muddy strip against similar New York-bred stakes competition in his 2-year-old finale.

King of Comedy is one of two new faces in the field, along with Let’s Go Big Blue, both of whom are coming off allowance victories against older statebred opposition in their most recent starts.

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King of Comedy ran far and away the best race of his career registering a gate-to-wire, five-length triumph going 1 1/8 miles on July 2 at Belmont. He will be making his stakes debut Thursday.

Let’s Go Big Blue dueled every step of the way before posting a game three-quarter-length victory going a mile here Aug. 3 to remain undefeated in two starts over the local course.

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