Jerkens getting all the right signals from Green Light Go

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Jerkens was all smiles Sunday morning when looking back on the performance less than 24 hours earlier of his undefeated and now Grade 2 winning 2-year-old Green Light Go, who dominated Saturday’s 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga Special by 3 3/4 lengths.

“He looks good, acts fresh, like it didn’t take a whole lot out of him. It looks like we’re in a good spot,” said Jerkens who trains the homebred son of Hard Spun for the Stronach Stable.

Green Light Go was on the lead throughout winning his debut in similarly easy fashion five weeks earlier at Belmont Park. But he rated off the early pace in the Saratoga Special under Junior Alvarado before tipping out and drawing off impressively once roused for the final furlong. He did race a bit greenly through the stretch, switching leads a tad late while lugging in to jostle the tiring leader Tuggle near the three-sixteenths pole.

“He went out and showed us what we wanted to see,” Jerkens added. “He rated behind horses but was up in the bridle, finished well and Junior was kind of easing him at the end. He probably could have gone a little faster if he needed to.”

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Green Light Go received an 84 Beyer Speed Figure for his effort in the Saratoga Special, matching the number he received for his maiden win. Green Light Go will, in all probability, be nominated to the Grade 1 Hopeful here on closing day, Sept. 2, although Jerkens said the one-mile Champagne the following month at Belmont would probably be the more likely option for his next start.

“We’ll nominate him [to the Hopeful] and see, although I would like to wait,” said Jerkens. “He looks like a horse who we might be able to get away running less than the average horse. A mile is a mile, but he’s a willing work horse, very smart, and I think he’ll be able to train up to a race like the Champagne.”

The Hopeful is likely not in the cards for Saratoga Special runner-up Noose either. Noose overcame a slow start to finish a game second while never threatening the winner making his local debut in the Saratoga Special.

Trainer Eddie Kenneally said a race like the Iroquois at Churchill Downs would like be next for Noose, whose stablemate By Your Side is already under consideration for the Hopeful. By Your Side won the Grade 3 Sanford here on July 13 by three lengths to keep his record perfect in two starts. By Your Side worked a half-mile in company with Playtone in 49.50 over the main track immediately after the renovation break on Sunday.